May Update--GRADUATING! and other life changes...

The second week of May was the last week of my online class that accompanied my project at the hospital.  I also had an online “independent study” class, making me a part-time student during UW’s spring semester (remaining a student—instead of graduating in December—was logistically a better route for conducting the diabetes project).  I was busy working on my final project—an online professional portfolio.  For this portfolio, I decided to create a couple videos to show my experience here in Pedro Vicente Maldonado, as well the previous service-learning project that took place in June 2011 in northern Ecuador.  Please check out my portfolio here.  I was also required to submit a final report of my experiences for the “independent study” class.  The classes ended and on May 18^th, I officially graduated from UW-Madison!  Oh yeah, no longer an undergrad…!!!  It was sad to miss the many festivities and excitement that accompany May graduation in Madison, but that only meant it was my turn to live vicariously to friends that were graduating back home!

During breaks in working on my final project, I was also figuring out plans for the arrival of my mom, who had been planning on visiting for over a month.  My aunt Karen also decided this week that she was able to join my mom, so I was getting very excited for them to visit and for our vacation!  Read more about our adventures in the following post!

I had been thinking more about deferring graduate school and on May 9^th, I officially emailed the admissions officers at Tulane University.  Although I was nervous about this for some reason, the admissions people simply replied: “You have two years to defer.  Let us know when you’d like to matriculate.”  It was that easy!  I thought I’d have to fill out paperwork or something.  But it was definitely a relief off my chest, finally making this decision and acting on it.  And I think it’s a good decision for me right now—even though I’ve learned an incredible amount about myself and my career goals while doing my project in Pedro, I felt it wasn’t quite enough.  My Spanish has come a long ways, but I wanted to improve it more.  I’ve learned a lot about diet and how people traditionally treat diabetes, but I wanted to learn more about other social determinants of health.  I’ve learned to really enjoy the tranquility and easy-going way of life in Pedro, but I wanted to live in a city while abroad, too.  So I contacted CENIT, the organization in Quito that I mentioned in an earlier post, and began to apply to become a volunteer with them.  Since I only want to defer for one year, I decided to volunteer with CENIT for 10-11 months—starting in September 2012.  I may have to start another blog for this life adventure!!!

Javy's mom cutting the tasty cake, and his dad watching

Lastly, although this doesn’t really fit into my “life changes” title, I enjoyed Mothers’ Day with Javy’s family.  We went to a restaurant for a parillada, which just means a ton of meat—chicken, beef, pork, and sausages.  The restaurant was so busy with families celebrating Mothers’ Day.  We ended the meal with cake!  It was nice being with a family on this day, knowing that my family was also getting together in the States, too.

Javy's younger sister and niece (who is the daughter of his older sister)

May Update--Trying New Things

At this point, my blog posts are all reporting on adventures that took place over a month ago.  Maybe it’s silly to write about things that happened awhile ago, but for those of you who haven’t been apart of the adventures or have not heard about them yet, I hope you still enjoy reading them!  And my blog has also become a way for me look back on everything I’ve done in the last five months!  So here are some more updates…

On May 1^st I tried encebollado for the first time.  This dish is very popular—it’s fish “cooked” in lime juice (like ceviche) with onions, yuca, and probably garlic and spices.  I went with Javy and he also ordered conchas, oysters, for me to try, too.  Although my dad used to make a soup with oysters that I loved as a kid, these oysters were a bit different.  They were still in the shell, so you had to break it open to eat it (which wasn’t hard).  They had seasoning and I liked them, but we were also so busy eating our encebollado that the oysters got cold and then were not very appetizing.  Once you are served your big bowl of encebollado, you add many condiments to it before eating it.  The basically mandatory additions are fresh squeeze lime juice and a bit of oil, but other common condiments are mustard, ahí (hot sauce or hot peppers), plantain chips, and roasted corn.  Javy also mentioned that some people also add ketchup, mayonnaise (both very common condiments on almost all food here), or beer.  I added very little to mine—just lime juice and little oil and mustard, so I could get the “authentic effect.”  Besides a vague fishy taste every now and then, it was absolutely delicious!

