By Charlotte Lee
Peru Bass Connections Research Project
Written on May 20
Approximately two minutes ago the Departures board stated that my flight was more than 7 hours delayed. Seeing how it is currently 10:00 PM in Mexico City, I was preparing to find some kind of spot where it would be acceptable to publically sleep. I contemplated asking the woman at the desk of the Masajes Chinos (Chinese Massage) how much it would cost to sleep in one of those chairs. To be honest, I would probably garble my Spanish and end up spending the rest of my money so that I could huddle into the red cracked leather seats of this tiny massage parlor and pray for my flight to come. HOWEVER, all of this worry is for naught because now the Departures board is proudly flaunting a mere one-hour delay. Not sure if it was an error or if there was a miracle, but either way my heart palpitations have ceased. This I can deal with. If you think my writing’s rather flowery right now, it’s probably because I’ve been reading A LOT. I also drank a lot of coffee.
So I suppose I should let y’all know what I’m writing about anyway. In true Charlotte form, I cannot stay put for more than two weeks without something to do, and I am lucky enough to be flying to Lima in order to do epidemiology research in Peru this summer through the Duke Global Health Institute. As part of the new Bass Connections initiative, 3 undergraduates, 5 or so graduate students, and faculty of various levels (MDs and PhDs and such) are all working together in this study. And I am exceptionally grateful for the fact that my living expenses and flights will all be paid for. The first part of my summer, a bit over three weeks or so, will be spent in Lima. I’ll be taking intensive field/medical Spanish for the first week (definitely necessary after I totally blew it asking for “el cheque” instead of “la cuenta” at dinner…still not entirely clear on the difference). The next week and a half will be spent taking a field epidemiology class. Not exactly sure what that entails, but I think we’ll be getting some cool field suits to wear! Eventually after returning to Duke, these courses along with the rest of the research may translate into credits of some sort, which would be an added bonus, especially because my Public Policy major, pre-med requirements, and decision to go abroad next semester have made my schedule of courses quite strict. We’ll then go to Cusco, where my wonderful sister will meet me. She and I will go and see Machu Picchu during my four days off. Becky and I will see what we can squeeze in before she goes off to Bolivia with a friend and I rejoin my group for visits to Peruvian public health organizations and research sites. June 22nd is when things really get wild, I’ll be falling off the grid more or less as our team sets sail for our first communities to sample in the Madre de Dios region.
The Madre de Dios (MDD) region, named for the MDD river that feeds into the Amazon, has experienced increased gold mining in recent years, along with other economic developments. The MDD region is rich in biodiversity, yet 40% of people live below the poverty line and nearly half do not have reliable access to clean water. Malaria, dengue fever, rabies, hantaviruses, and arenaviruses (along with other respiratory and gastrointestinal infections) are emerging at higher rates due to the increased gold mining, agriculture, and road construction. Many small artisanal mines along the MDD river have sprouted up, and the amalgamation process used to isolate the gold requires the use of mercury, which is then released into the environment. Mercury, known to be toxic as it accumulates in humans, is also naturally occurring. Our study goals look to measure the level of mercury exposure in the population, identify major health issues for those living in the MDD watershed, and investigate the diversification of livelihoods of this population. To do so, we’ll be doing loads of data collection from the environment (water, sediments, fish, etc.), surveying families and community leaders, and taking human samples and measurements as well. To get from community to community in the MDD region, we will be traveling by boat, hence the absurd quantity of Dramamine pills in my backpack. We’ll stay in churches or community centers as we go along, and I bought the coolest pop-up mosquito net tent to sleep in, so I’ll be the coolest kid at the party for sure.
As I’m writing this, it is all hitting me. Luckily I am now too tired to panic or anything like that, instead it’s kind of just like huh, this is really happening. Neat! I would put myself somewhere between eager and numb. On my first flight I was listening to some pretty moody music and pondering about what my friends and family were doing, which caused me to cry some awkward silent tears as the flight attendant asked me what I wanted to drink. I guess I’m really quite lucky to have so many wonderful people to miss. There was one song I was listening to by Something Corporate but I don’t really know what it’s called (if I had Internet, I’d Google this so fast!) and the lyrics talked about a girl who had tattoos for every place she’d called home and that if the singer followed this habit his body would be completely covered. One, this made me want to get all sorts of cool tattoos none of which I will have the guts to get, and two, it’s interesting to think of life as a journey of collecting homes. I can’t help but think of my favorite spot in the library on the fourth floor bridge where you can see the sun set, the roof of my freshman dorm where I used to eat Bugles late at night, the guestroom at my grandparents waking up and hearing the sounds of breakfast, my front porch with the year round Christmas lights. You’ll always have your HOME, and for that I am forever grateful, but maybe you can amass a sort of collection of homes as you walk through life too. As for now, I’m glad that the Chinese massage parlor will not be added to this collection tonight.
