Adios Ambato

Well, today was our last day at the hospital. With a few more children and adults under our belts, we packed up our pharmacy and OR room and loaded up the bus. We finished handing out gifts to the many volunteers who have helped us this week and headed back to our hotel for the last time. We quickly finished packing and met everyone in the lobby to wait for the bus to pull back around so that we could load up our items. Our WONDERFUL and THOUGHTFUL med students/translators surprised us all with gifts from Ecuador. For each woman, a beautiful scarf was given and for each of the men an Alpaca woven hat. I wish these young men and women much success in their finishing years of school as each and every one of them will make wonderful doctors/surgeons. Thank you to each of them, as their superb knowledge of the English language made the "lost in translation" situation nonexistant.

We pulled out of the hotel by 12:30 to begin the long drive to our next destination. To save time, we asked the hotel to pack lunches for all of us so that we could eat on the bus. During the next four hours we were bombarded by breathtaking beauty as we climbed higher and higher in to the Andes. At one point, we could see the clouds below us and clouds whispering around us. I have never been at such an altitude where I feel like I am approaching the highest ends of the earth until today and a few miles out from our hotel, we pulled in to a rest stop and piled out of the bus to the most incredible view. We were each taking each other's photos, and upon reviewing mine, it looks like I have been Photo Shopped in to the photo as the background looks that unbelievable.



At 4:30, we arrived at Termas de Pappallacta resort and spa. The spa is located 40 miles east of Quito at the entrance to the Ecuadorian amazon jungle. Located all around our cabins are three types of springs, hot, warm, and cold. I never ventured in to the hot/cold, but spent some time relaxing in the warm spring. I checked out the services they offered and decided to undergo an Andean mud wrap. I have never had a mud wrap done before, but after being slathered with hot mud, saran wrapped in and piled with warm towels and left to soak for 45 minutes, I truly felt refreshed once I rinsed and went on my merry way.

Due to the altitude sickness, one of our doctors stayed behind in Ambato with Becky to meet up with us in Quito tomorrow and this evening another one of our group was hit with a stomach ailment. The rest of the group sans three met for dinner at 7:30 to yet another amazing meal. After eating, Beverly (the head of the mission trip) rewarded each of us with a certificate of appreciation for a job well done and many words of praise and thanks. There were many tears to be had around the table as each of us has become very close over this past week. Many of the nurses suggested that I would make a wonderful nurse and proposed a job change, but as I have another year of my MBA program left, I do not see that within the near future. But, I do plan to sharpen up my Spanish, so that if I come back next year, I will be more of an asset to the team as I can help translate!!

So, it is now time for bed in the chilly night air. As we were lying in the spas, we could see our breath, so I know the temperature has dropped below 40. We had to locate the heat in our room to nip the chilly air and upon returning from dinner the room had nicely warmed up. We plan to stroll the grounds early tomorrow morning and meet for breakfast at 8 and head out by 9 so that we can reach the Equator and straddle the hemispheres. One last full day in Ecuador and we then head out bright and early Sunday morning. Shopping will ensue tomorrow as I still have many gifts to buy, but there will be many hours for rest on the flight home.

Adios y buenas noches!