Well we´re well into our tour now and it´s been a lot of fun since we left Quito. I didn´t elaborate very much about Ecuador once we´ve left the capital. I have definitely gotten an appreciation for the fact that Ecuador is a third world country. In Mindo, we probably stayed in the nicest place in town and it still didn´t have electricity in the rooms except for a bulb hanging from the ceilings. Hot showers and water pressure is something for dreamers.
I´d have to say that Mindo has been my favourite town so far though. It´s very tranquile....except for the roosters! They start crowing at 3am and don´t stop til about 8am. On our first night in Mindo, the hotel manager locked the front door, which locked my roomate out of the hotel. I woke up at 4 am, only to find one of the guys on our tour, who was also looking for his roomate. They were fine, but what another fine example of a fire hazard.
After Mindo, we travelled the long commute , 340 km, to St Vincente. It was only supposed to take us 4 hours, but instead took us 9. We arrive just in time to have a super late dinner.
The next we spent the day at the beach in Canoa, a neighbouring town. We tried boogie boarding and surfing, as well as rides in a ¨plane¨. ´
I´ll take a moment to pause on a story about one of the people on my group. For many of the people in the group, english is a second language. One of the girls´ english is sort of poor, and we recenly taught her the word ¨sketchy¨, which I have to say, we use a lot. This is how i would describe our ¨plane¨ ride. It was more like a motorcycle with a large sail on it. It was a lot of fun and I´ll post pictures once I get back.
We left St Vincente really late and drove to Puerto Lopez. We arrive at 3 in the morning, and I was not at all comforted by the fact that the beds at the hotel required mosquito nets. I´ve got to say that I think it´s a bit ridiculous that I have yet to see a mosquito, but I´m covered in Mosquito bites.
In Puerto Lopez we went for a boat ride which took up most of the day. We went snorkeling and saw natural rock formations that looked like gorillas and a turtle. Also, my highlight of the trip, I saw some blue footed boobies! For those of you that don´t know, they´re native to the Galapagos and Ecuador, and they´re pretty normal looking birds, with bright blue feet.
The next day our group went for a hike into the jungle. It was 30 km each way and very intense. Although wildlife like monkeys could be heard, they were not seen.
Yesterday we arrived in Salinas, and we´re staying at a five star hotel. It´s really nice and everyone was welcome for somewhere with hot water, and a place to dry off.
Today we mostly hung out by the pool and walked on the beach.
My goal was originally to return home as pale as I came down. Well. that is not goign to happen. I got horribly sunburnt in Canoa, even though I was wearing excessive amounts of suncreen and it was raining out! I couldn´t believe it.
So tomorrow we´re heading into Banos, where we´re staying for two nights, and then heading back into Quito. In 11 days we´ll have a made a pretty good tour around the country.
There´s a lot of detail that I´m not adding about my trip, mostly because I don´t have a lot of time. My wrist is all better and i´m enjoying not having to have someone help me all the time, like a gimp!
My computer is counting down like a bad action movie, I´ll post before I leave Quito.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Somewhere over the rainbow
Well we´re well into our tour now and it´s been a lot of fun since we left Quito. I didn´t elaborate very much about Ecuador once we´ve left the capital. I have definitely gotten an appreciation for the fact that Ecuador is a third world country. In Mindo, we probably stayed in the nicest place in town and it still didn´t have electricity in the rooms except for a bulb hanging from the ceilings. Hot showers and water pressure is something for dreamers.
I´d have to say that Mindo has been my favourite town so far though. It´s very tranquile....except for the roosters! They start crowing at 3am and don´t stop til about 8am. On our first night in Mindo, the hotel manager locked the front door, which locked my roomate out of the hotel. I woke up at 4 am, only to find one of the guys on our tour, who was also looking for his roomate. They were fine, but what another fine example of a fire hazard.
After Mindo, we travelled the long commute , 340 km, to St Vincente. It was only supposed to take us 4 hours, but instead took us 9. We arrive just in time to have a super late dinner.
