Oh, the past two days have flown by so fast! I started my morning on Saturday at the crack of dawn and was at the airport by 5:30 am. Our flight left Kansas City at 8 and arrived shortly in Dallas for about an hour layover. We then continued on to Miami and settled in to the airport for a couple of hours while we waited for our airplane to be cleaned. We left out of Miami around 5 pm and landed in Quito about 8:30 pm. The nice perk to the 8:30 landing was that Quito time and KC time are exactly the same! No time changes to get used to. After clearing 44 pieces of luggage and our many carry-on's we finally boarded our bus to head to our hotel.
This morning we woke up bright and early to head out of Quito by 8am. The hotel provided breakfast of cheeses, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and toast. There was mango juice and very strong coffee provided, but I stuck with the mango juice. We then began our three hour journey to Ambato. On the way, we stopped at a colonial home (now a hotel) that was built in the 1600s, La Cienega. It is amazing to see such a structure that has survived hundreds of years through many eruptions of Cotopaxi and earthquakes. I took many pictures while were there, so I will be posting those in the next day or two. Of note, Ecuador is famous for their roses, and
everywhere throughout this estate were the most exquisite bouquets of hybrid roses of such superb coloring. A small chapel is also housed on this estate, and I have many pictures of it, too. 
After an hour of roaming the estate, we finally departed to begin our last hour on the road to Ambato. Along the way, we noticed cows along the sides of the mountain roads on leashes. There were very few sightings of dogs, but when we did see them, they were without leashes. Makes one wonder if cows are the true pets for the Eucadorian people? We arrived at our hotel around noon, and after checking in we met up to eat lunch before heading over to the hospital. They fed us a chicken/vegetable/broth soup, beef medallions and llapingachos (potato cakes with white farmer's cheese) with an ahi sauce (comprised of chilis, cilantro, onions, and some other ingredient I don't recall), and a salad that was mostly avocado with onions and celery. For desert was an assortment of fruits (pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe) topped with ice cream.
After lunch we then loaded up the bus and headed to the hospital. Upon our arrival I was amazed to find the lobby, stairs, and clinic area swarmed with people. Families had been waiting at the hospital for hours for our arrival and were so excited to see us. We immediately divided up the group to start setting up the ORs, getting the pharmacy set up, and to begin screening possible patients for surgery. On a humorous note, many of our group had to change in to their scrubs before beginning and three of the women went in to one of the patient rooms to change. When they tried to get out of the room, they found that, although they could lock the door from the inside, it could not be unlocked! We did not have a key to get them out from our side so we sent for custodial to assist. Upon their arrival, whether they didn't believe them or not, one of the men climbed a ladder and removed the tile from the ceiling and dropped in to the room on the other side. He checked the handle and stated that the door could not be opened from the inside! I guess he thought they were just some crazy Americans who didn't know how to work a door :) He then hoisted himself out of the room and proceeded to unlock the door from the outside. What great comic relief. After that escapade, we were finally ready to begin the screening process. The two plastic surgeons set up in the crazy locked room (which we promptly put tape on the lock so we could not be locked in again) and began the five hour process of seeing the more than 80 patients that had been waiting for us. We finally wrapped up at 7:30 tonight with full surgery schedules for the next two days, and almost full schedules for the rest of the week. We anticipate that we will find more candidates for surgery on the patients that will be coming through the clinic for the next four days, so it pleased us that we still had a few spots open to be able to place these possible patients.
When we got back to the hotel tonight, a group of us chose to go out to dinner at a restaurant that was a few blocks from the hotel. I had a chicken marsala type dish (pollo something or other) and a nice glass bottle of Coke. Many of our group drank the red wine, but I had been without caffeine for the entire day, so I was just fine with my drink of choice. It is now 10:30 and I need to be up at 6 to leave the hotel by 7 to start our first surgeries. I will be working in the OR tomorrow, so I will be packing the scrubs and I am sure many more adventures to share.
Buenos noches!
This morning we woke up bright and early to head out of Quito by 8am. The hotel provided breakfast of cheeses, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and toast. There was mango juice and very strong coffee provided, but I stuck with the mango juice. We then began our three hour journey to Ambato. On the way, we stopped at a colonial home (now a hotel) that was built in the 1600s, La Cienega. It is amazing to see such a structure that has survived hundreds of years through many eruptions of Cotopaxi and earthquakes. I took many pictures while were there, so I will be posting those in the next day or two. Of note, Ecuador is famous for their roses, and
everywhere throughout this estate were the most exquisite bouquets of hybrid roses of such superb coloring. A small chapel is also housed on this estate, and I have many pictures of it, too. 
After an hour of roaming the estate, we finally departed to begin our last hour on the road to Ambato. Along the way, we noticed cows along the sides of the mountain roads on leashes. There were very few sightings of dogs, but when we did see them, they were without leashes. Makes one wonder if cows are the true pets for the Eucadorian people? We arrived at our hotel around noon, and after checking in we met up to eat lunch before heading over to the hospital. They fed us a chicken/vegetable/broth soup, beef medallions and llapingachos (potato cakes with white farmer's cheese) with an ahi sauce (comprised of chilis, cilantro, onions, and some other ingredient I don't recall), and a salad that was mostly avocado with onions and celery. For desert was an assortment of fruits (pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe) topped with ice cream.
After lunch we then loaded up the bus and headed to the hospital. Upon our arrival I was amazed to find the lobby, stairs, and clinic area swarmed with people. Families had been waiting at the hospital for hours for our arrival and were so excited to see us. We immediately divided up the group to start setting up the ORs, getting the pharmacy set up, and to begin screening possible patients for surgery. On a humorous note, many of our group had to change in to their scrubs before beginning and three of the women went in to one of the patient rooms to change. When they tried to get out of the room, they found that, although they could lock the door from the inside, it could not be unlocked! We did not have a key to get them out from our side so we sent for custodial to assist. Upon their arrival, whether they didn't believe them or not, one of the men climbed a ladder and removed the tile from the ceiling and dropped in to the room on the other side. He checked the handle and stated that the door could not be opened from the inside! I guess he thought they were just some crazy Americans who didn't know how to work a door :) He then hoisted himself out of the room and proceeded to unlock the door from the outside. What great comic relief. After that escapade, we were finally ready to begin the screening process. The two plastic surgeons set up in the crazy locked room (which we promptly put tape on the lock so we could not be locked in again) and began the five hour process of seeing the more than 80 patients that had been waiting for us. We finally wrapped up at 7:30 tonight with full surgery schedules for the next two days, and almost full schedules for the rest of the week. We anticipate that we will find more candidates for surgery on the patients that will be coming through the clinic for the next four days, so it pleased us that we still had a few spots open to be able to place these possible patients.
When we got back to the hotel tonight, a group of us chose to go out to dinner at a restaurant that was a few blocks from the hotel. I had a chicken marsala type dish (pollo something or other) and a nice glass bottle of Coke. Many of our group drank the red wine, but I had been without caffeine for the entire day, so I was just fine with my drink of choice. It is now 10:30 and I need to be up at 6 to leave the hotel by 7 to start our first surgeries. I will be working in the OR tomorrow, so I will be packing the scrubs and I am sure many more adventures to share.
Buenos noches!
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