Alex and Delphina

I've been enjoying the hospital as I already mentioned, but I have come to adore this one boy, Alex, who was recovering from surgery on his hip. Such a sweet heart. He is always smiling and hanging out with the nurses, helping out or getting in the way; either way we all love him. I bring the kids chocolates every day and Alex always comes up smiling and asking for another one. I make him wait (otherwise he'd have chocolate every ten minutes) and then later tell him it's time for his medicina and hand him a chocolate. His smile gets even bigger and brighter. Sad thing for me is that he got well after two weeks or so of being in the hospital, so he went home before I could even take a picture. Cute little Alex, 10 years old.

Today after work I rushed over to Huanchac to get a little bouldering in before any afternoon rain. A local woman, Delphina, came up to me at one point and mentioned that she needed pills. I spoke with her briefly about it, but I was surprised that she didn't ask for money. I kept bouldering. Later she came to get one of her cows from near the boulders and she sat down next to me. We talked for about a half hour about life. She is 64 years old and never married and has no kids (very unusual in Peru). Assuming most Peruvian women want to get married, I dared to ask why, since she is so lovely and sweet. She said she never wanted to marry and that she likes to be "solita". She is a hard worker - cares for 3 cows, grows corn and potatoes, and does all the work of a family on her own. All this hard work has caused some aches and pains in her body, but she doesn't have money to see a doctor. After talking for some time she walked away with her cows. When I was leaving I struck up another conversation with her in the field and told her I'd bring her a few things to Huanchac if she needed anything. Gas was the biggest need, but I think I´ll surprise her with some chocolates, vino tinto, and some naproxen as well. She said to ask around and people would direct me to her house.