The next we spent the day at the beach in Canoa, a neighbouring town. We tried boogie boarding and surfing, as well as rides in a ¨plane¨. ´
I´ll take a moment to pause on a story about one of the people on my group. For many of the people in the group, english is a second language. One of the girls´ english is sort of poor, and we recenly taught her the word ¨sketchy¨, which I have to say, we use a lot. This is how i would describe our ¨plane¨ ride. It was more like a motorcycle with a large sail on it. It was a lot of fun and I´ll post pictures once I get back.
We left St Vincente really late and drove to Puerto Lopez. We arrive at 3 in the morning, and I was not at all comforted by the fact that the beds at the hotel required mosquito nets. I´ve got to say that I think it´s a bit ridiculous that I have yet to see a mosquito, but I´m covered in Mosquito bites.
In Puerto Lopez we went for a boat ride which took up most of the day. We went snorkeling and saw natural rock formations that looked like gorillas and a turtle. Also, my highlight of the trip, I saw some blue footed boobies! For those of you that don´t know, they´re native to the Galapagos and Ecuador, and they´re pretty normal looking birds, with bright blue feet.
The next day our group went for a hike into the jungle. It was 30 km each way and very intense. Although wildlife like monkeys could be heard, they were not seen.
Yesterday we arrived in Salinas, and we´re staying at a five star hotel. It´s really nice and everyone was welcome for somewhere with hot water, and a place to dry off.
Today we mostly hung out by the pool and walked on the beach.
My goal was originally to return home as pale as I came down. Well. that is not goign to happen. I got horribly sunburnt in Canoa, even though I was wearing excessive amounts of suncreen and it was raining out! I couldn´t believe it.
So tomorrow we´re heading into Banos, where we´re staying for two nights, and then heading back into Quito. In 11 days we´ll have a made a pretty good tour around the country.
There´s a lot of detail that I´m not adding about my trip, mostly because I don´t have a lot of time. My wrist is all better and i´m enjoying not having to have someone help me all the time, like a gimp!
My computer is counting down like a bad action movie, I´ll post before I leave Quito.
I´d have to say that Mindo has been my favourite town so far though. It´s very tranquile....except for the roosters! They start crowing at 3am and don´t stop til about 8am. On our first night in Mindo, the hotel manager locked the front door, which locked my roomate out of the hotel. I woke up at 4 am, only to find one of the guys on our tour, who was also looking for his roomate. They were fine, but what another fine example of a fire hazard.
After Mindo, we travelled the long commute , 340 km, to St Vincente. It was only supposed to take us 4 hours, but instead took us 9. We arrive just in time to have a super late dinner.
The next we spent the day at the beach in Canoa, a neighbouring town. We tried boogie boarding and surfing, as well as rides in a ¨plane¨. ´
I´ll take a moment to pause on a story about one of the people on my group. For many of the people in the group, english is a second language. One of the girls´ english is sort of poor, and we recenly taught her the word ¨sketchy¨, which I have to say, we use a lot. This is how i would describe our ¨plane¨ ride. It was more like a motorcycle with a large sail on it. It was a lot of fun and I´ll post pictures once I get back.
We left St Vincente really late and drove to Puerto Lopez. We arrive at 3 in the morning, and I was not at all comforted by the fact that the beds at the hotel required mosquito nets. I´ve got to say that I think it´s a bit ridiculous that I have yet to see a mosquito, but I´m covered in Mosquito bites.
In Puerto Lopez we went for a boat ride which took up most of the day. We went snorkeling and saw natural rock formations that looked like gorillas and a turtle. Also, my highlight of the trip, I saw some blue footed boobies! For those of you that don´t know, they´re native to the Galapagos and Ecuador, and they´re pretty normal looking birds, with bright blue feet.
The next day our group went for a hike into the jungle. It was 30 km each way and very intense. Although wildlife like monkeys could be heard, they were not seen.
Yesterday we arrived in Salinas, and we´re staying at a five star hotel. It´s really nice and everyone was welcome for somewhere with hot water, and a place to dry off.
Today we mostly hung out by the pool and walked on the beach.
My goal was originally to return home as pale as I came down. Well. that is not goign to happen. I got horribly sunburnt in Canoa, even though I was wearing excessive amounts of suncreen and it was raining out! I couldn´t believe it.
So tomorrow we´re heading into Banos, where we´re staying for two nights, and then heading back into Quito. In 11 days we´ll have a made a pretty good tour around the country.
