One week in....

Well, we have been gone from the U.S. exactly one week.  We arrived in Arequipa, Peru last Friday morning and have been acclimating well.  We left Omaha around noon on Thursday, stopped in Chicago with enough time to run to our next gate and board our flight to Miami.  There we had about a 6 hour layover which gave us time navigate through the Miami airport...(its huge!)...to check in for our next flight, grab some food, and hang out in the "first class" lounge since we scored some cheap first class tickets from Miami to Lima.  Neither Vince or I had ever actually flown first class so we were pleasantly surprised by all the extra bells & whistles!  The flight went smoothly and in Lima, we caught our final flight to Arequipa and arrived here around 11:00 a.m. Friday morning.  We were greeted by the family who is so generous to let us live with them.  Dr. Eric Schade (my boss) and his wife, Mafe Schade, helped us load our luggage into a taxi and we were off.  Friday was such a blur since we were running low on energy but we managed to move into the "maid's quarters" off the main house/clinic.  The house is super-cute...big and typical for South American living.  It sits behind 10-12 foot walls on all sides of the yard with traditional architecture.  Vince and I have settled into our room and unpacked for the most part.
I started my first week of work on Monday.  Dr. Eric basically asked that morning....are you ready?  I said yes, and that was it...out walked Dr. Eric and in walked my first patient.  I am lucky to have a translator.  She is a very nice and sweet Peruvian girl, 22 years old, who loves languages.  She doesn't know much about chiropractic but I'm teaching her day by day, patient by patient.  I have a few American patients and she likes to listen even to those appointments because it helps her explain things to the Peruvian people.  Dr. Eric said that I would encounter here what most chiropractors encounter in 10-15 years of practice in the states.  He was right...the people here come to chiropractors after going to many different doctors and specialists that have no idea what is wrong with them.  We are their last resort more often than not....which is a lot to handle but also awesome when we start seeing results.  The patients are so grateful and excited to be adjusted/treated by a chiropractor.  After being passed around from one doctor to the next, sometimes the fact that Dr. Eric and I just listen to them and actually hear what they are suffering from has such a positive effect for them that treating them is easy.
I work from 8-12 a.m. Monday through Friday and 10-1 on Saturdays so Vince and I have the whole afternoon and evening to explore the city, relax, and hang out with each other.  We usually have a big lunch, as its the main meal of the day here, with Mafe and Eric.  The food is amazing here so we definitely aren't going hungry!  Then we either lay down for a siesta or hit the streets walking...most afternoons to the Plaza which is the center of town.  It is soooooo beautiful.  You really would never find anything like it in the states.  We've found a few coffee shops that we like, a market that we've visited almost every day to get cookies, yogurt drinks, and various things we've discovered we forgot.  Last night we were lucky to join Dr. Eric at his favorite coffee shop that we would have never found without him!  It was tucked behind huge wooden doors and up a set of stone stairs.  Its pretty much indescribable.  Vince says it looks like its straight out of the Lord of the Rings....Minas Tirith?!?!  I've never seen it so I describe it as the inside of the convent on the Sound of Music...lol!  Either way, its our new favorite hangout.  Its actually run by a French man and his Peruvian wife so its a little escape from the bustle of the city.
Well, we hope you enjoy all of our experiences through the blog, our emails, and Facebook.  We miss all of you but are having a great time so far!
Ciao!
Andrea & Vince