Here’s just a funny picture…when I dropped my laundry off that morning at the lavanderia, the regular woman who does the laundry wasn’t there.  The woman who was in her place that morning asked for my name, but I only gave my first name…since I’m pretty easy to spot in Pedro!  I usually don’t give my name at all and they always know which laundry is mine when I go to pick it up!  This time, I guess they wanted better identification…

The first weekend of May, I was in Quito again with Javy.  We met a couple friends in Quito’s old town or historic district, on a street called La Ronda.  This area was previously really dangerous due to its location next to a large bus stop.  The bus stop has since then moved and the area has been cleaned up.  It’s now a very lively street with a family-oriented atmosphere, great for evening strolls.  I had walked down this street during the day when I had first arrived in Quito, but its much more fun at night!  First, a little history lesson: the historic buildings—previously all houses—on one side of the street are taller than the buildings on the other side of the street due to the distinct social classes that existed in Quito after the Spanish came.  The taller houses were Spanish-owned, whereas the shorter houses were mestizo-owned (mixed Spanish and Indigenous people).  The buildings have super thick walls and in many places you can pick out the original, 1500’s-era craftsmanship of the interior of the buildings.  These days, most of the buildings are all gift shops, cafes, bars, candy stores, bakeries, etc—perhaps a few apartments still exist on the second or third floors.

At La Ronda, we wandered through an art gallery and through the entire street and finally settled at a café/bar and ordered canalasso (a warm, sugar-cane-liquor and naranjilla—a type of fruit—juice drink).  Most of the bars/cafes that line La Ronda have live music and served this and other drinks.  It was very fun to chat (although it was hard to hear with the music!) and sip on warm canalasso, especially because evenings in Quito get quite chilly!

My friends Paola and Javy with me on La Ronda

April Update--New Friends and Adventures

On Tuesday, April 17, I made some new friends, Paola and Javier, in the hospital.  They actually worked for the Ministry of Agicultura, Ganaderia, Aquacultura, y Pescaria (MAGAP), or basically the Department of Agriculture in Ecuador.  We incidentally sat by each other at lunch because the hospital cafeteria was full.  It had been awhile since I met new people (yes, I am pretty shy…and I’m doing an independent project, so don’t really have coworkers or peers), so it was nice to chat with Paola and Javy.  That weekend Javy invited me to check out a waterfall outside of Pedro.  It was a short hike back through the sub-tropical jungle and the waterfall was gushing.  The river was really full due to all the rain we’d been having (even though it rains a ton during rainy season, people were saying that this season was more rain than usual).  The spray from the waterfall was quite refreshing in the hot, humid afternoon.  We ended the afternoon with ice cream and then beers and dancing at a small beach in the near-by town of Puerto Quito.  It was a great Saturday!

Cascada Azul from a distance

Lots of pretty rocks

On Monday, April 23 I had a meeting with CENIT, an organization with which I was considering volunteering the following year.  I’d been contemplating deferring admission to Tulane since February, when a friend told me about a clinic she worked at that always took volunteers.  Since then, I’ve been looking for volunteer options and found CENIT in Quito—the idea of living on the coast lost a bit of its glammer, and the idea of living in Quito seemed like a better option, as I was getting to know more people from Quito.  Ironically, there were four students from WI or MN at CENIT’s headquarters, doing various projects!  One of them gave me a tour of the facilities, I talked with the volunteer coordinator, and also talked at length with the WI students.  Talking with them gave me a better idea of the structure and support of volunteering at CENIT—something that I was concerned about considering the lack of structure and support with my project in Pedro.  In conclusion, CENIT seemed like a great option if I decided to defer Tulane and stick around Ecuador for a bit longer.

Waiting for the game to start with Javy

On Saturday, April 29, I went to a soccer game in Quito with Javy and some of his friends and cousins.  Soccer is an incredibly big deal here…so the excitement of the game was very similar to a UW football game (but there was less intoxication).  But lots of screaming and cursing and whistling.  This game was particularly a big game because it was La Liga (Quito’s team) against the rival Barcelona (Guayaquil’s team).  Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador—Quito is the second largest—and also the commerce center of the country, whereas Quito is the cultural/historic center.  Barcelona had not beat La Liga while playing in Quito in 14 years, so you can imagine the anticipation of this game!  It was like UW playing Ohio in 2010, when students stormed the field after we beat the #1 Ohio.  Woo!  Javy taught me one of the songs/chants, so I chimed in as best I could, feeling like a real Quiteña (person from Quito).  La Liga didn’t win, but they tied.  So next year it will be 15 years that Barcelona has not beat La Liga…perhaps next year I’ll attend the same game…

The "White House," as the stadium is called, filling up

Excitement for La Liga!!!

