Huanchaco, Huaraz, Lima, and DC=)

On Wednesday, I had another one of those South American bus rides that are supposed to be 8 hours but end up as 10. I got a lot of reading done so the drive wasn't too terrible, despite the monotonous desert scenery. I arrived to my hostel in Huanchaco around 8:30pm, hungry and tired but happy to have reached my destination. The hostel staff consisted of 3 blonde 20-somethings from Finland, who'd visited a few years back and didn't want to leave. They were extremely nice and one of the girls even walked me to a little grocery store down the street so I could get something to eat.

I spent the day on Thursday exploring the tiny beach town. There was a surf competition going on the whole time of my stay, so I spent a good part of the morning watching the surfers from the bleachers on the beach. The town definitely has that relaxed surfer vibe feel and is a place where the shops open at 10am and often have signs in the door saying"be back in half an hour". After the competiton, I walked along the beach, tried ceviche for the first time, then lounged in one of the hostel's hammocks. There are definitely worse ways to spend an afternoon then reading on the deck overlooking a bright orange sun setting over the Pacific ocean.

The next morning, I was all rested up and ready to take part in what the town is best known for-surfing! My hostel offered surfing lessons through them, so I set up an appoitnment and they provided the wetsuit, board, and private instructor for 2 and a half hours... all for the very steep price of $13. First Hector (pronunced Ect-Or) had me practice the motions on the beach, then the surf board, then eventually the water. He lead me out a good spot, told me to turn around, then all the sudden he's yelling at me in Spanish to go! go! go! So I did like we practiced and actually stood up and caught the wave! I made it almost back to the beach then had a very ungraceful crash landing onto the rocky sand. As it turns out, my balance is pretty good and I ended up standing up most of the waves I tried for. My swimming however, not so great. I was swimming my hardest and hardly made any progress out to sea without Hector's assistance. So before I go the next time I might splurge for some swim lessons to make it a little easier on both me and my instructor. I had a blast though and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to learn a new sport in a town that's built around it.

Despite being a bit bruised and cut up from my sufing experience, I was ready to venture out of town on Saturday morning to see some ancient ruins. I chose to save money and go by public transportation, which is always an interesting experience in South America. I stood on the side of the road, then as busses come you flag them down like you would a taxi, and jump on while they're still moving. All of that while trying to determine if it's the right bus or not. Luckily it was, and thanks to the fare collecter I actually got off at the right stop, an unmarked stone road that looked like it lead to nowhere.

I walked along for probably a mile, then seemingly out of thin air appeared the ruins. The city was built around the year 850 and had up to 30,000 inhabitants before it was conquered in the 15th century.The architecture was pretty cool, with walls made of adobe brick and pictures of fish and birds etched into the design. That night it was time for another overnight bus ride, this time to the mountain city of Huaraz.

After a hellish 10 hour journey with seats that only went down about 6 inches and Brittish teenagers making animal noises at 4:30am, we arrived in town at 6:30. The hostel was nice enough to give me a nice warm breakfast for no extra charge. I didn't really regain my energy after the rough night though, so I spent most of the day hanging around the hostel with some wandering around the cute town surrounded by picturesque snow-capped mountains.

I was recharged by Monday and signed up for a tour to some of the areas north of the city. I went to sign my name on the list and as I looked up at the nationalities of the other participants, every single one was Peruvian! Maybe that means I picked a really good tour only the locals know about? Who knows. I made friends with the Peruvian girl who sat next to me on the bus and she was nice enough to explain things whenever the guide's Spanish got too fast for me to comprehend what was going on.

Our first stop was Carhuaz, a town that was completely devestated by an earthquake experienced by that region of Peru in 1970. We walked through the beautiful memorial park, which was a combination of a cemetary and a museum with items from the horrible disaster. I learned towards the end that we were actually walking on top of the destoyed town which lies about 10 feet beneath the park. It's sad to think about all those taken lives, but it was inspiring to see that the residents who lived reconstructed a lovely new village right next to the original town.

Our next stop was much more uplifting, the gorgeous Lake Llanganuco with spectacular teal water and bright white mountains surrounding it in all directions. Legend has it that a princess and her commoner boyfriend were tied up in the mountains as punishment for their forbidden romance. According to the story, her tears are what created the magestic lake. I marveled at its beauty, waking around the shore and taking a peaceful boat ride through the water. We stopped for food after departing the lake, then visited a market and sweet shop before returning to Huaraz.

I only had about an hour at the hostel then it was off for yet another night bus, this time to my final destination of Lima. It was another unpleasent night, but it had nothing to do with the riders or the bus itself, which happened to be very comfortable. I think my body decided it had enough of traveling and despite having 6 layers on and a blanket, I was shivering and could feel myself burning up. By the time we arrived in Lima, I had to muster up all my energy just to make it to the street to catch a taxi. Thank goodness my bed was ready at the hostel and I was able to go back to go to sleep for a few hours.

When I woke up, I met an American girl at breakfast and when we started chatting, we realized we literally live 5 blocks away from each other! I walked around with her for a while and we saw a famous statue of a man and woman kissing, then saw the main street. Unfortunately that was about all I could handle for the day and I went back to the hostel and slept away most of the afternoon and night trying to recooperate. Quite an exciting last day in South America.

On Wednesday morning, my taxi arrived at 3:45 in the morning to bring me to the airport where I caught my plane to Miami first, then back home to DC. I arrived last night, 14 hours later, and while I love traveling, it's nice to have the comforts of home again and to be able to talk with friends and family. I had an amazing adventure these past few months and learned so much about medicine, South American culture, and myslef. Thank you to all of you who've kept up with the blog and cared about my travels. Until next time, adios!:)

End of the program, Guayaquil, and arrival in Peru

Friday was my last day with Interhealth. In the morning we had a relaxed meeting discussing what improvements could be implemented to make the program better and tying up a couple of loose ends. We then had the rest of the afternoon off and a group of us went to a local restaurant called Crepes and Waffles. I got an amazing goat cheese, spinach, and mushroom crepe then shared a chocolate fondu for dessert-so good!

After some reorganizing of my bags and relaxing, it was time for our goodbye dinner. We shared one last meal and listened to some sentimental speeches by Dr. Wedemeyer and a few of the participants. I'm going to miss everyone so much, but it's great knowing I now have friends all over the country that I can visit or even do a rotation with in a few years.

One of my closest friends I made in the program, Morganne, was supposed to have plans and be going to a town called Banos close to Quito for het last few days in Ecuador. However, her plans changed and she decided to head to the coastal city of Guayaquil with me for a couple days instead. I just left her last night to travel to Peru, so now I only have about a week on my own and it was definitely nice to have someone to share experiences with at least for a few days.

