25. There are 132 volcanoes in
Ecuador
 |
| Cotopaxi Smoking |
24. Cotopaxi is the 2
nd
tallest volcano at 19,347 feet and has been smoking and shooting up ash since
before I got here. It is in Code
Yellow—one code away from full eruption putting the region I have been serving
in a lot of danger.
23. They are excellent users of
turn signals and flashers
22. In addition to stop lights there
are tons of police directing traffic to improve efficiency
21. The average life expectancy is around 90 years
old with some living to 110 in certain areas.
Their secret is a diet filled with corn!
20. Ecuador is becoming one of the #1 places for
Americans to retire.
 |
| Cops drive with their lights on |
19. Since 2000, the currency has been the US
Dollar.
18. Cops drive with their lights
on all the time—making it a tad unnerving to be followed!
17. Tips are not expected or normal in Ecuador. Even if you were to tip 25 cents they would be thrilled. If you would tip the normal 15-20%, they would be ecstatic!
16. You can get a dozen roses for $1
15. There has been a cut in schools that are open and many schools 2 full school days held at them. They have a group of students come in the morning to early afternoon and another set of students and teachers come from early afternoon until evening.
14. Due to an overabundance of cars, driving in
Quito has been restricted based on the last number of your license plate. For example, if yours ends in 0 or 1, you
can’t drive into the city on Monday.
13. For us the white dashed lines
on highways separate lanes--here it is a personal lane for motorcycles between
all the cars and buses.
12. You are not allowed to listen
to the radio or music while driving in the city.
11. The economy is based on agriculture, petrol, flowers, and fruits like bananas.
10. Some companies here put a
“Made in the USA” stamp on their product to sell it for more.
9. The average salary here is $340
a month
8. The driving age here is 18
years old. If you want to drive when you
are 16, you have to pay $5,000
7. Only banks accept $100 or even
$50 bills due to a high rate of counterfeiting. If you want to deposit a $100
bill at the bank they will take your personal information to come after you if
they find it’s counterfeit.
 |
| Equator |
6.
Although most people speak Spanish, an indigenous language here is
Keechwa. Part of this language is adding
“–ita” to many things as term of endearment and has been adopted into the
Spanish language here but is technically slang. For example, Susana would be
Susanita.
5. Freshly made fruit juice EVERY morning is
amazing!!
4. People still casually greet
each other in passing on the street, Buenos dias!!
3. The equator is actually a 5 km
wide strip
2. It is cool to see a volcano like
Cotopaxi smoking…as long as it doesn’t actually erupt.
1. Ecuador is a beautiful country
with even more beautiful people!!
13. For us the white dashed lines
on highways separate lanes--here it is a personal lane for motorcycles between
all the cars and buses. 
10. Some companies here put a
“Made in the USA” stamp on their product to sell it for more.
Then on to the Basílica Catholic
church near the center of Quito. This is
a massive and beautiful church made completely of volcanic rock and took 100
years to build. It is almost 500 feet
long and about 250 feet high. The
stained glass and ornate arches are beautifully placed and I had a blast
picturing around with my camera. I
thought we were done when I was escorted to a different part of the church that
allowed you to climb the towers. And
when I say climb, I mean walk a wooden cat walk across the center part of the
church under the roof and then up several very steep ladders up to the very top
of an open tower. The wind was whipping
but the adventure of the climb and the views at the top were worth it. While in Quito we saw many children in school
uniforms despite being a Saturday. This
was because the oldest grades were taking their traditional oath to the
Ecuadorian flag today—vowing honor to their country.
Next we headed over the large
statue of the virgin Mary that overlooks the city. Legend has it that she is facing north and
blessing the rich but turning her back on the poor in the south—for whatever a
legend is worth. Her statue sits on top
of El Panecilo hill and the whole thing is about 12 stories high making her
very visible to most parts of Quito. While
roaming about I met a family who asked if I would take their picture and then
when they found out I was from the US, wanted one with me in it too. They are from Ecuador, but have traveled to
Los Angeles. A similar thing happened on
top of the statue and so with me and my improving Spanish, I complied, why not,
haha. You could climb up about half the
statue and the views from here were different than from the cable car or Basilica
church because she is situated on a hill with 360 degree views of the
city. 
Today was the last day for the
clinic and we stayed put in the camp to serve the people of the surrounding
village including many people that work here at the camp. Today was the busiest day yet and it was
great because I didn’t have to rush to get people seen before the taxi came to
pick us up. I treated clear till dinner
and everyone got seen. All orthopedic
today with everything from a second opinion on old fractures to kids needing
animal moves like bear crawls and crab walks to improve their proximal
stability. It was nice to have some
different things today like one woman who brought her x-rays of her scoliosis which
were crudely taken and her doctor’s notes from here which were very short. The documentation here is minimal so I
literally got to treat all day which is what I love to do! MMI travels to all parts of Ecuador during various
parts of the year, but I was told this is the first time a PT has been to these
villages and areas, at least in the 16 years Susana has been the director.
During this morning’s team
devotions we were both reminded and convicted of the need to be praying more
with patients as we work with them to meet both physical and spiritual
needs. And what better timing. We were serving the people of El Carmen but
the village is so small there is not a building we could set up in. So we ended up back in Pinantura where we were
last Friday, which is about 20 minutes away from El Carmen. Not as many people came today, but I believe
that was the way it was meant to be because we were able to spend more time
with each patient and many came with some heavy personal needs for prayer as
well. My first patient was a 90 year old
woman who could barely walk. She had 8
kids but is now a widow and lives alone.
She had many things going on but overall had a lot of total body
weakness and arthritis making it very difficult for her to walk. Additionally
she had fallen last year and fractured her ulna. She was given a cast but she took
it off and so it healed as a displaced fracture at her wrist. In addition to strengthening exercises, I was
able to provide her additional bracing for her wrist as well as her knee to
assist her in walking. She was later
praying with the pastor and his wife wanting to declare Christ as her living
God and Savior! 
