Tarapoto

A typical Peruvian dish of Palta Rellena (stuffed avocado) with shrimp. This giant shrimp has some killer legs! This was one of the dishes we ordered at the restaurant we ate at for lunch.

Tarapoto - Vision Project

Photos:

*Discussing the needs of the hospital. 

*In the hall at the hospital outside the ophthalmology department. 

*Waiting room at the hospital. 

*Hospital hallway. 

*The landscape surrounding Tarapoto was among the most beautiful places I have been. Photos do not do this view justice. 

Last Friday we again found ourselves traveling. This time to the Selva (jungle) to the City of Tarapoto.  We accompanied our vision specialist from Salt Lake City on a development trip to assess the needs of the hospital there and to find out if there were any assistance the church could help provide to help diagnose and treat vision problems in the region. We met and talked with doctors and administrators of the hospital and verified what kinds of equipment the hospital currently uses and their equipment needs. We are hoping to be able to get a project approved here as there is great need.  

The hospital is a temporary hospital which they have been in for the last couple of years while the new hospital is being constructed.  They anticipate the new hospital will be finished by the end of the year and when they will move into it, they will convert this one to a health center.

This was our second time to visit Tarapoto. We were here in October for a Newborn Resuscitation Training seminar with healthcare workers involved in delivering babies. The people here are friendly, the food is great, the landscape stunning. Tarapoto is also home to the Orquidea Chocolate Factory which we discovered on our previous trip here in October of 2015.