Morganne and I headed out of Quito by bus on Saturday morning at 720 for what we were told would be an 8 hour journey. After numerous stops along the side of the road to pick up more people, navigating around the mountain roads, and crawling through towns full of speedbumps while letting vendors on and off who sold food, drinks, and herbs, we didn't arrive until after 6, a full 11 hours after we departed. We arrived to the hostel exhausted, but greeted by a diverse group of travelers from Australia, Ecuador, Chile, and the US. We grabbed some Chinese food for dinner then spent most of the night chatting and hearing everyone's stories and diverse set of reasons for winding up in Guayaquil.

On Sunday, we grabbed a bus to get to city center and Morganne and I spent the day exploring downtown. I'd been told by a couple people that Guayaquil was mostly the business center of the country and didn't have much to offer, but I really enjoyed it. There's a beautiful riverfront boardwalk where we spent most of the morning which offered great views, people watching, and an animal park with a number of species to see. We also happened to be in the city on the day of Simon Bolivar's birthday, the man who liberated Ecuador from conquistador rule. We watched the most mobile parade I've ever been to, which started out on the street then everyone went running to the boardwalk so we followed along to find the show continuing by sea and through the air. An oddity was that the entire parade was a collection of police men and women on various forms of transportation as well as on foot. As we walked along the boardwalk, we stumbled upon the filming of the local news. Before we knew it, we were being guided right behind the lead anchor as they recorded a story. So if any of you happened to be watching the Guayaquil news Sunday night, you probably saw us standing in the background sticking out among the Ecuadorian crowd:)

After lunch, we walked to this strange park in the middle of the city. I'm still not sure why, but this park is filled with Iguanas of all shapes, sizes, and colors. We also checked out the historical park, which was a combination of a zoo with a spattering of other seemingly random exhibits including an agricultural model and an old mental hospital.

On Monday, we decided to head out to Playas, a beach town cleverly named...beaches. We rented nice wooden chairs and an umbrella for $2.50 a piece and spent the day relaxing and reading. Though it was a bit too windy out for either of us to be inclined to swim, we enjoyed seeing another part of the country and now I feel like I've pretty much conquered all of Ecuador from the mountains to the rainforest to the ocean.

One strange thing we noticed both in Guayaquil and at the beach was the lack of tourists (we counted 3 others all day Sunday and 2 Monday). Quito is by far the main place for visitors and we were quite the spectacle on this side of the country. We received extra friendly care everywhere we went and even had a police officer ask to take a picture with us! It was kind of nice in a way, because with Quito there's a ton of crime aimed at tourists whereas even though Guayaquil has it's share of crime, we didn't feel like we were going to be singled out due to our skin color.

After making it back to Guayaquil, I hung out at the bus terminal for a while waiting to begin the solo part of my journey. I was a little nervous of taking an overnight bus and wondered if I'd get any sleep at all, but it turned out to be my best experience thus far with South American transportation. I paid an extra $4 to have what they called a bed-seat and it was worth every penny. I ended up sleeping soundly for all but half an hour of the ride and arrived ahead of schedule in Mancora, Peru at 7am.

I grabbed a taxi, or better described as a carriage pulled by a motorcycle, and was welcomed by my hostel. I then spent most of the morning exploring the small beach town and wound up finding a parade here too. It's apparently their indepedence day today-I seem to be pretty talented at unknowingly showing up places when they're having festivals! This one was the school children parade-at least 50 schools with kids dressed up in all different costumes marching, walking, and wandering down the road. I think I'll start to appreciate parades back home and their variety now that I know they're apparently not all like that around the world.

The town itself is pretty cute, with a main street full of shops and restaurants and soft, sandy beaches. I spent most of the afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather hanging out by the pool. The hostel itself is a bit strange and most of the guests speak neither English or Spanish and haven't been very friendly towards me so far. They've been drinking and smoking since early afternoon and the place definitely has more of a party vibe than suits my style. The workers are nice though-the one this morning thought I was Peruvian even after we spoke for a few minutes in Spanish and got confused when he looked at my passport, how exciting!

I head out tomorrow morning at 930 to Trujillo, which is also on the beach but seems to have more of a relaxed vibe to it. I read that my hostel has surfing lessons so I'll definitely be looking in to. Three more cities, one more week, then it's time to go back home.

Pic 1: Lizards in Guayaquil.

Pic 2: Church in Guayaquil.

Pic 3: I got a tattoo at the beach! ...just henna, no worries:)

Pic 4: Part of today's parade in Mancora.

The jungle!

These past few days have far and away been my favorites of the trip. Monday morning, after waking up to the sounds of birds, frogs, and various insects, we ate a delicious breakfast including homemade bread and strawberry jam then headed out to our first health brigade. A 20 minute treck through ankle deep mud followed a 15 minute canoe ride and we arrived at a large room with a roof but no walls in the middle of a field.

The clinic itself on Monday was pretty poorly organized and it took over 3 hours to see about 20 patients, but we got through it and arrived home around 1 o'clock to our jungle lodge. After lunch, we had the option of visiting a local family. I wasn't sure what to expect but I decided to go and am very glad I participated.

At the house, a bamboo and palm wood hut held up on stilts, we were welcomed by a shaman and his family. He specialized in cleansings using a bundle of leafs from a zurupanga tree, whistling while he brushed away my bad energy. I very much appreciated that his method of cleansing didn't involve drinking jungle leaves that make you vomit or pouring liquid on my head like I'd experienced in Otavalo. Then, we got our faces painted with the inside of an achiote flower that contains a natural red pigment. The culmination of the visit was a jungle hunting lesson, where we got to try out our skills with a blow gun and a spear. Using the blow gun, made of palm wood with an arrow soaked in curari poison inside, I hit 1 out of 3 on the practice target. For spearing, I was told my form was actually pretty good, but I ended up hitting slightly wide right of the log we were aiming for.

Following dinner on Monday, we did a night walk through the woods behind the hotel. Using flashlights in the dark, we saw walking sticks, leaf bugs, and monkey tree frogs (the kind they use for the rainforest cafe logo). I also saw numerous spiders and got a little flying bug in my eye, but that wasn't quite as exciting.

On Tuesday, we were treated to a traditional breakfast called mojado, a fried egg on top of green plantains with a peanut sauce to mix it with. We then headed to another clinic, much better organized and faster moving since we had two real doctors rather than one. Carrie, Katie and I were in charge of the pharmacy and spent the morning hanging out pain pills, antibiotics, and tons of albendezol (an anti parasitic). We talked to all the groups as they came to fill prescriptions, so we had the inside scoop on the crazy cases of the day. There were two snake bites, a sad situation with a 27yo guy who was yellow from liver failure after being an alcoholic from a young age, and a little girl with an ant stuck in ear that had to be irrigated out.

