Reports from Ecuador

Technology is not my friend!! I have the opposite of the magic touch

Death of a Laptop

Tuesday, our first day after getting back from Baños, we went straight to the office of Fundación Futuro to debrief Maria Alicia and Enrique on our successful trip and also get up to speed on the plans for the week. It was kind of sad though, because while we were off having a grand old time, Maria Alicia and QiQin each spent the weekend in bed with gripe (flu)! I was extremely excited to finally receive a Porta wireless internet connection for my computer, because that would mean that Andrea and I wouldn´t always have to borrow computers from others who still need them, and it also would give us wider internet access. However, this was an opportune time for the gods of irony to strike, because as soon as I had internet up and running on my laptop, my computer battery (which was already struggling) decided to completely shut down. My computer now can only stay on for 10-20 minutes at a time (plugged into the wall the whole time) and can barely handle the internet. This is a huge struggle for us because Andrea didn´t bring a computer, therefore we have both been depending on my sad excuse for a laptop, which is now basically out of commission. However, since we only have a handful of weeks left, we’ve decided to stick it out with my laptop in its current condition so I can focus on repair/replacement when I return to the US.

The portable orthodontics setup brought to Cunugyacu by the orthodontist seen here on the left

Brigada en la comunidad Cunugyacu

After freaking out over these last sad breaths of my laptop, we got up to speed on all of the events that Fundación Futuro was coordinating: the incoming arrival of Yvette and Stephen from Rice, the shipment of 24 lab-in-a-backpacks which are going to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, and the medical brigade plans for Wednesday. It seems like a lot is going to be happening in these last few weeks! On Wednesday we left crazy early in the morning, as usual, to go for a one day trip to Tungurahua for a medical brigade in the community of Cunugyacu. We stopped through in Ambato to join up with some doctors and nurses who were coming with us. We then passed through the community of Yatzaputzan to meet up with a few community health workers from the health center (Jambina Huasi) there. After we got our whole team together, we were 13 people in total, much more than the usual six we were used to working with! The craziest part was driving the (thankfully, short) distance between Yatzaputzan and Cunugyacu with 9 people in the tiny cabin of our little pickup truck. I´m still not sure how we managed that. The day proceeded from then on in a somewhat disorderly and frustrating fashion, and I´m not entirely sure why. It may have been due to the fact that there were so many of us working together but we didn´t really have a game plan going in, and we were trying to do too many things at the same time. Simultaneously we were running basic checkups, lab diagnostics, orthodontics exams and extractions, and Pap smears. Although we had 13 people working, only 3 of them were doctors so this probably caused part of the holdup.

I was also struggling a bit because some people wanted to do the 3 Pap smears in the same room as the rest of the exams, when it seemed like there were other rooms available that were more private. We ended up using 2 chalkboards as makeshift walls and balancing the metal stirrups on a small bench. It seemed to work out adequately, but it definitely did not appear to be the most comfortable situation for the patients, especially since a few people were needed just to hold up these makeshift walls during the exams to protect the privacy of the patients. The only reason I was frustrated with this setup was because we had better alternatives for Pap smear exam rooms and wider, more comfortable tables for the patients to sit on. In rural settings it´s definitely a ´make it work´ situation, but because I´ve personally invested so much time and effort into the gynecological pack, I want the patients to experience the most comfortable setup available. It reminds me of an example I read in our BTB manuals, explaining that Americans are unique because they tend to associate themselves very personally with their work. I have found that I am a perfect example of this, and I have to remind myself to chill out when people give me critiques or suggestions about the gynecological pack that I may not consider helpful or applicable. I have to remember that everyone is only trying to help out, but I can´t help but get frustrated when it seems like I´m not being understood, which could be due partially to the language barrier as well. Chuta!

Andrea, Stacey, and Maria Alicia demo the (amazing) gynecological pack and community health worker pack to representatives from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health

Collaboration with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health

Moving along: on Thursday we spent the whole morning in meetings with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, presenting the other two backpacks (gynecological and community health workers) to all of the bigwigs there. Although we made it clear that these were still first-run prototypes just in the testing stages, they seemed pretty interested in the projects and possibly even eager to request a few from Rice University in addition to the diagnostic laboratory packs that they were about to receive! We also spent a while talking with a couple of representatives about the possibility of tagging along with some of the doctors on a trip to the Amazon rainforest – therefore it would be an interesting medical brigade collaboration between Fundación Futuro and the Ministry, who usually do not have the same ideas about public health! It seems pretty likely that next week we´ll be spending a few days in the rainforest testing out all of our packs in a totally different climate and a completely different culture! Andrea and I are also excited to get a chance to go deep into the rainforest before we have to leave and go back to the United States.