April Update--Interviews and Illness

During the second week of April, I was able to do some interviews with diabetic patients.  Since clinic consultations in the hospital are not by appointment—rather, it’s first come, first served each day—waiting in the hospital in hopes of diabetic patients to come for their monthly checkups was not an efficient way to meet patients for interviews.  I asked for a list of diabetic patients from the hospital’s electronic records (potentially illegal in the U.S., but completely fine here).  I started calling patients that live in Pedro…this resulted in a few “call me back later” responses and a couple “I’ll come to the hospital this Saturday” responses.  And a lot of no-answers.  I did make an appointment with one woman to conduct an interview with her father.  It turns out he had Parkinson’s and hypertension, but not diabetes.  Whoops, guess the hospital’s records were wrong…but the woman was very helpful and accompanied me to a diabetic neighbor’s home and also gave me names of other people in the town who have diabetes.

The next day I went to find “Doña Maria” who sells empanadas in the market.  She was easy to find and offered me an empanada and sweet-as-syrup coffee after I explained my project.  We did an interview right then and there, with the sounds of music and children in the background louder than Maria (my voice recorder didn’t help much here).  Maria also gave me names of more townspeople with diabetes.  Word-of-mouth was turning into a more effective and much more fun way of recruiting participants for my interviews!  Although I couldn’t find the next couple names I tried to track down...

Wednesday, April 11—reaching insanity, so with the support of some Facebook suggestions, I bought colored pencils, tempera paint, and a sketch pad.  Entertained myself for the evening with drawing and painting.

My painting workspace...

The light in my room was horrible, but I still wanted to share my lovely orange drawing...

Thursday, April 12—last day of cooking before my little counter-top double-burner stove broke for good.  I made a beet, tomato, and onion salad.  It’s been frustrating not having a working kitchen, but also easier and sometimes cheaper to eat in a restaurant.

I love beets!

I didn’t follow-through with the “I’ll come to the hospital this Saturday” responses to my phone calls; I woke up Saturday, April 14 with a horrible headache.  I laid in bed most the day, but wasn’t feeling any better by nightfall.  Sunday I went to Yoli’s again for another day at the river, which was refreshing, but then I started feeling faint as we were grilling chicken that afternoon.  I spent the rest of the day in bed…

Monday, April 16 the headache continued.  Tuesday, woke up with no improvements.  I had a meeting Tuesday afternoon with a doctor from the Ministry of Public Health clinic, regarding meetings with diabetic or hypertensive patients that he facilitates.  The meeting would have been incredibly interesting, had I not been on my fourth day with this headache.  Instead it was possibly embarrassing on my part, had I been aware enough of how I comported myself.  Pablo asked me a few times if I had any questions but I just couldn’t think!  We parted with plans for me to accompany the next gathering of community members that he was facilitating in Pedro. 

That night I reluctantly (but only because I had a headache) helped with English classes at the local high school.  The teacher is a hospital employee that took English in college, which qualifies him to teach it.  Classes begin at 6pm and go til 10pm; these evening classes are for students who work during the day, so have to go to school in the evening.  I didn’t do a whole lot in the classes, just helped with pronunciation, but I liked being in front of the students because they all were attentive and listening. 

FINALLY, I woke up Wednesday morning (April 18) and felt like a new person; the headache was gone!  That night there was a gathering of all the hospital staff in celebration of David Gaus’ 50^th birthday.  David is the founder of the hospital and was in Pedro during the week of his birthday.  The party was in the outside barbeque area of the residence hall where I live.  We had fritada (fried pieces of pork), choclo (a type of corn), yuca, potatoes, and maybe rice and beans, too, I don’t remember anymore.  With plenty of beer to go around and then cake, too!  Towards the end of the evening, as people were dwindling and perhaps some were beginning to be tipsy, people (mostly the older men) started telling cachos.  Cachos are basically jokes, but are longer, more like stories.  From what I could understand of the “jokes” I didn’t find them funny because they seemed to be making fun of women or minority groups, like blacks or gays.  Not my kind of “jokes.”

After the party I asked one of the doctors in my residence hall about a rash I’d noticed developing on my arms and legs a couple days prior.  She suggested I come into the hospital for an official consultation the next day.  I had a sneaking suspicion that my headache, tiredness, and this rash was all leading to one diagnosis…the next day, a blood test in the hospital proved that I had Dengue fever!  This was something I’d been concerned about when I first arrived, since there is no vaccine and it is a threat in this area.  However, besides the symptoms I had, it doesn’t get much worse (unless I had another type of Dengue) and there is nothing you can do to treat it but rest and drink lots of water.  So I took the diagnosis as a great excuse to take a nap…but then found enough energy to go dancing the next couple nights.  Dengue by day, dancing by night.  I can deal with that!

