Final Weeks

Well, I’m down to just a few more days in Lima. I can’t believe my time is almost over. I just ordered my textbooks for the fall semester, so it’s really starting to sink in that it’s time to go back to the United States and start my senior year!

As promised, here are some photos from the tuberculosis lab that I work in:

Carlos on the microscope!
Cultures.
Centrifuge with cooling.
One of the biological safety cabinets.
The other biological safety cabinet.

Since TB is an airborne disease, we have to be really careful not to let air that’s in the lab get exchanged with air in other rooms of the building/outside air. So, we have to walk through a series of doors to get into the lab, and through a different path to exit the lab:

Also, if we want to pass samples or supplies between the different labs, this has to take place through a special chamber that exchanges the air before the cabinet is opened on the other side:

Finally, we could, under no circumstances short of a fire or earthquake, open the emergency exit doors:

I’ve also been trying enjoy my last few weekends in Perú. For example, I traveled with my host family mother, brother, and a family friend to a city called Huacho, which is a few miles North of Lima by car. We went there on July 28 to celebrate Peruvian Independence Day. We had a night lunch and then went for a row boat ride on the ocean; it was really beautiful!

Coast.

One of the things I think I’ll miss the most when I leave Perú is the food! It is, by far, the most delicious food I’ve ever had in my life. Anyways, here’s an example of a typical market in Lima:

I guess that’s it! This will likely be my last post from Perú, but I do plan to do one once I settle back in in the States. Besos desde Perú!