Landon's First Emergency Room Visit--And It's Peruvian Style! Ouch!

Like I´ve always said there just isn´t a dull moment in the mission and this week definitely supported that thought. I officially got my first experience with the Emergency Room and I got it Peruvian style.
Last Wednesday we did a giant service project as a zone where we were going to help clean up an elderly sisters garden and yard. We all showed up with our shovels, rakes, and machetes. We began by cutting limbs and branches and I wish the limbs part only pertained to the trees but it doesn’t always turn out the way you plan it. While I was cutting up high I hit a knot in the tree and it caused me to drop my machete and as it came down it decided to do a little damage. It gashed opened my left hand above the fingers and made for a lot of blood. I looked at it and looked at my comp and said ¨Hey Elder Vasquez, me corte, VAMOS! (Hey Elder Vasquez, I cut myself, LETS GO!) Elder Seaman, from SLC and my district leader, dutifully applied the first-aid techniques approved by the Boy Scouts of America by ripping his shirt in a masculine fashion and applying direct pressure to the wound...EPIC! We jumped in a little moto-taxi and headed for the nearest medical clinic to find the best medical attention which the jungles of Peru has to offer. Luckily it was only two blocks but seeing the condition of the clinic I was definitely willing to look for another place but I didn´t complain. The first thing they asked us before letting us in was ¨Who´s going to pay?¨ and ¨What happened?¨ in that order. They took me into a back room and started to sow me back up. The bill came to a whomping 24 soles (8 dollars) which is great reflection of the quality of medical care that we can get here in the jungle. It was a great adventure but one that I don´t really want to experience again here soon.