One last thing in the third week of April was that there was a huge landslide, due to the excessive rain we’d been having.  The landslide blocked the route from Pedro to Quito, about 2 hours from Pedro.  The road was closed for a few days, and when passage opened up, the “road” was actually a newly-formed gravel road on land that literally wasn’t there before the landslide.  This new road would have been technically off the side of the mountain—people were driving on a huge pile of gravel that had slid down the cliff.  I found that rather frightening, but it worked!

April Update--Semana Santa

April was a month of finding things to do to maintain my sanity and keep my loneliness at bay.  The first week of April was Semana Santa, or Holy Week.  I was not completely aware of this, or I at least didn’t notice anything different in Pedro, although in other places there are festivities throughout the week.  One tradition of Holy Week that I had heard about was fanesca, a hearty milk-based soup that is filled with 12 grains and fish.  It was served on Thursday at the hospital; it was very tasty and filling, although a bit too fishy for me.  Everyone here who with whom I shared my fanesca experience told me “oh, you have to try my mom’s/grandma’s!” 

The hospital was closed on Good Friday—of which I was also completely unaware, as I walked over in the morning only to find the doors closed.  So I followed the holy march through the town for a bit, then quickly retreated to my room to avoid being sunburned—it was a spectacular sunny day!  One of the doctors who was still in town invited me to go swimming, which was a perfect thing to do on such a beautiful day.  

Holy march

One of the stops of the holy march

On Easter Sunday, I went to the home of one of the hospital cooks, Yoli.  Although they don’t celebrate Easter Sunday here like my family does in the States, it was nice to be with Yoli’s family, knowing that my family was gathering together on the same day.  In Yoli’s backyard, we picked yuca, a potato-like tuber that is the root of a small tree.  We made yuca tortillas for breakfast.  Later we went to the river where we swam with two of Yoli’s kids (the third was teaching classes at the church) while her husband fished.  When her husband came back, we all walked along the rocky shore of the river, looking for centipedes for bait for tomorrow’s day of fishing.  I didn’t find any, but it reminded me of family farm work as a kid.  Once back at their home, I made a salad while Yoli cleaned then fried the fish…and we had lunch.  It was delicious!

FINALLY another update...the end of March

My last post went up until mid-March, and since I’m particular about writing things in order, that is where I’ll pick up.  The end of March, if I recall correctly, was just as uneventful as the beginning of March.  I kept somewhat-busy with my online class and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) application that is required for doing research.  Not much more to talk about there…

Fortunately, during the last week of March, the Director of U.S. Operations of the foundation (see Hospital PVM tab) that runs the hospital came to Pedro.  Laura brought with her a young filmmaker who was gathering footage of the hospital and Pedro for a short documentary about the foundation.  It was so refreshing to not only talk at length to people, but also to be talking at length in English!  We had some great chats about the hospital and healthcare and Ecuador and grad school…  I shared my limited insight gathered during my time spent at the hospital and in the community, and Laura was very helpful with ideas for advancing my project, as well.  I assisted Mike, the filmmaker, with interviewing one of the medical residents and then I also accompanied him to Quito, where he had the task of meeting two people for interviews.  With basically no Spanish and no knowledge of the city of Quito, he was very thankful I helped him out!  We first had a great lunch; I was ecstatic to have a delicious vegetarian meal!  After the interviews, I was back to Pedro, resuming the daily routine…

Interesting finding during a walk...people are resourceful here!

View on the way to Quito.

Mike taking footage, I was scared for his life on that ledge...

Cream of asparagus soup!

Main dish...marinated, grilled tofu with veges!

Chocolate cake!

Another [Attempted] Adventure

Picking up from where I left off...

