Ground zero

 THE Equator did a little dance jumping from the Northern hemisphere to Southern hemisphere

 As always the children are why we go

 Machala...AKA Banana capital of the world

 Roses

 Roses

 Roses & bananas

 Carnations

 Fresh fruit to die for

Empanada & salsa

City...country...and sea

 Machala

 On the road to Machala

by the sea

 Pre-OP this brave soldiers...don't flinch at getting IV's no EMLA either

 PACU...Mary Boatwright the other PACU nurse

 Ron Turker...cast day...bring it!

 Kim & Tabor & Deb OR

 One of 29 cast changes

 Missey & Cassy

 Too cute...

This is my buddy Ronald...he gave me hugs and thumbs up

 Heading into the hospital for screening day...Dr Young one of the anesthesiologist.

 The Doc's...Vigeland, Turker, & Shaw.

Had to be done...had to kiss her!

 Kids.....kids...kids

 Boys strutting their stuff

Waiting ...as long as it takes to see the American Doctors....no moaning or complaints heard....

We were escorted by soldiers...EVERYWHERE we went.  We were told Machala was dangerous...although i never felt any threat.   EVEN in the hospital....I much preferred being guarded by the Blazer fan in Ecuador!!!

PDX to Quito airport...bus.....with lots of luggage!

Eyelashes, banans& roses...what was lost is found

Well I spent 20 min typing a blog post last evening and some how deleted it when I was trying to edit it. So here goes again Typical flow of our days 06 out of bed( to lobby for WiFi 07 breakfast 07:30 on the bus( with armed guards with big guns, we don't go any where with out them) 8:00 round on patients...after we run up 5 flts of stairs 8:30 first surgeries start 5:30 last patient out of surgery( that is the goal) 6:00 round on patients ....run nip 5 flts of stairs... 6:30 finish triage if there are new patients waiting 7:30 back to bus.... 8:00 dinner Start over Some observations... Ecuadorean babies have the longest eyelashes in the world! Machala is the banana capital of the world...who knew. Most roses we get from florist in USA come from Ecuador. It is about 88 and 100 humidity....in malaria heaven...first bite yesterday..yeah for Larium GOOD NEWS!!!!! Got my luggage yesterday..so like wearing my own clothes especially ----- oh never mind TMI

So to back up to yesterday... We spent much of the day traveling. We started our day at 05:30, and headed to the Quito airport. We were all checking in and our in country support person Zorida decided that I should check my carry on, which was a little worrisome ....but when in Rome do as the Romans do..needless to say. My luggage never arrived...ah Ecuador... We spent the afternoon triaging patients...300 to be exact.. First day today ...we only did 3 surgeries today..but a good first day we ironed out all ...or most of the glitches. As in past trips the patients and families are incredible. So gracious and kind. Mean while Dr Shaw saw mother 60 patients.. So we will be crazy busy for the rest of the week. I learned that this team operates on the weekend...so no rest for the wicked...8 straight days...woot woot. The team relaxed over dinner and debriefed our first day and shared mission stories. So I can not figure out how to upload photos so you will be bored with prose only. Time to turn in and do it all over again

Ecuador!!!

Well we arrived safe and sound in Ecuador..as usual arriving in South America at 11:30 at night, and it took for ever to get through immigration. We arrived at the hotel at 2:30 am, and back up at 05:30 to head back to the airport. We fle to Gauyaquill then a 4&1/2 trip by bus to Machala. My only mishap is that my personal bag is MIA...so I have NO clothes...no toiletries ....hmmmm so will be interesting No more brain power so I will try to write tomorrow

Click on the JOURNEY to see video

The journey

Benson is warming me up for baby loving in Ecuador!

Now 12 hours and counting before we all head to PDX and check the mountain of medical supplies in....wish us luck

. We begin our journey to Ecuador on Saturday January 7, 2012. We anticipate doing approximately 80 surgeries. We will travel as a team from Portland to Alanta, then on to Quito. Like past trips to Peru we will arrive at 11:30 PM and go through customs and immigration and head to a local hotel for a shower and brief cat nap. We will return to the airport by 06:00 to take a flight to Guayaquil arriving there around 09:30. Then we board a bus for a 4 1/2 hour trip to Machala. Since we were scheduled to operate at another hospital in Rio Bamba we lost most of Sunday to transit and we will go right to the hospital to begin set up and triage since we will start operating the next day.