Hasta Luego Ecuador, Otra Vez

So I got bumped last night from my flight, and got to spend another day in Ecuador. It was a fun day I woke to a clear view of the volcano Cayumbe. The days activities included watching Ecuadorian dancers, shopping (my bags are heavier tonight!), and walking around the old city, where there were many Ecuadorians celebrating independence day. I hung out with Rufino and Elder and Sister Flake, so I had great company.

Hasta Luego, Ecuador

Our training trips in Quevedo and Santo Domingo went well. Our trip organizers, the Yosts, the Flakes, and Fernando, helped all to go smoothly. In Santo Domingo, we had more nurses as well as the doctors, and everyone seemed eager to practice and participate in the course.

Between our first and second days in Santo Domingo, we visited the Tsáchila Indians. They presented their history and culture. The men in the culture use red paint from seeds on their hair, and both the men and the women paint black stripes around their bodies; evidently they were having a plague of three diseases (small pox, measles, and something else) and painting their bodies this way helped them to get better. So, they still do it. While they speak Spanish, they also have their own indigenous language.

After finishing on Thursday, we drove to Quito. Today we visited the real Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world, or in other words, the Equator). This is 240 meters north of the Equator identified by the French in the 1800's They got pretty close. I was able to balance an egg on the head of a nail, and became an official "Eggmaster". While it is possible right on the equator, several of our group were still unable to do it. So I am proud of my "Eggmaster" title.

Following this we went on the Teleferico. We did this three years ago when we came to Ecuador as a family (and with the BYU student nurses). At the time it was foggy, and we did not get to see anything. Today was clear, and we could see the very big city of Quito, as well as glimpses of Cotopaxi and Cayambe as they came into view as they went in and out of the clouds.

We then went and saw the "gold church" downtown in Quito, walked around, ate dinner on a rooftop with a beautiful view of the city, and eventually headed here to the airport to wait for the flight. It has been a great trip all of the way around, and quite amazingly, there is internet here at the airport so I can write about it!

GONE BANANAS

I have gone bananas! Finally, after traveling to 3 continents and twice as many countries in the past 2 ½ months, I really have gone bananas! In a good way, though, a very good way. I am here in banana country in Ecuador, teaching Neonatal Resuscitation with a team from the LDS Church. This is something I have dreamed of doing, and as the end of a summer of travel, seems like a pot of gold and the end of a very beautiful rainbow.

The only negative part of all of this travel is being away from family, although I have been with at least one of them until this trip. First, there was 3 ½ weeks with the BYU nursing students and Mike in Tonga. It was really great to be with my husband/best friend on a beautiful tropical island, and working besides. The nursing students also helped to make it fun, even with many of them getting GI problems—some severe enough to be hospitalized. I will feel forever close to them.

Within a couple of days after our return from Tonga, we headed to St. George. I stayed for the next 11 of 13 days with Alison, Ethan, and Soren, and finally, baby Madsen. Madsen was born on a day I had been DREADING, my 50th birthday. Suddenly, it became my best birthday ever! He is a cutie, and I have not seen him enough.

I made it home in time for Annie’ s graduation on June 9th, and for all the family coming for Zac and Caitee West’s wedding on June 11th in the Salt Lake Temple. I then had enough time to do laundry and turn around and head to Belgium with Annie on June 27th. We had so much fun there, with Michele and her mom! We stayed at their home (Michele is our former Rotary Exchange student), and went some really fun places that are well chronicled on this blog.

From Belgium, Annie and I traveled to Cancun, where I presented my research at an international nursing conference at a really nice resort. The last day of the conference, Mike, Neil, Ruth, and Sam came down, and the following day we headed to Merida, Mexico, to see our friends from the time we lived there in 2001. We stayed at a beach house in Chelem, on the Gulf of Mexico, owned by some very kind friends who let us use it. We traveled around, seeing our friends, Mayan ruins, eating our favorite foods, and even swimming in cenotes. We had a great time.

Then, home for a week, with time to go boating, do laundry, host a baby shower, and get our Rachel back from Honduras where she spent her summer with Amigos de las Americas, performing community service. It was a big sacrifice on her part, considering how much fun we had while she was gone.

Not 24 hours after Rachel came home, I was gone again, this time to Ecuador, where I am now. I am getting to do something I have dreamed about, for most of the 29 years I have been a nurse. I landed in Quito, and soon met all the team. We even went to church in the same church where Sam was baptized three years ago!

We are teaching in Quevedo and Santo Domingo Ecuador. They are ugly (sorry if I offend anyone) little cities in Ecuador’s banana belt. I must say, that teaching in Quevedo was really scary, because my Spanish can use a LOT of improvement. However, I love the people we taught, the 45 mostly doctors that came to learn neonatal resuscitation. I also enjoy the team I am working with—Dr. Brown (from Logan), Rufino Rodriguez, a respiratory therapist (from Provo), the Flakes, (from Centerville), theYosts serving there humanitarian mission here in Ecuador (from Rigby, ID), and Fernando, our very attentive welfare representative from Quito. I am looking forward to tomorrow, hoping to improve my presentation, and to meet another group of learners.

Could it be a better summer? I don’t know—I have never had one this good. Sorry to those in my family who haven’t seen me much, and to those who have (four weeks with Mom has probably given Annie her fill for a long time). There is a potential this summer to get even better –there is girl’s camp with Rachel and Ruth, and a trip to Idaho coming up. But for right now, I am very content. It has been a good summer. I have gone bananas! And I LOVE bananas!