I also got the chance to chat with the man who runs the Eco lodge, Juan, who accompanied us on all our activities all week. He's one of the coolest, most fascinating people I've ever met so talking to him is never boring. For starters, he fought in a war that killed 5 of his 12 siblings, has been stung by two stingrays and a cayman, and survived leptospirosis, a dangerous skin infection he had at age 12. He speaks at least 5 languages and can call many different kinds of animals. I also really admire the passion with which he runs his business, he cares so much about the environment and both the people who visit the lodge and those in the surrounding community. In fact, a large part of the profits goes towards funding projects in the surrounding area, including a local high school where the kids learn crafts and skills like farming to help provide a better life for their families. The goal of the lodge is to preserve nature and improve the jungle rather than destroying it, with power relying on solar energy and much of the food coming from local sustainable sources.

After the health brigade, we had an awesome lunch of steamed tilapia wrapped in banana leaves with fried yuca as a side. The traditional Ecuadorian food experience continued in the afternoon, where Juan put on a show of how they use local ingredients. We first tried hearts of palm that he chopped up with his machete then sprinkled with lemon and salt, which turned out quite delicious. We then moved on to something much more foreign...palm weevil grub. I can't believe it, but I actually was one of about half a dozen of us that ate a live one! We had to bite the head first so it wouldn't bite us, then it was just kind of chewy and didn't taste like much. The roasted version was much better, although I was expecting it to taste like chicken but it was much more like bacon. Even the girls who'd been completely grossed out by the live version agreed it was quite tasty once you got over it being grub. It turns out it's a rare delicacy for the locals, since it lives within the trees and can only be collected once every 3-4 months.

On Wednesday after breakfast, Juan spotted a toucan through his telescope and I got to marvel at it's beautiful colors and the grace with which it flies. We then headed to our final jungle health brigade. To get there was pretty simple: take a 15 minute ride in the canoe, cut through a corn field, walk down a stone road for an hour, and trudge through two streams. All of that while wearing scrubs and rain-boots! The clinic was pretty fun though and my team was in charge of eye exams. We only saw about 6 patients (the community has about 20 families total) but we were able to provide each one with a pair of glasses that significantly helped their vision. We then played with the local kids for a while, including a little 5-year-old named Merci who was the happiest child I've ever met and became my buddy for the morning.

After the same treck to get back to the canoe with the strong afternoon sun beating down on us, we all desperately needed to cool off. Juan had suggested we bring our bathing suits and we all cooled off in the Napa river, a tributary of the amazon, while we waited for the canoe to arrive. We got into the canoe just long enough to grab a life jacket, then hopped back in and floated down with the current towards the hostel. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading on the deck and watching the sun go down with some of the others. Following a very non-traditional pizza dinner, I joined my friends Carrie and Morganne for some star gazing. I've never seen the stars that bright before and as a bonus we were also treated to a lightening show off in the distance.

So on Wednesday morning, a group of about a dozen from my group had gone bird watching at 6am, but I'd decided to skip out since I was too tired to wake up. They didn't end up seeing any birds, but they did see some monkeys and I was very sad I'd missed out. I asked Juan at dinner that night if there was anywhere I could walk to if I got up early on Thursday where I might spot a monkey. Being the wonderful guy that he is, he did one better and offered to try and show me himself, but told me he couldn't promise we'd see anything. I invited Katie along and we met up at 6:15 then traveled along the river for a few minutes before arriving at a clump of trees on the river bank that didn't look too special. As we tiptoed along, all the sudden Juan spotted a monkey in one of the trees and soon there was a big group of them! We watched for a while both with our eyes and with the telescope to get a clearer view. Then we moved over a few feet and ended up mere feet from 3 of the babies! Katie and I stood fixated on the amazing scene in front of us, as they hopped from leaf to leaf and tree to tree. They were absolutely amazing and it was such a perfect way to end my experience in the rainforest.

Most of the rest of the day was spent on the bus, then we arrived back in Quito around 5 o'clock. I went to dinner and to see Harry Potter with three of the other girls and we had a nice relaxing evening. I can't believe tomorrow's our last full day and the program's just about over. We have a goodbye party tomorrow night that I'm sure will be a combination of happy and sad, as we prepare to separate following a month of sharing such wonderful experiences and making new lifelong friends.

Pic #2: Cleansing

Pic #3: My face paint design

Pic #4: Our transportation for the week

Quito, Papallacta, and rainforest arrival

Hola! For the most part, this week was pretty tame compared to some of the adventures I've been lucky enough to have here in Ecuador. We just arrived in the rainforest though, so I'm sure that's about to change!

Anyways, on Tuesday I returned to the clinic again and shadowed the same ob/gyn I was matched with the day before. I learned quite a bit about how the Ecuadorian health care system works, with the basis being that everyone is entitled to free care. This sounds great, but in reality the options doctors have to provide for patients are extremely limited. One crazy example of this is that the physician was allowed to give out free birth control to adolescents only once they've already had a baby. With the amount of 15-18 year olds that came into the office either pregnant or already with children, you'd think they'd want to proactively provide other options.

I had a Spanish lesson that afternoon, then the rest of the week was split between exploring in the morning and class in the afternoon up until Thursday. We went to old town again, explored the local artisan market, then on Friday a group of us went to teleferrico, a cable car located about 15 minutes away at the edge of Quito. The ride takes you up through the clouds to over 14,000 feet, giving you a spectacular view of Quito and the surrounding nature on a nice day. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy when we were there, but we still had some good views and enjoyed the ride.

In the afternoon, four of us wandered towards new town Quito and stopped in the Jardin (garden) Mall. We walked past lacoste, united colors of benneton, and other high end American stores at marked-up prices. I had no idea Quito had enough of a wealthy population to support those kinds of stores, but it seems like the rich elite are a small but present group. We also accidentally came across the botanical garden, which had a beautiful array of flowers, cacti, and plants.

We walked back towards our section of town in a downpour, resulting in wet feet and pants up to our knees. There was no time to change before heading to dinner though, since we were meeting the doctor who'd supervised our clinics the week before. His girlfriend Beth, a high school and college Spanish teacher, and Emma, the nurse from the clinics, also joined us. Nadim, a family medicine physician, finished his residency in Chicago then he and Beth began a year long treck across the world volunteering and exploring. Emma came here to volunteer as a nurse for 3 months and is now engaged to an Ecuadorian and planning on staying for the foreseeable future.

We'd wanted to meet with Nadim to pick his brain about how he was able to travel for so long right after graduating. The dinner was extremely informative and I even learned about a program where US doctors are placed in countries that accept our licensing, which included New Zealand and Australia along with a few others. You can be placed for any length of time from 3 months to a year and are provided with a salary, housing, a car, and flights. Nadim worked for 3 months in New Zealand and earned about the same as he would have made over that time as a doctor in the states, using the money to fund the other 9 months of their journey. He explained that he was placed in a technically rural area, but New Zealand's so small they were only 15 minutes from the city. I had no idea something like this existed and I hope to take advantage of the opportunity at some point in the future.

