An Eventful Week

August 10th was Independence Day here in Ecuador. We had the 13th off of work to honor the day. Apparently most celebrations occur in Quito but lots of people were traveling for the long weekend. Tena was full!

August 15th was the 4 year anniversary of PediHabilidad. Last Monday, we had a big party to celebrate! All the kids were invited to the program and the auditorium was filled with families showing their support for the program. Some doctors and a local government representative gave thanks for the services and Nicole gave a recap and list of future goals. Then 16 adapted seats were given to children as well as 2 sets of crutches that had been donated. The event ended with cake and guayusa (a local sweet drink that tradition says that if you drink it, you have to return to Ecuador). The news crew was there and I did my first TV interview!
Wednesday was another exciting day at work. I joined one of the women’s indoor soccer teams from the hospital. With the beginning of any new sports season, holidays, school classes at any level, there is a madrina pageant. It is something that would never fly in the U.S., but here a representative is picked for each team that is single. This person has to get all dressed up – do their hair, makeup, wear a dress, carry flowers, wear a sash – and compete against the other team representatives. Somehow I got picked to be madrina for my team, the Superstars. The girls from work got me all fancied up and then I had to strut out in my heels in front of the team. During the event, the team was chanting my name and there was music playing. It is quite the tradition. Luckily, it ended in a drawing rather than a winner being chosen! I lost the drawing. Our team did win for best uniform though!

Then the game started. We have lost our first two games but it has been pretty fun! We play on a small cement field with a small, hard ball. There are 5 players and a goalie on the field at one time.

Before the 16 adapted chairs are to be sent home, a couple of changes needed to be made. The chairs were intended to be very simple; however the needs of many of the kids from PediHabilidad are more complex. Therefore, those constructing them were not accustomed to some of the suggestions and further adaptations needed to be made to ensure safety. The therapists came in this week to make the changes.
Last night, one of my friends had the inauguration of his new bar. It was a lot of fun. There were two bands and a lot of people there.

Life in Tena - after 6 months

Recently I learned that water is not always cleaned. If it is, then it is not cleaned well, before heading to the river. So if you are going for a swim, go upstream!

There was indeed an earthquake in Ecuador this past Thursday felt in all areas of the country, even here in Tena. Luckily, it was 235 km deep therefore causing little physical destruction and zero deaths.

Kevin, the physical therapy volunteer from Canada, has been giving presentations on Fridays to prepare therapists for when the adult center opens. The new building still does not have an opening date. Lectures are also being given on Thursday mornings by different hospital professionals so we have begun to attend those as well.

This past weekend, I went tubing with Nicole´s step-daughter, husband, and Kevin. It was a good, relaxing time. (mom don´t read this) A little unsettling that when we got out of the water, there was a wild boa crawling around but fun otherwise!

Also, remind me to shake out allll my stuff before I leave as I found a friendly cockroach checking out my things the other day. It is always comforting when the kitchen is fumigated too. Alas, I swear it´s not bad. There are just a couple visitors.

Welcome to the Jungle

Turns out I really missed my co-workers while traveling. We have visited a new frozen yogurt place a couple times recently after work...quite fancy for Tena. We have also gone to the Tena Cine - movie theater - where a movie is projected in this big auditorium every Wednesday.

An issue that some kids have here, especially those with disabilities, is malnutrition. We have a kid who comes each week for therapy looking thinner and the mom says he doesn´t eat at home. However, the kid readily ate the yogurt we gave him the other day. If he does not increase his weight, they are going to send someone to the house.

Last week we already had to say bye to one of the most recent volunteers, Andrea, who is a doctor from Canada. She did a lot of work gathering and organizing information for a database of info regarding the population of PediHabilidad. We went out to eat, out for a drink, to dance, and sing for her farewell.

At home, one of the pregnancies resulted in the birth of 9 babies. Last Sunday, I woke up at 5am to what I thought was a cat. After not being able to fall back asleep, I opened my door to check it out and the dog ran in my room. I actively tried to push her out and she would not leave. At 1:15pm, the 9th puppy was born. Turns out the cat was actually the 1st born puppy crying downstairs before Mya decided my room was the delivery room. It was super gross but the puppies are super cute. They still have their eyes closed and will be staying downstairs for the next month until homes are found.

pictures to come, i swear...i have tried a number of times and am having some technical difficulties.

Seeing the Sights with Beth and Jeff

At the end of July, I spent 10 days traveling with my sister Beth and her boyfriend Jeff. We started in Riobamba, nicknamed Friobamba, with plans to take the Nariz del Diablo train. Unfortunately, it is under construction til December. We made our way to Cuenca by another train/buses though. Our attempt to visit El Cajas National Park was brought to an end by rain when we arrived but it ws clear skies and travel from there. We spent a day in Cuenca visiting Ingapirca. On the way to ancient ruins we stopped at a market to see the fruits/animals being sold before learning some Incan history.

The next day was spent in a bus to arrive in Puerto Lopez. The route to Guayaquil was very pretty. While there we spent one day relaxing, the next in Los Frailles (hike through a dry forest through 2 beaches then arrive at Los Frailles - really pretty beaches). Then we spent a day taking a boat whale watching then to Isla de la Plata (walk around to see blue footed boobies and other neat birds - who knew I would think that was interesting?). On the ride back, there were literally hundreds of dolphins jumping through the water. We caught a couple of beautiful sunsets as well while on the Ecuadorian coast.

The following day was spent on a bus from 9am to 12 midnight to arrive in Otavalo. I enjoy the market there and have improved my bargaining skills! We visited Lake Cuicocha the next day. It was nice to have my sister here and see some great locations in Ecuador while visiting!

Making my way back to Tena, I was able to find some very nice people to assist me with figuring out transportation! Thanks for visiting!