There´s a lot of detail that I´m not adding about my trip, mostly because I don´t have a lot of time. My wrist is all better and i´m enjoying not having to have someone help me all the time, like a gimp!
My computer is counting down like a bad action movie, I´ll post before I leave Quito.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Hey everyone,
I´m going to try my best with this entry but I´ve sprained my wrist and it´s all bandaged up.
I realize that I haven´t updated my blog in awhile and I have lots to say!
We´re officially done with Quito and we left there on Tuesday afternoon. We finished all of our rotations. My favourite was doing physical therapy with kids, but the most shocking was the public hospital. I can´t even describe how rudimentary it was. It kind of reminded me of MASH, because there were rooms that were just full of people lying on beds, pretty busted up. They don´t always use gloves, even when they´re taking blood to test for HIV. We saw some interesting cases, including someone who had been hit by lightning.
Tuesday was interesting, the morning and afternoon were like night and day. I spent the morning at the public hospital, and spent the afternoon dressed as a clown. We organized a pary for kids with Down´s syndrome and it was a great party. It had a spiderman theme and one of the guys on our trip dressed up as spiderman.
So besides our rotations, we finished up our project in Quito. The building is completely finished. The space will be used as a store, for selling donated goods so the foundation can raise money. This is a foundation that provides physical therapy, at a minimal cost, for people who have lost limbs. People come from all over South America to use their services.
The building needed a lot of work. To start with, it was full of stuff. We spent a lot of time cleaning it and then we painted to walls. When we started a lot of the windows were broken and it didn´t have electricity. It´s a pretty basic building, made of cement, with a metal roof. It kind of leaks when it rains. I´m going to post before and after pictures after I´m back.
Last Friday we held a ¨medical bridage¨. There were ads in the newspapers, radios etc. We got a bunch of doctors together and it was an education day for people with diabetes. about 65 people came. We fed them, helped with their physical exams and assessments.
Because everything went so well on Friday, we had today off. We drove to a nearby national park, that was so beautiful. We went to a lookout point, on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a huge valley.
Next we went to the ¨center of the world¨. Apparently the Incans figured out that this one spot is the center of the world and it sits on the Ecuator. So we got a lot of the typical shots, with one foot on each side of the Ecuator. It kind of reminded me of that simpsons episode where they´re all standing in different states.We stopped at a market on the way home. It was fun and we picked up a bunch of trinkets. We´re going to hold a fundraising event when we get back, to help later groups, and we´re buying a lot of stuff to sell at silent auctions.
On Sunday we went to a soccer game. I have never experienced anything quite like it. First of all, they separate the fans for the opposing teams because violence is expected. We sat in the section for the most spirited fans and we didn´t sit down the whole game. It was all chanting, singing and running up and down the stands.
So we´re on our tour now and our first stop is Mindo, and we arrived yesterday. Yesterday we went for a hike. It was really intense. Think of the grouse grind, for an hour and a half, in the blistering heat. We ended up at a waterfall, that was 40 feet tall, that we repelled down. In the afternoon we went tubing down a river.
Today we went for some more hikes, this time to more waterfalls! We started by taking a gondola across a huge valley. Some of the guys went cliff jumping, off a 12 m cliff. My favourite was the second waterfall, which had natural waterslides, formed by the water (this is where i hurt my hand).
I´ll try my best to update more!
Adios
I´m going to try my best with this entry but I´ve sprained my wrist and it´s all bandaged up.
I realize that I haven´t updated my blog in awhile and I have lots to say!
We´re officially done with Quito and we left there on Tuesday afternoon. We finished all of our rotations. My favourite was doing physical therapy with kids, but the most shocking was the public hospital. I can´t even describe how rudimentary it was. It kind of reminded me of MASH, because there were rooms that were just full of people lying on beds, pretty busted up. They don´t always use gloves, even when they´re taking blood to test for HIV. We saw some interesting cases, including someone who had been hit by lightning.
Tuesday was interesting, the morning and afternoon were like night and day. I spent the morning at the public hospital, and spent the afternoon dressed as a clown. We organized a pary for kids with Down´s syndrome and it was a great party. It had a spiderman theme and one of the guys on our trip dressed up as spiderman.