Checking out Alfaro street in beautiful Baños

A week of office work

After a long week working in the office of Fundacion Futuro (we were unable to conduct any mobile medical clinic trips due to lack of lab technicians), and demonstrating the lab-in-a-backpack to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health – which will shortly be receiving a shipment of 24 packs to distribute throughout the country – Andrea and I were able to get away for the weekend to recharge. QiQin asked us last Thursday if there was any place in particular that we wanted to visit, and I recalled the fact that Dr. Lorena very strongly recommended that we visit Baños. I really had no idea what was there, so only the name came to mind. Soon after mentioning this, QiQin had us online researching places to stay and things to do, because we were going to fly solo for this one! Scary but exciting, because we were ready to venture out on our own while also allowing our gracious hosts a little bit of personal space.

Piscinas de la Virgen - a natural hot spring pool fed partially by waterfalls

The glorious city of Baños

We arrived in Baños on Friday afternoon and realized we’d forgotten to bring our notes with information about our hotel and potential activities. Luckily we were able to remember at least the name of the hotel (well, a hostel actually), and due to the kindness of the locals we were able to eventually find our way there. We also knew that Baños was a very small town, so it wouldn’t be too hard to find our way around. Baños is absolutely spectacular, sitting in the shadow of Tungurahua, the largest active volcano in Ecuador. It erupts every 10-12 years, prompting a city-wide evacuation. The city is also known for its hot springs, waterfalls, and the fact that the edge of the Amazon rainforest is right in its backyard. And the pennypincher in me needs to gloat for a bit about our great find: we stayed in an extremely nice hostel for 3 nights at just $7.50 a night!! Andrea and I even had our own bedroom (none of that 6-bunks-in-one-room business) and our own bathroom, where I experienced the most amazing shower I’ve had in Ecuador (as hot water and water pressure have been generally nonexistent). Awesome awesome awesome.

Bike tour on the avenida de las cascadas

Cuyes asados, or grilled guinea pigs!

Adventure Time!

Saturday, our first full day in Baños, was one of the longest, craziest, most exciting days of my life. Even though I ended the day with a nasty fever (probably just heatstroke or dehydration), I still fell in love with the area. We started early in the morning by renting bicycles so we could ride down the ‘Avenida de las cascadas,’ or ‘Avenue of the waterfalls.’ We stopped at an area where a lot of people were clustered around and saw that people were bridge jumping – my name for what is essentially bungee jumping but with a more rigid cord. I was happy to just watch, but then Andrea asked me if I wanted to do it, because they could do two-person jumps and she said she would only go if I went too. I thought about it and realized I wouldn´t get another chance to do something that insane in South America, so then we literally took the plunge! The drop was about 15 meters of sheer terror before coming to a quick stop and swinging for a few minutes over the rocky Rio Blanco. What a great opportunity to freak out our mothers! Maria Alicia, essentially our Ecuadorian mom, almost had a heart attack when we showed her the video of our jump (kindly taken by a Canadian tourist). More adventures of the day included getting stuck on an open side-open top cable car 100 meters above a raging river in the middle of a monsoon. The rain put our bike tour to a halt and we had to jump on a chiva (tour bus) to get the 20 km back to Banos. Luckily by this point we had run into two other American tourists (med students from Seattle) and their guide, who invited us to come to some hot springs with them afterwards. They also invited us to go eat cuy (guinea pig) with them. I abstained, but was curious to witness the spectacle. Carnivorous Andrea of course loved it and even ate the tiny liver. Ewww. (Side note reminder: Stacey = vegetarian). The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the heat, and after the hot springs we got an appointment at a small local spa to get (cheap, but awesome) massages.

Sunday was also adventure time, as we had signed up for a full day white water rafting trip. We spent several hours on the Rio Pastaza in Class III+ rapids and nearly got thrown off several times, but despite my initial fear it ended up being a lot of fun. Andrea is apparently some sort of rafting champ and therefore she put the pressure on me when I started to waver – after hearing from other tourists that the river was really dangerous, and that two weeks earlier a tourist had drowned while rafting! Nevertheless, we are both still here to tell the tale, and I´m proud to say that I jumped off a bridge and went rafting in treacherous waters in the Amazon! Our rafting guide also spent a while joking – I´m not sure how seriously – about there being anacondas and piranhas in the river. All the better! I think Andrea and I are just a pair of daredevils.

We returned to Quito on Monday ready to get back to work, rejuvenated by our weekend adventures. 3 weeks to go! Here´s hoping we can make the best of it.

The scary cable car that Andrea and I got stuck on

Andrea and Stacey bridge jumping over Rio Blanco