By Saturday, I'd had my fill of walking around Quito and my host mom highly recommended taking a day trip to a town called Papallacta, so that's what I did. Two friends from the program joined me and we headed out around 7am to find a bus that would take us to the proper location. Despite the Ecuadorian method of buses not saying where they're headed and barely slowing down enough for you to hop in, we found a bus pretty quickly and made the 1.5 hour journey without much trouble, arriving around 9.

The main attraction in Papallacta is the thermal springs and in particular there's one hotel that doubles as a resort with pools you can visit for the day. After paying a mere $7 entrance fee, we were amazed to walk into a gorgeous area with about 5 main pools and many smaller hot tubs. The water comes from the hot springs, then varying amounts of cold water are added to each pool creating different temperatures to suit your preferences. With air temperature around the mid 50s, the water was highly enjoyable and we spent the morning lounging in the pools marveling at the incredible mountain scenery surrounding us in all directions. After lunch was more of the same, then we headed back to Quito mid-afternoon. A few of us tried to see Harry Potter at night, but we arrived to find crowds and a sold out show. We never expected that the English version of the film in Ecuador would be tough to get tickets for, but I guess the craze spreads well beyond the United State's borders.

Sunday morning, I showered at 4:45 in order to have breakfast by 5:30 and leave the apartment at 6. Sadly, that was my last time at my host family's house. When we return from the rainforest we're in a hotel the last 2 nights and the program ends on Saturday-crazy! We had to pack up all our things and take whatever we weren't bringing to the rainforest over to store in the hotel lobby. A 7 hour journey that involved curvy mountain roads, bumpy dirt paths, and rickety bridges ensued, then we finally arrived near our destination about two o'clock.

Now when I say near, we actually ended up on the bank of a river and had to fake motorized canoes to reach our hostel-talk about being secluded! Luckily, it was well worth the odd transportation. We're staying at an Eco-friendly lodge that uses solar energy to run and is situated on the banks of the river with breathtaking views. We were taken on a hike along the property to explore, where we saw a blue frog and a hissing beetle. We then ate a 3 course dinner on the covered patio, which included chocolate cake to finish. Not exactly the rough jungle experience I'd expected, but I'm not complaining!

Well, that's about it. We have health brigades planned each morning from mon-wed and it'll be interesting to compare this experience to the other clinics we've had thus far. I'm feeling much better about my Spanish and I've had a couple break through moments this week where I've been able to have conversations with actual Spanish speakers. I'm excited to see what the rest if this week brings and enjoy my first jungle experience to the fullest.

Pic #1: View along the drive to the jungle

Pic #2: Where we eat our meals. Hard life, huh?

Pic #3: Blue frog!

Pic #4: Hanging out on the patio before dinner.

Pic #5: Parrot friend that lives at the hotel.

Marvelous weekend in Mindo

Friday morning, we had a health brigade just outside Quito at the largest market I've ever seen, with overflowing amounts of food, clothing, and various handmade goods. We began seeing patients in the cramped corner of a conference room, then a 300 person meeting started in the middle of the clinic and we were moved to the center of the market place! It was complete chaos trying to diagnose patients while being watched by onlookers and hounded by vendors to buy their products. Some of our most interesting patients of the day were a 4-year-old girl with recurring headaches after a fall and a little boy who'd scratched his bug bites so hard he wound up with a large open wound on the side of his foot. It's hard not having modern technology like x-rays or CT scans, but I'd like to think that we still do some good for the patients by writing prescriptions to reduce pain or eliminate their parasites (yes, I can write prescriptions here despite never having taken pharmacology!).

After the clinic, I rushed back home to pack and eat a quick lunch, then we had the whole weekend free and it was off to Mindo. I met two of the other girls and we shared a taxi to the bus station, about a 40 minute ride through traffic. Despite arriving over an hour early, we barely secured seats on the last bus of the day headed towards our destination. Luckily all 16 of us that made the trip got tickets and we shared a very interesting 2 hour ride that involved passing vehicles around blind turns, barreling down the mountain at speeds no bus should reach, and listening to staticky American 80s music on repeat.

Thankfully, the weekend was well worth the perilous journey. We arrived to the small town of around 5,000 people and headed to the hostel. The place was absolutely beautiful with a courtyard and nice clean rooms. I stayed with two friends from my program, Kirsten and Jenny, who both attend medical school at the University of Arizona. The decor was very reminiscent of something you'd find in the Southwest and it turned out the owner of the hostel is actually a graduate of the University of Arizona nursing school. She met her husband while working in the peace core here and her and her husband have built the hostel from the ground up. The property they purchased didn't even have running water, so they've done an incredible job turning it into what they have today. We got in around dinnertime and had a wonderful steak dinner at the hostel that was a pleasant reminder of home. A decadent brownie finished the meal and despite how much I'm enjoying Ecuador, it was definitely nice to have some American comforts for a few days. However, the best part of the accommodations had to be the owner's two adorable 10-week-old puppies that loved to cuddle and play with anyone who'd give them attention. We eventually peeled ourselves away from the dogs and headed to bed early in preparation for a big day of adventures.

On Saturday, I filled up on a yummy breakfast of fried eggs and toast with jam, heading out with 6 of the others around 8:30. We took a 15 minute taxi ride up to the top of the mountain, then nervously crossed the canyon using a cable car held up by two ropes hundreds of feet over the forest canopy below. After reaching the other side, we hiked for a little over three hours and saw four gorgeous waterfalls. It was a great time bonding with my fellow classmates, taking pretty pictures, and working off some of the brownie I ate the night before along with the second one I was powerless to resist later on in the day!

After the return trip on the cable car, we walked about a half an hour back down the mountain and found the ziplines. I got strapped into the harness, then anticipation built up right before the first take-off. Fear quickly turned to elation and even after completing the 13 line course I was still wanting more. There isn't anything quite like flying over the trees with a 360 degree panoramic mountain landscape surrounding you in all directions. I even did one of them in mariposa (butterfly) position, which is completely upside down!

Fresh off the high, we walked the half hour back into town and grabbed some milkshakes then relaxed for a bit. At 6:30, we headed to the famous frog concert, which we had as much confusion about as you probably did when you just read the phrase. We arrived at a hostel with cabins surrounding a lake, where the owners have built up a population of frogs and other animals native to the area. You could hear the frogs quite loudly so we think that was supposed to be the concert, but we were a little disappointed none of the frogs played the banjo or sang "kiss the girl" from The Little Mermaid. The guides did take us on a pretty cool tour in the dark though, with their flashlights highlighting the various species. In addition to frogs, we also saw spiders, an orange firefly that lights up just 2 weeks of the year, an armadillo cave, and a log that glowed neon green. The reason for the crazy reaction on the log is because of microorganisms found in only 3 other places in the world that shine when there's 80-90% humidity.