So besides our rotations, we finished up our project in Quito. The building is completely finished. The space will be used as a store, for selling donated goods so the foundation can raise money. This is a foundation that provides physical therapy, at a minimal cost, for people who have lost limbs. People come from all over South America to use their services.
The building needed a lot of work. To start with, it was full of stuff. We spent a lot of time cleaning it and then we painted to walls. When we started a lot of the windows were broken and it didn´t have electricity. It´s a pretty basic building, made of cement, with a metal roof. It kind of leaks when it rains. I´m going to post before and after pictures after I´m back.
Last Friday we held a ¨medical bridage¨. There were ads in the newspapers, radios etc. We got a bunch of doctors together and it was an education day for people with diabetes. about 65 people came. We fed them, helped with their physical exams and assessments.
Because everything went so well on Friday, we had today off. We drove to a nearby national park, that was so beautiful. We went to a lookout point, on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a huge valley.
Next we went to the ¨center of the world¨. Apparently the Incans figured out that this one spot is the center of the world and it sits on the Ecuator. So we got a lot of the typical shots, with one foot on each side of the Ecuator. It kind of reminded me of that simpsons episode where they´re all standing in different states.We stopped at a market on the way home. It was fun and we picked up a bunch of trinkets. We´re going to hold a fundraising event when we get back, to help later groups, and we´re buying a lot of stuff to sell at silent auctions.
On Sunday we went to a soccer game. I have never experienced anything quite like it. First of all, they separate the fans for the opposing teams because violence is expected. We sat in the section for the most spirited fans and we didn´t sit down the whole game. It was all chanting, singing and running up and down the stands.
So we´re on our tour now and our first stop is Mindo, and we arrived yesterday. Yesterday we went for a hike. It was really intense. Think of the grouse grind, for an hour and a half, in the blistering heat. We ended up at a waterfall, that was 40 feet tall, that we repelled down. In the afternoon we went tubing down a river.
Today we went for some more hikes, this time to more waterfalls! We started by taking a gondola across a huge valley. Some of the guys went cliff jumping, off a 12 m cliff. My favourite was the second waterfall, which had natural waterslides, formed by the water (this is where i hurt my hand).
I´ll try my best to update more!
Adios
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Hi everyone,
Today we had our first break and we were set loose in Quito for the afternoon so I thought i could update my blog. Like I said before, we´re kept very busy with our rotations. On Friday I was at a different rehab center and we got to help with the physical therapy of an Ecuadorian boy who has neurological deficits and couldn´t stand on his own. We´re getting some good work done on our project.
We have been rotating through the ER in the public hospital, surgery, and a few rehab centers. While it´s interesting, none of it is particularly spectacular for me. The other people in my group are really excited about intubated and giving shots etc. none of which is foreign to me
On Friday night, after dinner, we went out to a bar with a live band. Some of the people in our group really wanted to go to a club so we had to leave, only to discover that they had locked the door with a padlock and we had to go find someone to unlock it for us. (Carlyn, you need to tell Jamie about that, I thought of him). We spent the rest of the night at a club called Bungalow 6.
We had some free time this weekend, and by that I mean they kept us busy with non-work activities. Yesterday (Saturday), we took a drive out of Quito and went to an Indian market. It was a four hour car ride because of a cycling race that was going on, that was holding up traffic. I bought a bunch of local crafts and had a lot of fun haggling with them. Next we went for a boat ride.
There are a lot of volcanoes around Quito. The one we were visiting erupted 1400 years ago and imploded. The crater became filled with water from underground sources and formed a lake. Lava from the eruption formed a few islands in the center. The boat ride was beautiful. The volcano is still active and because of the sulphur, the water was a brilliant blue and was bubbling.
Today we went for a tour around Old town, and walked by many of the squares. Quito is over 500 years old and our tour guide entertained us with a lot of the folk lore. We went to several museums and I kept up with my old habit of trying to get away with as many pictures as I could, even though the security guards were watching us like hawks.
Quito is a great city. The weather is phenomenal but quite variant. It can be brilliantly sunny one minute, and then thunder and lightning the next. Although we think it´s quite hot, the locals walk around in long pants and wool sweaters.