After the great experience in Latacunga, I returned to Pedro Thursday (March 22) night.  I had left the workshop in Latacunga with tentative plans to attend a smaller workshop the following Monday in a small town near Latacunga.  I wasn't too psyched about another seven our trek, but I was also interested in observing a small workshop.  Back in Pedro, I had a short weekend of catching up on homework for my online class, conducting one practice-interview (testing interview questions) with a diabetic patient, and then attending the Friday night psychology discussion and humanities class with the medical residents.  Saturday I left for Quito again--a friend, Victor, who is working in Pedro invited me to his home, where he lives with his mom and sister.  He also has family in Latacunga, so he suggested he accompany me to Latacunga for the smaller workshop and he could also visit his family.  Staying with his mom in Quito was absolutely wonderful--she, and also Victor's sister, Liss, were immediately welcoming and so nice.  We celebrated his mom's birthday with cake and jello that night and then went to a movie Sunday morning before leaving for Latacunga.  As it turned out, Victor was sick and also had to work the next day, so Liss traveled with me.  We stayed at their uncle's apartment in Latacunga.

Despite a late Sunday night of finishing my homework, I got up early Monday morning and set out to find the office where I was going to meet the group leaving for the smaller workshop.  Unfortunately, all I remembered was that the office was on the same street as the hospital.  But I didn't remember which street...or what the office looked like...so I just wandered around for awhile.  My contact in the group did not answer his phone, so I was unsuccessful in finding the office.  A little bummed and annoyed, I headed back to the apartment where Liss and I were staying.  On my way back, I called Liss to ask for the name of the apartment complex, so I could tell a taxi driver where I wanted to go.  My phone died mid-call.  So I just started walking...I had a relatively good idea of where it was, remembering a few buildings that we had passed along the way the day before.  After a half an hour of wandering in the general direction and getting turned around the entire way, I hopped in a cab and explained to him where I wanted to go.  All I knew was that it was a new apartment complex near the airport (and we were sitting in the taxi across from the airport).  He looked at me like I was crazy and suggested a few new apartment complexes in the area.  I asked him to take me to the first one he suggested, hoping that I would recognize it as we approached.  Luckily, it was the right place...I had only been 10 minutes away when I hopped in the cab.  I had been so close...definitely gave my intuitive direction skills a boost of confidence!

Liss and I met up with some of her friends who attend the university in Latacunga and spent the rest of the morning walking around, finding touristy places for me to take pictures.  (There weren't many.)  After lunch we returned to the apartment, where I then took a three-hour nap!  That evening, we went over to one of Liss' friend's apartment and played cards and ate pizza.  It was a nice fun break from Pedro, hanging out with 19-year-olds who have a different demeanor and vocabulary than the older crowd of doctors at the hospital.

Pizza place named after me, hahaha!

New friends...at a slimey paddle boat pond.

The next day, Tuesday, we made a quick visit to Liss and Victor's grandparents' home.  We ate haba, a type of bean that is typical of the Sierra (each bean is a little bigger than a quarter!).  Liss' grandmother made some popcorn that we took for the journey back to Quito (and then Pedro, for me) and we were off for another long bus ride.  Even though this second adventure to Latacunga didn't quite work out as planned, I found it all very comical and still very fun.  I finally made it back to Pedro and decided that I would not be traveling for at least a week or two, I was exhausted!

A Turning Point

On March 19 I had a meeting with the Regional Director of Latin America at University Research Corporation.  The director was a former colleague of one of my project advisers, who is also a respected mentor.  Following an email introduction, I had expressed my interest to the director about learning more about a maternal and child health project they were leading in the province of Cotopaxi, which is south of Quito.  The meeting was absolutely great!  I learned a lot about the role of URC in implementing evidence-based practices in many areas of public health.  I did not previously understand the link between research and practice, so it was wonderful to meet with URC and develop a vision of the type of work I want to do in public health.  I learned a lot about the maternal and child health project they are leading, too.

This four-year project works with traditional birthing attendants (parteros) in small villages.  The goals are to improve the healthcare of the parteros without changing cultural traditions (such as vertical birth), and also improve the services in formal hospitals.  The overarching theme is also to create networks of healthcare providers and community leaders that work together to reduce neonatal mortality.  It's important that the parteros still deliver babies how they have delivered babies for years, but the project teaches them practices that improve the sanitation of delivery or the feeding of newborns, for example.  There are many levels of people involved in the project, from towns to townships, counties, and finally the entire province.  At each of these levels, project facilitators lead workshops for parteros, teaching and reinforcing the main points of neonatal health.