Saturday night most of us hung out at the hostel, which was a nice way to get to know some of the girls I hadn't yet had the opportunity to spend much time with. We woke up pretty early again on Sunday, had another wonderful breakfast, then walked about 40 minutes to the butterfly conservatory. It was a big netted enclosure with dozens of different species of butterflies in all shapes and colors. I got to hold a few of them and even saw one emerge out of the cocoon, so awesome! We then headed to an 11:30 appointment at the local chocolate shop to witness how they make it from scratch. We watched him roast the cocoa beans, then we helped peel them open to reveal the unprocessed chocolate inside. We ground it up, heated them up again, and added copious amounts of cream and brown sugar. It turned out to be the most amazing fondu I've ever had and we each received a delicious bowl of fresh fruit to enjoy it with.

Prior to our 2 o'clock departure, a bunch of us found some fantastic wood fired personal pizzas for just over $1 at a bakery where I also bought pan de chocolate (chocolate bread) for 30 cents that I ate later and was to die for. Thankfully, the bus ride back was not quite as scary as the drive to Mindo had been. Close to Quito is a place called Mitad del Mundo, a tourist attraction on the Equator. We stopped there rather than driving straight back and took excessive amounts of silly pictures standing over the line dividing the hemispheres. It was a great way to wrap up some of the best days of my trip thus far.

This morning was my first day of job shadowing at a local hospital to experience the life of a doctor in Ecuador. I'm paired with my friend Kristyn who'd never taken Spanish before this trip, so it was scary to be the advanced speaker in the partnership but I think I did a pretty good job translating. Our doctor is an ob/gyn and is absolutely hilarious-if any of you watch Grey's Anatomy, she's a Spanish replica of Cali with similar looks and the same abrasive personality but with a kind heart underneath. She works for the public sector, where she makes $15,000 a year and is extremely limited in what procedures she can perform and what medicines she can prescribe based on government mandates. I got to see a couple of pretty cool things and even heard the rapid buzzing of a fetal heart beat for the first time ever.

In the afternoon, I had a 2 hour Spanish lesson with one other girl in the program who's at a similar level of proficiency as me. I learned a ton since it was such personalized instruction and I'm looking forward to having that learning opportunity each day this week. That's about it for now, I just had a delicious white lasagna for dinner and I think I'm going to try to look over some verb tenses before bed so I'm prepared for tomorrow. Buenas noches!

End of Otavalo and return to Quito

Tuesday morning, we had our second and final health brigade in Otavalo. We returned to the same clinic site we'd worked at on Friday, but still stayed quite busy with new patients and people we'd seen the first day that had to come back a second time since we'd run out of medicine.

This time, Katie, Carrie, and I volunteered to be the team in charge of eye exams and it's amazing how many people here are in need of glasses or other specialized eye care. Our selection of glasses consisted of about a dozen donated pairs of random prescription strengths strewn on a table. Despite the difficulty of finding a pair that worked, we had 9 successes and it was all worth it to see the amazed look on a patient's face when they could see fairly well after often times having had years of poor eyesight. Unfortunately for other patients, we didn't have the proper resources to take care of cataracts or other degenerating illnesses so the best we could do was tell them to see an opthomologist. Our group saw a couple of patients outside of eye exams as well, including a 19-year-old who was so confused as to why she had abdominal pain each month one day before her period began (we gave her some ibuprofen and assured her it was totally normal).

Late Tuesday afternoon, we had the opportunity to experience an Ecuadorian sweat lodge, or Temazcal. We arrived at the edge of the hostel property to find a wood structure covered with heavy blankets, so it ended up looking like a large camping tent. We stood outside shivering in our bathing suits, then crawled inside and the 30 of us sat huddled around a large pit in the center of the structure. The leader tried to get us to snort tobacco prior to entering, claiming it was good for respiration, but me and a bunch of the other girls refused. I've had enough strange substances in me already this week, thank you very much! The Indigenous leader explained to us that what we would experience in the next hour or so would be a rebirth and the pitch black tent actually symbolized the mother's womb.

There was a large fire kindling nearby and red hot coals were brought in during four subsequently hotter sessions. First, seven football sized coals were brought in, placed in the pit, and sprinkled with insents, then after the door closed water was poured on the burning coals creating an atmosphere thick with steam.

After approximately fifteen minutes in the sauna-like enclosure, the door was opened and we had a much needed break with fresh air. This was repeated three more times, so by the end there were 33 coals in the center and it was practically boiling to the result of us dripping with sweat as though we'd just gotten out of the shower. During each session, the leader shared different life lessons. We were reminded about the earth's strength and power, then told about our own power inside each of us. She explained we have the strength to follow our own path and live a full life, even if that's not necessarily the path others want you to take. We also sang songs a a group, one that went:

Cambia todo lo que toca
Todo lo que toca cambian

You change everything you touch
Everything you touch changes

We also sang yo soy la luz, or I am the light, and did an awesome rendition of "I'm like a bird" by Nelly Furtado that one of the girls suggested would fit well with the theme. We were told to remember the feeling of singing and chanting together as a group so if we ever feel alone we know we're never really alone in the world. Lastly, she told us to think about our spirit life and think about what our purpose is in the world as we emerged out of the tent. I had no idea the activity would be so spiritually oriented, but it was a fascinating glimpse into some of the beliefs and culture here and I'm definitely glad that I participated.

After all of that, I had no idea that dinner Tuesday night would be almost as much of a new experience. Katie and I went to the room and changed, then arrived back at the sweat lodge site to find a bunch of the hostel workers shoveling dirt out of the ground. it turned out they were digging up our dinner! Earlier in the day, they'd burried chicken, corn, veggies, potatoes and pineapple over hot coals and we ended up with a delicious schmotgashborg of food piled high on our plates. As we sat around the fire chatting and enjoying our last meal together in Otavalo, I realized I was really going to miss both the place itself and just being all together as a group, since once we arrived back in Quito we'd be scattered around the city with our respective host families.

We left around 9:30 Wednesday to make the two hour return trip to the city. Along the way, we made a stop at a rural health clinic high up in the mountains that covers about 5000 people over 8 communities. They do a mix of traditional and western medicine depending on the situation. One thing I thought was interesting is the fact that most of the births are done at home not in the clinic, with the nurse or doctor traveling to the patient rather than the other way around. The clinic doesn't have a close relationship with the government and relies on donations of money, supplies, and time-one of the doctors they've had as a volunteer the past few months was actually a former Interhealth participant.

After a bumpy ride on a bus that struggled to make it up the mountain terrain, we arrived at our host families apartment around 2 o'clock. I rested for a few minutes, then 7 of us met up and took a 10 minute cab ride to check out old town Quito. We walked around the stone covered streets, taking pictures of the beautiful plazas and churches while enjoying ice creams in the hot afternoon sun. We only had a few hours to explore, so I definitely want to return on a day when I have more time.

