Spending 2 weeks on the Peruvian Amazon in July 2024, as part of my medical school elective, was an unforgettable and unique time that I never thought I’d experience as a student. It was a very useful clinical and cultural experience for both my personal and professional development, and one I know that I will look back fondly on for many years.

I have always been interested in remote and rural healthcare, alongside a long-term desire to travel to South America, so when I discovered the Vine Trust and the electives they offered, I knew it was the perfect choice for my elective. I had no idea charities like this operated, so once I knew they had spaces I was very quick to apply! Organising an elective can be super overwhelming, but I found the team provided amazing practical support which helped with booking flights, kit lists, medications, travel advice and general trip logistics. This made me feel very relaxed and helped take a lot of the pre-expedition stress away.

After landing in Iquitos, it was really useful to have some time to settle in after meeting our amazing and characterful guide Frank. I really enjoyed being able to explore a very unique place, as it was so different to other parts of Peru like Trujillo and Lima where I had been travelling a few weeks prior. A whole day was spent travelling around Iquitos, including a manatee conservation centre, a butterfly and jungle sanctuary and Belen market. The main highlight for me was the animal sanctuary centre, seeing amazing wildlife including ocelots, jaguars, spider monkeys and anteaters.

On day 2, we travelled over to the Forth Hope ship, where we met the very friendly ship crew and Doctor Ronald the chief medical officer. We also had our induction to the clinic rooms and the electronic notes system. The ship cabins were very comfortable with good storage space and en-suites, which alongside the mess helped me feel at home very quickly. The food was always incredible, with great portion sizes and lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and refreshing fruit juice every day! It is fair to say that the food was one of the main highlights of the trip!

After the induction, Frank taught us some useful Spanish phrases including drawing and labelling all the human body parts in Spanish! We then got set up in the clinic room and met the wider team of translators, Peruvian healthcare students and dentists. I spent the first few days with a Venezuelan doctor who was volunteering on the ship alongside a translator, and then seeing patients independently with the translator under Dr Ronald’s supervision for the remainder of the trip.

I learnt very quickly that there wasn’t a typical clinical day or consultation! At times, it could be one patient on their own, or an entire family in one go which could be 3 different generations of family members. An increasingly unique experience was when patients brought their pets on which included birds and a monkey! There were quite a few common ailments including lots of musculoskeletal conditions and arthritis, and there was common family-wide prescriptions of vitamins and anti-parasite medications. I really enjoyed providing care to patients of different ages, which included new-born baby checks, common condition consultations and chronic disease checks.

For the first time in my life, I found I enjoyed waking up early as we did daily jungle walk to explore the nearby village where we were stationed for the day. Highlights included being able to spot Iguanas, Sloths and monkeys in trees, alongside trying to retrieve fresh papayas. Alongside the wildlife, I found exploring the nearby villages really insightful to gain a better understanding of how these communities of patients lived, what facilities they had and what normal daily life looked for them. I always enjoyed spending time in the villages at sunset as well, as there was always time for a bit of football or volleyball with the crew. One evening was spent doing a night jungle walk, which was a particularly enlightening experience! Frank took us out with his torch and gear, where we discovered a few different animals including tree frogs, toads, fireflies and tarantulas. We were all “strongly” encouraged to hold the tarantula, which was a terrifying yet memorable experience!

Downtime on the ship involved playing some very competitive Uno and Monopoly Deal. There was also Karaoke, where some other British volunteers decided to introduce some of Abba’s top hits to the rest of the crew with an enthusiastic reception! Frank also taught us some Peruvian dances that he choreographed alongside the other Peruvian volunteers, which we then performed on the final night at the farewell show. The Peruvian volunteers and team were far superior dancers to us British volunteers. I definitely found I had two left feet in every single dance. There was also an opportunity to try some traditional Latin American dancing and have a go at salsa, which took more energy than playing football!

These few weeks I spent in Peru, has helped me develop hugely professionally and personally. I found being immersed in a culture where English isn’t the first language to be overwhelming at first before really enjoying the challenge of attempting to speak some Spanish. I found seeing patients on my own in a GP setting to be out of my comfort zone, but this gave me more clinical consultation confidence both during my elective and then on subsequent placements back in the UK. It has been really useful to experience how other health care systems work, seeing how they overcome their limitations and lack of facilities, relying on clinical judgement and experience. It was encouraging to see some of the positives of their own system and bits which could be taken into my own future practice back in the UK.

It really was an opportunity of a lifetime to see how real remote medical healthcare works and how a peripatetic facility can improve outcomes for people’s lives. It gave me a true taster of volunteering abroad in developing countries, which I am very keen to do once I fully qualify. I wholly recommend the Vine Trust to any healthcare students who are keen to do some travelling but also want to try something a bit different, you won’t regret it!