I'm really interested in this type of project that implements evidence-based practices to improve community health, specifically in the area of maternal and child health.  I asked the nurse who leads the project (who was at the meeting on March 19) if I could accompany her to one of the workshops.  She said "of course, I'm leaving tomorrow for a county-level workshop the following day."  I was quite taken aback and not expecting this idea of mine to materialize so quickly!  The workshop would be in Latacunga, a city south of Quito.  I was not prepared to stay another night in Quito and accompany the nurse the next day, so I left the meeting with her phone number and the possibility of finding my way to Latacunga on my own.  I returned to Pedro extremely excited and hopeful that I could go!  (Who was I kidding, I have no real schedule and was at a standstill with the diabetes project...of course I could go!)

The next morning in Pedro I quickly contributed to my online class discussion, packed, and reserved a room at a hostel in Latacunga.  I was off on my adventure.  After the three hour bus to Quito (which ends at the north bus terminal), I had to get to the south bus terminal, where buses leave for Latacunga.  It took me over an hour and a half (but only 50 cents!) to get through the long city, using public buses (well, actually three different public buses).  Once in Quitumbe, the south bus terminal, I quickly boarded a bus to Latacunga and was proud of myself for navigating the busy city.  There was a march of indigenous people in the highway just outside of Quito, so our bus driver turned off the bus as we waited half an hour for the march to pass.  Unexpected but interesting.  Finally in Latacunga after two hours, I found my $5-a-night-but-still-clean-and-accommodating-hostel then wandered a bit through the streets to find a bite to eat.  The next morning I wandered around again then called the nurse, informing her that I would meet her in 10 minutes at her hotel!  She was shocked yet thrilled.

Pretty building on my morning walk

One of the lovely plazas

I joined the nurse and two other members of the project team and we were driven (by a local driver who works for the project) out to an old country monastery where the workshop would be held.  Many parteros had arrived the night before and were staying at the old monastery.  It was a beautiful setting for the workshop.  After breakfast and introductions, the parteros broke into groups for the training sessions.  I observed a group led by a nurse from Latacunga and woman who works with the Intercultural Health division within the Ministry of Health, a native to the area who speaks Quechua, the indigenous language.

View from outside the old monastery.

It was so exciting to see so many parteros, there were over 50 of them from all over the county, all wearing the traditional garb.  During the small-group training session, the main points that were taught/reinforced were hand washing; preparing the maletin (the bag that parteros bring with them to a birthing mother's home); delivery practices (such as cutting the umbilical cord and immediately putting the baby with the mother); and warning signs for pregnancy, postpartum mothers, and neonates.  The parteros observed demonstrations, practiced different procedures, did role plays, drew pictures of warning signals, and participated in question/answer with the facilitators--there were many methods of reinforcing the same principles.  Everyone was engaged and eager to learn.  It was a long day at the workshop, but we were all fed breakfast, 2 snacks, lunch, and dinner.  The workshop continued the next day until the mid-afternoon snack.  Then the parteros rushed off to catch various buses back to their villages.  I also rushed off, knowing that I must get back to the north bus terminal in Quito by 6pm when the last bus to Pedro leaves.

Attending the workshop was an incredible experience--I was able to observe methods for implementing community projects that, through previous courses or experiences, I had learned were effective, sustainable, and contextually-sensitive.  Projects like this maternal and child health project are what I want my career to be.  Getting excited and learning about URC and what they do has helped me realize that what I'm doing in Pedro with the diabetes project is a stepping stone to reaching my career goals.  Just the motivation I've been needing!

Setting up for demonstrations. 

Partera demonstrating the hand washing technique she learned.

Game/exercise break after lunch.

Drawing out various warning signals.

This cute child accompanied our small-group session and was very fearful of me!

Inside the church.

Recap: Beginning of March

It's been a month now since I've posted, so I thought it is bout time that I update you all!  The weekend before my birthday (which is February 28), the group of medical residents at the hospital switched.  They spend eight weeks in Pedro then eight weeks in Quito.  The U.S. American medical student also left on the 29th.  Because of these changes, the first couple weeks of March were rather boring and lonely!  I was readjusting to making new friends in the new group of residents--who are busy and don't necessarily have time to hang out and make new friends.  I mean really, they're doctors.  They work at least 12 hours a day.  I also kicked off March with a large grasshopper chirping and flying around my room as I tried to fall asleep with the sheet over my head.  It landed next to my pillow, and I promptly got it out of my room using a broom.  When I first saw this creature in my room I thought it was an alien.