Today we held our first Quito clinic, which took place in a large room in the back of a market selling goods from produce to clothing. Most of our patients were either workers in the marketplace or their children, some of the families so poor they live in one room houses sharing 3 beds with up to 10 family members. My group saw some pretty interesting cases, with one woman's main complaint that she had gained weight and wanted a pill that would allow her to lose it. If only it were that easy! Another patient had depression and her story was extremely emotional. She works from 4am-4pm each day while her husband sleeps around with other women and refuses to help with the housework since that's a woman's job. Luckily there was a psychologist and she scheduled an appointment, but it was hard not having the same resources you'd have in the US to refer her to. Among the other patients, we saw a woman who'd been attacked on her wrist so deep her thumb no longer functioned, a family with three little boys for well-child checkups, and a little 9yo girl who hadn't been able to see well for 3 years because her family couldn't afford to send her to an eye doctor.

After that busy morning, we returned to school, ate lunch, then some of the students did presentations on topics pertaining to health in Ecuador. I came home to clean laundry hanging up in the sun room thanks to my wonderful host mom. Some of the other program participants haven't been so lucky and have families that clearly don't want them there, so I'm very grateful I have Olga who goes above and beyond the required 3 meals a day and treats me like a daughter. That's about all for now, this weekend is completely free so a bunch of us are heading to a town about 2 hours away called Mindo that has zip lines, rafting, and a butterfly garden!

Picture 1: Tuesday night's dinner being dug out of the ground.

Picture 2: Wednesday morning's clinic.

Picture 3: Street in old town Quito.

Picture 4: At the health brigade this morning.

A Weekend of Cleansings

Saturday was a free day, so it was nice to get up and take our time at breakfast without worrying about when we needed to leave. A few of us made the scenic walk into town then arrived at the famous Otavalo Saturday market at about 9. On every other day, the market is one square block taken up entirely by the merchants, but one day a week it expands to 10 blocks! There's an array of colors, sights, and sounds with almost any souvenir a person could want. It was exciting and overwhelming to first decide what I wanted, then try to be sure I was getting a good price while haggling in Spanish. I bought a traditional Otavalan bracelet and necklace for $5, then Katie and I made our way up to the medical clinic we toured Thursday to meet with the yachac healer.

When we arrived he was with other clients, so we paid our $5 and waited for him to be ready. We saw a couple come out after they finished and looked in the dark room to find the yachac mopping the floor. We had no idea why the floor would be wet or what we were in store for, but we soon found out.

We entered the room to find it dimly lit with candles and filled with herbs and animal skins-it took me a good 5 minutes to realize the chair I was sitting on was lined with some kind of leopard fur, gross! Katie went first, sitting next to the vast supply of potions and medicines the yachac collects himself. In fact, he told us he sleeps 12 hours on Sundays then only 2 hours per night the rest of the week because he's so busy collecting supplies and creating potions. He asked Katie questions about what medicines she was taking and what problems she was experiencing, then proceeded to make her sniff liquid up her nose because she has clogged sinuses!

Next it was my turn and I expected to have the same experience. However with me, instead of asking questions he put his hands on my head and felt for a bit, then proceeded to rub a liquid on my head, neck, and wrists with a feather. Next, he rubbed my forehead with a smooth stone and poured so many kinds of liquids on my head I left with soaking wet hair (now we knew what the mop was for). A flowery liquid was poured into my hands that I had to smell then rub all over my hands and arms. He also rubbed a crystal on my forehead and Katie told me after that he was waving a feather at me while he was pouring one of the liquids. I felt good after, but who knows if it's because of what he did or due to the fact that he'd given me a face massage and poured nice cool liquids all over me.

After that crazy experience, we made our way back to the market and each of us bought a few more things. We met up with some other classmates and went to a recommended place for lunch only to find prices on the menu were $6-8, almost twice as much as what you'd expect to pay here. Right as we were about to leave, I asked first to make sure they didn't have any almuerzos (set price lunch) and it turned out they had this amazing unadvertised lunch of couscous soup, lemon-honey chicken with french fries, and fresh squeezed cantaloupe juice all for $4. They thought we were just silly tourists who didn't know better and would pay twice as much for less but we're becoming wiser in the Ecuadorian ways every day:).

Later on in the afternoon after a little rest back at the hostel, about half the group headed to Parque Condor, or condor park. As we drove by taxi higher and higher in elevation, the views of the lake, mountains, and of Otavalo became majestic with 360 degree views. I've taken so many pictures of the scenery and I'm going to have to sort through them, but I just can't help but feel compelled to try and capture some of the beauty. The park itself was about the size of a small zoo and had birds from vultures to owls. They're both free and enclosed, all of which have been rescued and are too weak to fly well enough to survive in the wild, but if they can rehabilitate them and set them free then they do. We saw all different kinds of birds and at 4:30 they had a presentation where they feed some of the birds and let them soar into the wild and back. The most impressive were the eagles soaring far into the landscape, but the cutest were the falcons and I actually got the chance to hold it on my arm!

On Sunday, we took taxis and were told to direct them to "Isquina de vaquera quimba Lima casa de santiana", which resulted in two missed turns onto no named streets and ending up on a rural hilltop. We went there to observe traditional healers do some cleansing rituals and learn about other methods of natural healing. First, we stood in a circle around the campfire and had a meeting with the eagles and condors to say thanks to mother nature. We then went inside to find a large room with a fire pit in the middle and a different plant for each of us to hold. We were told that in their culture, plants are considered friends and are even assigned masculine and feminine genders because of their importance as medicine, food, and decoration. The Ecuadorian healer explained the significance of each plant to us, and it turned out mine was used as a tea to help with intestinal problems and also as a condiment. We also learned that if you add 12 seeds from a ruda plant and 3 black avocado pits to 1 liter of lake water, then take the mix outside and heat but not boil it, add 1 hot coal as you drink it, and consume this mixture 3 days after your last period, you'll never have kids again...maybe a new form of birth control to try in the US?

After a quick Ecuadorian conga line around the room as traditional music played, we headed back outside. There, three of my fellow students got cleansing rituals performed on them-one where a live guinea pig was rubbed all over their body, another where she was rubbed with plants then spit on by the healer, and lastly one where the student was covered in flowers then had to eat a raw egg. These treatments were extremely foreign to me, but some things I did take away from the morning were their focus on preventative medicine rather than treating diseases after they occur and also their commitment to feeling life rather than passing through it.

Next, we made our way to Zoli's festival of the sun in Quinchuqui, about a 20 minute walk. There was a band, a parade, and plenty of food for all the townspeople. We felt so lucky to be invited because this one day costs the selected host about $10,000 and takes years to pay back, given the average annual income is only $1300. Due to the activity I'd signed up for later in the evening I wasn't supposed to eat and thought it night be a good idea to rest up, so a group of us headed back to the hostel and hung out most of the afternoon.