None of the laws in Quito seem to be enforced, and from what I hear the police force is a bit of a joke. Basically the speed limit is as fast as your car can go. One of our tour guides was telling us that after 7pm, 80 % of drivers have had at least two drinks. Although homelessness and drug use isn´t a problem in Quito, alcoholism is. Mostly because alcohol is so cheap.
They use American currency here and it´s hard to find anyone that will give you change, even for a 10 dollar bill.
There are people in the streets that sell the most random things. For instance I saw a woman this morning with clothes pins in one hand and batteries in the other.
Anyways, I´m running out of time, I have a meeting to get to.
Ruth
Today we had our first break and we were set loose in Quito for the afternoon so I thought i could update my blog. Like I said before, we´re kept very busy with our rotations. On Friday I was at a different rehab center and we got to help with the physical therapy of an Ecuadorian boy who has neurological deficits and couldn´t stand on his own. We´re getting some good work done on our project.
We have been rotating through the ER in the public hospital, surgery, and a few rehab centers. While it´s interesting, none of it is particularly spectacular for me. The other people in my group are really excited about intubated and giving shots etc. none of which is foreign to me
On Friday night, after dinner, we went out to a bar with a live band. Some of the people in our group really wanted to go to a club so we had to leave, only to discover that they had locked the door with a padlock and we had to go find someone to unlock it for us. (Carlyn, you need to tell Jamie about that, I thought of him). We spent the rest of the night at a club called Bungalow 6.
We had some free time this weekend, and by that I mean they kept us busy with non-work activities. Yesterday (Saturday), we took a drive out of Quito and went to an Indian market. It was a four hour car ride because of a cycling race that was going on, that was holding up traffic. I bought a bunch of local crafts and had a lot of fun haggling with them. Next we went for a boat ride.
There are a lot of volcanoes around Quito. The one we were visiting erupted 1400 years ago and imploded. The crater became filled with water from underground sources and formed a lake. Lava from the eruption formed a few islands in the center. The boat ride was beautiful. The volcano is still active and because of the sulphur, the water was a brilliant blue and was bubbling.
Today we went for a tour around Old town, and walked by many of the squares. Quito is over 500 years old and our tour guide entertained us with a lot of the folk lore. We went to several museums and I kept up with my old habit of trying to get away with as many pictures as I could, even though the security guards were watching us like hawks.
Quito is a great city. The weather is phenomenal but quite variant. It can be brilliantly sunny one minute, and then thunder and lightning the next. Although we think it´s quite hot, the locals walk around in long pants and wool sweaters.
None of the laws in Quito seem to be enforced, and from what I hear the police force is a bit of a joke. Basically the speed limit is as fast as your car can go. One of our tour guides was telling us that after 7pm, 80 % of drivers have had at least two drinks. Although homelessness and drug use isn´t a problem in Quito, alcoholism is. Mostly because alcohol is so cheap.
They use American currency here and it´s hard to find anyone that will give you change, even for a 10 dollar bill.
There are people in the streets that sell the most random things. For instance I saw a woman this morning with clothes pins in one hand and batteries in the other.
Anyways, I´m running out of time, I have a meeting to get to.
Ruth
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Hey everyone!
I´ll have to make this quick (as usual) because other people are waiting for the computer. We have really busy days and by the time I get back I´m pretty tired. So like I said before, in the morning we do rotations. On the first day (Wednesday), i watched two surgeries in the morning. They were both rhinoplasties. I´ve gotta say, I´ll never look at a nose the same way again. This morning I was at a rehab center. Our project of fixing up the building is moving along, but slowly. We got all of the walls scrubbed down and one coat of white primer.
Ecuador is a pretty strange place to be because it´s full of contradictions. Everyone is really friendly and nice, but every building is surrounded by barbed wire. The center we visited for children with down´s syndrome had a high wall surrounding it, with broken glass pieces lining the top.
The drivers are very similar to European drivers and do not heed pedestrians at all. It´s quite dangerous to drive around and to cross the street. Also, none of the vehicles we have been in have seatbelts and we find ourselves pilling 10 people in the back of a pickup truck.
We´re all really looking forward to the weekend, because we´re going to be touring around the city. Apparently mothers day is huge in Ecuador and everyone celebrates all weekend. ( by the way, happy mothers day Lolo, T and Karen!).
