Strep, Thanksgiving and Books Before The Pilgrims

When we awoke on Monday, Julie had a raging sore throat and felt feverish. She had felt a little off on Sunday, and so we diagnosed her with strep. Raising five kids we had a pretty good idea what was up and that going to the clinic would take hours and have the same outcome. Knowing full well that in Peru we could get amoxicillin without a prescription; Rich went for drugs to the local farmacia.

 

Upon requesting enough amoxicillin to treat us both, the girl asked, “Do you want a ‘Factura’ (an invoice) or just a ‘Boleta,’ (a receipt)?” They always ask this and we always opt for the boleta because the invoice is more complicated and just takes longer.

 

Then she asked, “Do you have a prescription?”

 

A little surprised, Rich answered, “No.” Rarely do they ask for a prescription for something as pedestrian and antibiotics.

 

She went into the back room and rummaged around and came back. She had two different presentations from different companies. She explained that she had to make out two receipts and that it was easier if she used the same medicine, only in different colors, name brands, names (generic vs. name specific) and so on and so forth, yada, yada yada. If this sentence seems a little confused, welcome to our world… Then she went back into the back room with a puzzled look and consulted with the other pharmacists all huddled up in a corner.

 

She came back looking more befuddled and asked, “Are you sure you need a receipt?… because it is only with a doctor’s orders. I will have to do it with two receipts and it would be easier if you bought two different medications… Hint, Hint!!!” She never said, "I can only give you a receipt if you have a prescription," so Rich was left to interpolate and interpret her intent!

 

Finally, he caught the stage cue and answered, “Oh, no. I don’t need a receipt; I just thought you had to give me some sort of proof of purchase.”

 

She rang up the pills and sent him on his way to drug Julie!

 

After getting her pills to her, Rich took on off on his next quest of the day, to find a turkey! This took him to a grocery store where three of the people in charge agreed that there were no turkeys.

 

“Well, can you order one?”

 

“No, there are no turkeys…”

 

“Where do you buy turkeys?”

 

“There aren’t any…”

 

“But, where do you get them when you have them?”

 

“We have them for Christmas. It’s not Christmas…”

 

“Ok, but humor me. Theoretically, where do the turkeys come from when you get them at Christmas time?”

 

“Oh, the San Fernando distributor.”

 

“Yessss! Where is that place?”

 

“Just down by the airport…”

 

He then took a taxi to the San Fernando distributor in the industrial park clear out of the city where he talked with a very nice lady who said, “Of course we have turkeys, from six to eight kilos! They are frozen and you can pick one up when you like!” Phew! He had to hitch-hike out since there were no taxi’s in the area.

 

The next day, he went back into the Blade Runner movie-set to buy the turkey. He had the foresight to hire a taxi to take him there, wait while buying the turkey and then take him and the turkey home. This went better than expected. The turkey weighed eight kilos, nearly 18pounds. We stuck it in a wash tub, in the shower to thaw since it has been so hot here in Cusco and we did not want it thawed too soon. We had forgotten how weird it is to get Thanksgiving ready with summer temperatures outside.

 

We had a wonderful lunch with two dear friends from Espinar. Victor Kana and Yeny Yauli. They were both about 12 years old when they were baptized in Espinar and it has been wonderful to watch them grow up. They both have good jobs and have done amazing things in their lives. They both come from extremely poor, humble families and each served a mission for the church. Victor has done so well that he was able to buy some land with some adobe homes on it in Arequipa and moved his whole family there. He purchased busses for his family to run a small transportation business and they contribute to the wellbeing of the whole family. Yeny graduated from college and now works for one of the local telephone companies. What a great blessing to visit with them and hear about their successes.

 

Thursday rolled around and we got up and started the Thanksgiving project. Julie was all better by then.

 

We launched into all of the preparations but the turkey part of the project began with our forgetting to brine it until a couple of hours before it needed to be taken to the oven. We did what we could. We had borrowed a roasting pan from the Agüeros and Rich stuffed the turkey with green olives and rosemary, our signature turkey. We wrapped it in foil and then Sister Agüero took him to the oven around the block. The kid who was operating the horno that day looked to be about 17 and he asked if there were any special instructions like opening up the foil to brown the turkey. Rich said, “Sure,” and went back home. Pictures of the oven are below.

 

Sadly, we did not get a picture of the roasted turkey. All of our concerns vanished when Rich picked up the turkey and got it home. It was the most perfectly golden turkey we had ever seen and delicious and unimaginably moist. Additionally, we managed to bake a sweet potato pie with double the eggs rendering it the most insipid pie in history.  However, the two we allowed to survive to dinner were perfection. Our friends began arriving at 7pm but most arrived by 8pm, Peruvian Standard time… We had invited for 7pm. We had a great time and enjoyed the food and company.

On Friday, we were able to visit the Archives in the University. This is where they keep the really old books. They are mostly judicial testaments pertaining to land, crimes, sales etc. We read about the sale of a slave and each document had the price in Reales that the scribe charged. The books are made of rag paper, hand sewn together and covered with leather. The calligraphy is incredible and perfectly legible. They date from 1545 to 1899! They are just sitting on shelves in the archive office. No climate control, no use of gloves or anything special to look at them! The director pulled a book off the shelf dated 1768-1769 and we thumbed through it like any other book but with greater reverence and care. It was incredible and filled us with a sort of real awe to think that someone had written these  books, some before the Pilgrims landed at  Plymouth. Our hope is that the  Family Search group will be interested and allow us to photograph the books. There are about 1000 of them.

 

Friday night about 10:30pm we heard lots of referee whistles in the street. We looked out the window and saw flashing blue lights on police cars and a parade of the Wanchaq neighborhood police and security guards. We’re not sure why a parade at 10:30pm seemed to be someone’s good idea! Never-the-less we know there is security around, though I’m not sure we sleep any better.

 

Today we traveled with the mission president and his wife to Curahuasi for their branch conference. We had the heads-up that prepared us to teach classes this time. We enjoy our president and his wife very much. They are fine people with great hearts and they care a lot for their missionaries and the members here. It was great to spend time with them.

A cat wriggling in a bag... On his way home from the market

Julie with Ariana, in Izcuchada

Snails For  Sale... Selling snails for cosmetic purposes, the guy actually proposes that women plop these snails on their faces to clean their skin.

Street Tyke

Lunch with Victor and Yeny

The turkey parts we don't often see at home.

Brining the bird

The  Public Oven #1

The  Public Oven #2

The  Public Oven #3

The  Public Oven #4 - Inserting  the turkey

Thanksgiving Dinner #1

Thanksgiving Dinner #2



Archived Books #1

Archived Books #2

Archived Books #3 Yes that is  the date! 1627

Archived Books #4 Sewn Book Spine, feet and pen for scale.

Archived Books #5

 

Interesting get-up

Branch Conference Curahuasi