Sunday night was by far the most insane experience of my life. A few days earlier, Dr. Wedemeyer had asked if anyone in the group might be interested in participating in a traditional
Ayahuasca ceremony where a mixture of plants is brewed up and consumed to cause a very introspective experience lead by someone who does these sessions as her specialty. We were warned that vomiting was a possible side effect and hallucinations may occur, but since Dr. Wedemeyer was going to do it with us, 19 out of 33 of us signed up and figured how crazy could it possibly be, right?

The answer was very. We arrived at 8pm to a room setup with mattresses and pillows in a circle and a blanket with various medicines, drums, and decorations in the middle. I was feeling apprehensive and hungry, since we'd been advised to eat a light breakfast and nothing else during the day so the medicine would have the correct effect. First, the healer lead us in thanking the components of the earth for all that they do for us, since without the earth none of us would be here. She told us that if we vomit it's a release of toxins and evil spirits from our body and that we should all pick a purpose of what we wanted out of the session. I decided to try to be more mindful and appreciative of every day. We said this purpose while throwing wood into the fire and thanking our ancestors along with the next 7 generations to come in our families. Next, we all apprehensively drank one capsule full of the medicine, which tasted like a mixture of tar, sand, coffee, and the strongest liquor you've ever tasted. She then came around with a chocolate mixture that I was excited to eat to get the awful taste out of my mouth, but it was just as horrible as the liquid, tasting of bitter, gritty cleaning solution and we later decided there must have been medicine in there as well.

At first I didn't feel much, then my chest burned with the intensity of a fireball and I tingled from my shoulders to my fingertips, with the sensation soon spreading to my lower half as well. After a little while longer, the pots on the windowsills became children peering in at us and when I closed my eyes bright colorful images appeared, lasting 3-4 seconds each then switching to the next one. The most interesting one was a picture I'd taken the day before of my hands in a heart shape surrounding a heart indent on one of the mountains here. The hands in the image then opened up, as if to say I should open my heart to love from all those I care about. I also distinctly remember feeling like I was listening to my pounding heart with a stethoscope and being happy I couldn't hear a murmer...such a dork even in an altered state. After that, the concoction made all of us so sleepy we couldn't help but close our eyes and they told us to align out spines straight to help the evil be purged out of our bodies. I had no idea how long I spent there in a half-awake, half-dreamlike state listening as the healer and her two assistants played music and sang songs. It turned out to be about 3 hours and at this point it was 3am. The healer then told us it was time to end the ceremony and we sat up to listen to her explain how great it was that us future doctors could experience their medicine first hand. They then came around and made us drink a mug full of water. Prior to this point, most of the other students had already cleansed their spirits into pre-provided baggies but I was only feeling slightly nauseous. Something about that last bit of liquid pushed me over the edge though and I too released my negative energy, then felt much better afterwards.

I've never done drugs before but even though this was fully legal, I imagine what happened last night was fairly similar to an acid trip. I definitely felt cleansed this morning, but I'm not too sure if that's because of the medicine or because there was literally nothing left in my digestive tract. My stomach still feels a bit queasy and I couldn't eat much for breakfast this morning despite not having eaten in over 24 hours. If I had no desire to do drugs before, I have a thousand times less desire to do them now! I am glad I took part though since this isn't something I'd ever do anywhere else and I learned a lot about myself and alternative medicine. Even so, somehow I don't think I'll be recommending Ayahuasca to my patients, despite the healer telling us this was commonly used as a cure for depression and anxiety.

Compared to yesterday, today was extremely calm. I went to the market with Katie and another friend Kristyn and we searched for some final souvenirs from Otavalo since we have one day left here before we head back to Quito. We ate lunch with some other students where I was able to eat most of a chicken sandwich, then we wandered some more and had Spanish class from 3:30-5:30. Tomorrow's agenda is another health brigade and a sweat lodge, which sounds similar to a sauna but is more of a house on top of burning coals.

Picture #1: Walk on the way home from school

Picture #2: View on the way up to Condor park

Picture #3: Condor park

Picture #4: Dinner Sat night that I did not enjoy-sweet potato patties and some kind of mushy grain Kristyn called cow eyes

Picture #5: Musician at the traditional healer's house Sunday morning

First few days in Otavalo

We left Quito at 7:30 Wednesday morning and arrived in Otavalo around 11am. Along the way, we made a stop on the side of the road and Dr. Wedemeyer, our group leader, got us all this awesome Ecuadorian fruit to try called cherimoya. It had a texture slightly smoother than a pear and was really delicious and sweet. We also passed by some gorgeous scenery- Cotopaxi volcano, lake San Pablo, and a skyline full of mountains . The road we drove on to get here was the Pan American highway, which extends all the way from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, the most southern point in South America. Crazy!

Upon arrival, we got settled into our rooms. We're all with a buddy (mine's still Katie) in cabin type rooms in a cute hostel. Between the cabin feel and eating our meals as a group in a dining hall, we've decided it feels like big kid sleepaway camp. They served us quinoa patties for lunch, then we spent the rest of the day exploring the area by bus as a group.

In the Otavalo area, there are about 70 Indian villages with indigenous populations that actually speak a language called Kichwa rather than Spanish. The women dress in white blouses embroidered with jewels, a dark double layered skirt, and lots of bright colorful jewelry. This is a big difference from the jeans and American clothes that seem to be a status symbol in Otavalo-where a pair of nike's cost at least $150! Our first stop was one of the indigenous villages where we met a local women who makes woven mats from corn stalks to sell at the market. Her house had no windows because they believe that windows let in evil spirits. Also, they only believe in traditional medicine unless it's absolutely necessary to go into Otavalo and receive modern care. I also met a couple of adorable little girls that showed a few of us their pet bunnies and chatted with us in Spanish for a while. The kids here have been so sweet and excited to talk to us, I'm sure 30 gringos in their tiny village is quite the spectacle!

Next, we went to another village where we saw an elderly couple making woolen goods by hand. They cut the wool over and over again with two bristle brushes until it's soft enough to use. It takes them about 2 weeks to make a scarf and 2-3 months to make a poncho doing it that way! Luckily they also have a wooden machine to make some goods using a faster process. I made my very first purchase of the trip, a black and gray scarf for all of $3.

Our last stop of the day was Quinchuchui, which is where Zoli, our tour guide, lives and she was nice enough to let us see her home. We met her pet monkey Lucas and saw a more modern version of an Indigenous Ecuadorian house, complete with a refrigerator and beautiful decorations. Once in a lifetime, each member of the community is chosen to buy and cook a feast for the entire village and this year it's Zoli's turn! The festival is a celebration of the sun and we've all been invited to attend on Sunday so I can't wait to see what it's like.

On Thursday, we got up and had breakfast as a group then took 9 taxis into Otavalo (the hostel's in a small village called Peguche a couple miles away) to take a tour of the local health system. We spent the morning at the Haga Wasi clinic, where they practice traditional medicine. We met a yachac healer who uses herbs, vegetables, and fruit he collects from the rainforest to do cleansings and relieve ailments. He learned the art from his grandfather, who he claims lived to be 128! We also talked with a woman who does diagnosis using eggs and live guinea pigs she rubs on the patients bodies. Lastly we saw the birthing area where most of the women give birth standing up holding a rope. It wasn't like anything I've ever seen before and I'm actually scheduled to get a cleansing for $5 from the yachac on Saturday morning so it should be an interesting experience!

