Thursday

Everyone was glad for the opportunity to sleep in a little. I think our host was glad for rest too.
We only had one van to use this day, so we packed people in like sardines, maximized use of the roof rack, and the few that couldn´t fit in the van took the public bus.
We set up our clinic in a quaint mountside village. We had a local female physician accompanying us, Mercedes. She works in a local hospital and clinic. Despite our language barrier; I think we were able to learn a lot of medicine from each other. She certainly opened my eyes to more of the local healthcare issues.
It was a slow day - maybe 30 people seen. But that may be because we showed up late. We´re going back to the same village tomorrow and hope more will show up, now that the word is out.

The group that was taking the bus home had a bit of an adventure on the return trip. We got bored waiting for the bus, so Nick flagged down a pickup truck with seats in the bed and secured us an hours drive back to Riombamba for $2.50. All was well until we came to a very narrow pass, and there were 6 busses blocking the way - 2 heading in one direction, the other 4 heading in the opposite direction. It appeared we would be stuck there for quite a while. So we got out and walked past the traffic jam, and were fortunate enough to come upon a taxi. It was a tight fit with Amanda sitting on my lap. But it was dry and warm and better then waiting indefinately for the bus drivers to settle their dilemma.

I´M SORRY NO NEW PICTURES, but I´m having a lot of trouble downloading them.
I promise I´ll try tomorrow to send pictures.

Adios
Terry