Anyways, thats enough for now!
Adios!
I´ll have to make this quick (as usual) because other people are waiting for the computer. We have really busy days and by the time I get back I´m pretty tired. So like I said before, in the morning we do rotations. On the first day (Wednesday), i watched two surgeries in the morning. They were both rhinoplasties. I´ve gotta say, I´ll never look at a nose the same way again. This morning I was at a rehab center. Our project of fixing up the building is moving along, but slowly. We got all of the walls scrubbed down and one coat of white primer.
Ecuador is a pretty strange place to be because it´s full of contradictions. Everyone is really friendly and nice, but every building is surrounded by barbed wire. The center we visited for children with down´s syndrome had a high wall surrounding it, with broken glass pieces lining the top.
The drivers are very similar to European drivers and do not heed pedestrians at all. It´s quite dangerous to drive around and to cross the street. Also, none of the vehicles we have been in have seatbelts and we find ourselves pilling 10 people in the back of a pickup truck.
We´re all really looking forward to the weekend, because we´re going to be touring around the city. Apparently mothers day is huge in Ecuador and everyone celebrates all weekend. ( by the way, happy mothers day Lolo, T and Karen!).
Anyways, thats enough for now!
Adios!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Arrived in Quito
Hey Everyone,
I´m getting my sister to post on my blog because I don´t understand how to post because everything is in Spanish! So we arrived in Quito last night, after two very long flights. We had a really busy day today and it was great. We don´t start work til tomorrow.
Every morning we volunteer at different sites, and we visited a few of them today. The first we went to was a medical center where we will be observing surgeries and helping in a rehabilitation center. The second site we went to is a center for kids with Down´s syndrome. It helps them work on communication from the age of two months to five years old in the hope that they will be able to attend regular schools. We willl also be volunteering in an ER.
All in all we raised about 3500 US and we´re very excited about that. So thank you to everyone that contriibuted to our fundraising efforts. In the afternoon we will be working on our project, for which we were raising money. Our project is with a rehabilation center that works with people who have lost limbs. Many of the patients are taught skills, such as painting, in the hope that they will be able to support themselves. People come from all over South America to receive help from this center.
We are going to be fixing up a building, so that it can be converted to a shop, to help them fundraise. Tomorrow I´m observing a few surgeries in the morning and then we´re all meeing up at our project in the afternoon.
I will post again as soon as I can
I´m getting my sister to post on my blog because I don´t understand how to post because everything is in Spanish! So we arrived in Quito last night, after two very long flights. We had a really busy day today and it was great. We don´t start work til tomorrow.
Every morning we volunteer at different sites, and we visited a few of them today. The first we went to was a medical center where we will be observing surgeries and helping in a rehabilitation center. The second site we went to is a center for kids with Down´s syndrome. It helps them work on communication from the age of two months to five years old in the hope that they will be able to attend regular schools. We willl also be volunteering in an ER.
All in all we raised about 3500 US and we´re very excited about that. So thank you to everyone that contriibuted to our fundraising efforts. In the afternoon we will be working on our project, for which we were raising money. Our project is with a rehabilation center that works with people who have lost limbs. Many of the patients are taught skills, such as painting, in the hope that they will be able to support themselves. People come from all over South America to receive help from this center.
We are going to be fixing up a building, so that it can be converted to a shop, to help them fundraise. Tomorrow I´m observing a few surgeries in the morning and then we´re all meeing up at our project in the afternoon.
I will post again as soon as I can
Monday, May 7, 2007
Hey everyone,
We just arrived safely in Quito. It´s 11 o´clock local time. I´m having a bit of trouble checking my email so I won´t be able to email anyone tonight.
Our flights were pretty uneventful. We left from Seattle at 6:15 and had a two hour layover in Atlanta.
It seems as though I´ll have steady enough access to internet, so provided i can figure out this keyboard, I should be updating my blog regularly.
We just arrived safely in Quito. It´s 11 o´clock local time. I´m having a bit of trouble checking my email so I won´t be able to email anyone tonight.
Our flights were pretty uneventful. We left from Seattle at 6:15 and had a two hour layover in Atlanta.
It seems as though I´ll have steady enough access to internet, so provided i can figure out this keyboard, I should be updating my blog regularly.
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