As far as my project, things were also moving slowly.  I'd been practicing interview questions with diabetic patients.  However, the method for doing this was waiting in the consultation waiting room for hours; if a doctor had a diabetic patient that came in that day, they would introduce the patient to me and I would interview them.  Some days there would be no patients.  Thankfully I had a book to read (I recommend Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn for anyone interested in global women's issues).  Needless to say, this waiting around got to be rather demotivating and frustrating, especially thinking that I was simply testing questions...I hadn't even begun officially conducting interviews and collecting data.  Unfortunately my on-site supervisor had also been on vacation, so I was also waiting around to get feedback from him.  It was a long first two weeks of March!

Where I hang out at the hospital, the cafeteria.

The waiting room.  Entrance to the right, consultation rooms straight ahead, reception to the left.

On the bright side, my free time and lack of friends allowed me to do some cooking (always a stress-reliever) and go to the gym more often.  The gym has an odd variety of weight machines and non-electrically-powered treadmill and elliptical (one of each).  I use the weights a bit, but the main reason I go is for the aerobic dance class.  The first class I went to was a mix of aerobics and salsa/merengue.  Now we mostly dance to salsa, merengue, cumbia, and little reggaeton and other traditional Ecuadorian songs.  It's not very organized and I can't say the workouts are consistent or targeting specific muscle groups or flexibility, etc...but my salsa dancing has definitely improved!

A few other highlights:
*I had an "admirer" who works at a little grocery store in town.  He asked me to dinner one day and I said no, so now he no longer gives me roses when he sees me.

*On March 5th I went to Quito to visit a friend in the previous group of residents.  I accompanied him to the doctors' class at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador (PUCE).  It was interesting sitting in on the class and even more awesome to wander around campus a bit!  It had been a long time since I'd seen so many students my own age; it would be very fun to be a part of the ambiance of the undergrad campus and student body.  After the class, my friend and I drove up the panecillo (which means cupcake), the man-made hill in the center of the city, atop which is a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  We climbed up the statue and had some great views of both north and south Quito.  I didn't bring my camera, not expecting a touristy excursion.  Bummer.  (The background of this blog is actually the panecillo, though, a picture I took in June, 2011 from a huge cathedral in the historic part of Quito.)

*The following weekend, March 11, one of the residents asked me if I wanted to go with her to visit her family in Santo Domingo.  (I think she overheard me telling the dentist that the next time he goes dancing with the women who work in the lab, he needs to invite me because I'm so bored in Pedro.)  It was really nice to do something different and I really enjoyed meeting her family--they were so friendly and generous.  Sunday at her home was definitely "family time," so I spent a lot of time playing with a little cousin (or nephew, I'm sure how they were all related...).  We also visited the farm where her parents now live.  Her 15-year-old niece showed me around, not knowing that I grew up on a farm as she pointed out things like: "this is where the cows eat," "this is where the cows poop," "we put the poop in the fields because it's good for the soil."  I thought of all those summers our farm/the countryside smelled like turkey shit.  But the niece and her father also pointed out things that were very new to me, like: "these are coffee trees," "the red seed pods are the ripe ones," "this is a pepper plant, you harvest the seeds and grind them to make black pepper."  It was borderline torrential down pour as we walked around the farm, so no pictures taken!

*I finally went dancing with the medical residents (the second and third years) and also met some other hospital staff that joined us at the discoteca.  It was a fun night!

Carnaval in Montañita!

 February 19-22

To celebrate Carnaval, Latin America’s version of Mardi Gras*, I traveled to Montañita, a coastal town described as having a “Rasta vibe and laid-back ethos [making it] the end of the road for some [tavelers]” by my Ecuador guide book.  This surfer town was my destination because the American medical student (Rebecca), who worked at HPVM the month of February, had a med student friend who was learning Spanish, surfing, and working at a clinic in Montañita.  I’d heard fun things about Montañita, so was happy to have a travel buddy, especially during such a fun celebratory time here in Ecuador.

We started our venture at 4am, having to get up in time to catch the 4:40am bus to Santo Domingo.  From Santo Domingo we quickly caught the 6:30am bus to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city located on the southern coast, a seven hour ride.  Rebecca and I took turns sleeping, but as we approached the southern end of the journey, the landscape was interesting enough to keep me awake.  After seeing miles and miles of banana, pineapple, coconut, and other fruit or nut plantations, the I began to notice that the roadside fields were inundated with water.  Stilted houses spotted the sides of the road, which appeared to have been animal pastures at one point.  There were a few cows here and there, and trees and other plant life still grew in the water fields.  It was odd to see trees growing in lakes!  It reminded me of the swamps my mom and I drove through on the way to New Orleans from Houston.  I think these water fields may have been a result of it currently being rainy season in Ecuador.  I unfortunately did not take pictures, as I don’t like flashing my camera around unnecessarily.