We also went to the hospital for the entire region, which was much more modern but still very different than a US hospital. Some contrasts were that the ER had only 3 beds in it, we were able to walk around any part of the hospital without sterilizing or showing ID, there were random stray dogs wandering the halls, and much of the birthing is done standing up there as well.

After the hospital tour, I went with 2 other students and got a heaping plate of rice with shrimp and veggies for lunch at a local restaurant for $3. Then we wandered around the shops and marketplace a little before Spanish lessons from 3:30 to 5:30. We worked on irregular verb conjugation in groups of 4 and I'm starting to feel much more confident in my speaking abilities.

Before dinner, Katie and I were hanging out in the room when all the sudden it went completely black! The power stayed off the rest of the night and in to the next day and we were told it was because of the rain...even though it rains nearly every day here haha. I guess it's all just part of rural life in Ecuador.

On Friday, we had our first health brigade to give care to the local community and it was an amazing experience. The village was only about 4 miles from the hostel, but due to the poor road conditions the drive took nearly an hour. In 5 hours, we saw 90 patients from infants to the elderly, with problems from arthritis to acid reflux to the flu. The people were so appreciative for our help, even as we struggled in groups of 3 to understand their often broken Spanish mixed with Kichwa. There was a sharp contrast between the backdrop of the lake and mountains creating the most incredible scenery I've ever seen with little shacks lacking 4 walls and people with severe cataracts or their teeth rotting out from lack of dental care.

We arrived back in Otavalo in time to eat lunch before Spanish class. We worked on the past tense and I did pretty well, except for the time I mixed up the verbs "to undress" and "to get fired" and said that my boss undressed me! A group of 8 of us walked the 40 minutes home, making a detour at a waterfall but it was unfortunately dark by the time we arrived so I think I'll go back tomorrow. For dessert tonight we had a tree tomato ice cream that sounds weird but was pretty awesome. Well, I think that's about all. We have quite a bit of free time this weekend so I hope to do lots of exploring.

Arrival in Quito!

Hola! Thanks for reading my blog:) As most of you know, this summer I'm in Ecuador for 4 weeks participating in a program for 1st year medical students called Interhealth South America. We'll be learning Spanish and providing health care to the local people in 3 parts of the country-the capital city of Quito, a rural indigenous village called Otavalo, and a village in the rainforest.

So on Sunday, I spent most of the day traveling and luckily had everything go really smoothly. About 1/3 of the program participants were stuck in Atlanta and didn't make it in until 5am Monday and 2 girls had their luggage lost, so I'm definitely thankful I didn't experience that! I arrived in Quito about 730pm. There was a woman there waiting to take me and another girl who was on my flight to our host family. My roommate's name is Katie, she's from UNC med school and we're getting along great so far. We each get our own room with dressers to put all our things in which makes it feel more like home.

We arrived at our apartment building and were greeted by our wonderful host mom, Olga. She calls us mi hija (my daughter) or mi amor (my love) and has been taking great care of us. For breakfast she makes us eggs and toast with jam then she packs us a bagged lunch with a sandwich and fruit to bring to school. For dinner last night we had this amazing quinoa soup, rice, cucumbers, and these tuna biscuits with corn and potatoes in them.

There's one other girl living in the apartment too. When we arrived she was hanging out on the couch and only spoke to us in Spanish, so Katie and I assumed she was Olga's daughter. Then about an hour or so into the conversation, she goes "oh and y'all should about the shower..." and we were like what's happening?! So of course being the airhead I am, I was like "wow, you speak perfect English!". Turns out, her name's Peggy and she's from Texas but teaches high school Spanish so she's fluent and is really helpful to have when we don't quite get what Olga's trying to tell us. She's staying here for 2 months to maintain her fluency since she hadn't been to a Spanish speaking country for 3 years.

As far as school goes, we've started about 8 both days and end about 5. We have a typical ridiculously long Spanish lunch from 12-3 and I've been exploring the city with Katie and another new friend, Erin, from UVA med school. Each day we had Spanish lessons and orientation about the program and education on culture in Ecuador. So far, the 33 of us have been split into 2 groups, beginner and advanced. I'm in the beginning group and there's a really wide variation with some students having absolutely zero spanish and a bunch of us with 4-5 years from high school. I feel bad for the ones with no Spanish experience since the instructor speaks only in Spanish! The teacher told me I have a nice accent so that was pretty exciting, but I definitely have a lot of work to do to remember all the tenses and increase my vocabulary. After today, we'll be split into small groups of 4 and 2 for the rest of our lessons with other students that have similar levels of fluency. It'll be nice to have more individualized instruction and hopefully make a lot of progress on my speaking level. All the participants seem really nice and are from med schools from all over the country including Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, and Texas.

The culture here in Quito actually isn't as different as I expected. For the most part, everyone leaves you alone when you're walking on the street and goes about their business. We're making sure to be safe and only travel with someone else, but I've felt very safe so far. They dress is normal jeans or business attire, but we hear in Otavalo it's much more traditional dress in long skirts, etc and the culture is much less modern. One strange thing here is that the plumbing system isn't great, so after you go to the bathroom you throw your toilet paper in the waste baskets. A lot of public places don't have toilet paper at all, so we were told to always have some with us. Oh and they also have to boil the water to make it safe to drink so I've been carrying around a personal supply in my water bottle since you all know how much I need my water!

The biggest change so far has surprisingly been the altitude-we're at about 10000 feet! I didn't have any problems with altitude sickness, but poor Katie's had tingly fingers since arriving and if you stand up quickly or exert yourself, you definitely feel more lightheaded than usual. It's really beautiful scenery throughout the city though and we have a great view of the mountains from our apartment's living room. The weather's been beautiful-getting to about 70 during the day and this is the dry season so no rain so far, but Olga says there are sometimes afternoon showers. They don't heat the houses at all so in the apartment at night it gets a bit chilly but there's plenty of blankets on the bed so it's not too bad. Because we're at such a high altitude (or as Katie says "we're much closer to the sky") the sun is super strong. Just from walking around my cheeks have gotten a little red and the temperature difference in the shade vs the sun feels way bigger than normal.

This is actually our last day in Quito for a week. Tomorrow we're leaving at 7:30am to head to Otavalo by bus, about a 3-4 hour ride. We'll be spending from Wed-Wed there in a hotel, then when we return I'll be spending 11 more days here in Quito with my host family.

Well I think that's all for now, we're about to eat dinner. I got a cool app for my iphone where I can write posts without Internet, so I'll try to keep it updated then post every few days when I can find wifi. Adios amigos!