We had been warned that the journey to Montañita would be teeming with people and the buses and beach would be madhouses.  It wasn’t until Guayaquil that we experienced this craziness.  The bus station in Guayaquil is huge—two floors of bus terminals—and was filled with people!  But the crowd near the Montañita ticket office, oh my.  There were police officers and portable fences lined up to create a path for the line for the ticket office of the bus company that travels to Montañita.  Tickets for the next bus to Montañita were not going on sale for another hour, and there was already a long line.  Because there were only three scheduled departures that day and more than enough people in front of us to fill those three buses, we chose to take a taxi instead.  Fortunately we met an American traveler in the crowd (we were pretty easy to spot, haha), so the taxi fare was only $25 each.  A steep price, but worth the hours of waiting and potentially unsafe bus ride.  However the taxi did not prove to be a quick ride, either.  The trip was almost bumper-to-bumper the entire three hours; everyone and their mother were headed to the beach for Carnaval!  It was an interesting ride though, seeing the countryside and roadside vendors, profiting from travelers made hungry and thirsty by their long journeys to paradise.

I actually took this on the way back from Las Tunas beach--the traffic was so bad, the bus driver told us we'd be better off walking back into town, rather than waiting on the bus.

An outdoor hallway in Montañita Spanish School.

Finally, once in Montañita, we found the Montañita Spanish School where Rebecca’s friend (Jessica) was staying and taking classes (it also functions as a hostel, so we conveniently were staying there, too).  We checked into our room—a dorm style with a shared bathroom, beds outfitted with mosquito nets—right as Jessica was returning from a day of surfing.  After hello’s and introductions, we found our way to “cocktail alley,” a street lined with drink vendors.  Jessica had her go-to-guy that serves her a special price of $2.50, where we grabbed a maracuya mojito before searching for a recommended vegetarian restaurant.  A delicious spinach and ginger soup and tofu stir-fry was a much appreciated break from chicken, rice, and beans.

Jessica and Rebecca on cocktail alley.

On our way to dinner and throughout the rest of our wandering around, we had to beware of the foam spraying that is customary of Carnaval.  Rebecca picked up a few cans of spray for us, so we were armed to spray anyone who dared spray us.  At first it was kind of annoying, but it was all in fun and kind of refreshing!  The dirt streets of Montañita were lined with restaurants, hostels, clubs, coffee shops, and many, many jewelry, hair braiding, or food vendors.  Each night we saw a man doing intense juggling or acrobat tricks (think flaming torches or machetes being thrown in to the air) in the middle of the street.  I again refrained from whipping out my camera, so sorry for no visual of the active streets.

Las Tunas

Our first day we took a short bus ride to Las Tunas, a town/beach just north of Montañita.  It was B-E-A-U-TIFUL.  We left in the morning so when we arrived there were practically no beach dwellers.  We played in the water, relaxed in the hammocks, lounged in the shade, and ate delicious rice with shrimp.  The sand was so hot on my bare feet, but the sun even hotter!  Even after four applications of SPF 50 I was red as a lobster, but unknowingly so until we returned late that afternoon.  Definitely underestimated the intensity of the equatorial sun!

Las Tunas

Las Tunas

View from the main road in Montanita, looking towards the beach.

Surfing lesson!

The next day we stayed at the beach in Montañita, under shade, of course.  Another very relaxing day or watching surfers and leisurely chatting.  Jessica, a former world champion surfer from Hawaii, taught me how to surf on a long board borrowed from a surfing instructor from Montañita Spanish School.  I’ve never been super comfortable in water, so I was definitely overcoming some challenges/fears while facing the waves…and it was tough to balance on the board at first.  Although I never stood up on breaking waves, I did stand up on the easy ones!  So now I can say I know how to surf—it was definitely exciting yet tiring!  We ended the day watching the sunset with the ever-popular Pilsener.

Me surfing!

Beautiful sunset, rightly enjoyed with a large bottle of beer.

Colors of the sunset.

Another 12-hour trip back to Pedro the next day, but relaxing in Montañita  was well worth the tiresome traveling.

*I call Carnaval “Latin America’s version of Mardi Gras” not because it mimics Mardi Gras, but because both celebrations occur the days preceding Ash Wednesday and Lent, reflecting a similar religious foundation.