I went to Ecuador on a school nursing trip. There were 12 students, two teachers and the nurse who founded the non-profit group, Hands For Humanity. She organizes doctors and nurses that go to Ecuador to do surgeries on kids, specifically club foot, and helps bring kids to the U.S. for lifesaving surgeries. We had a lot of translators with us, some for only a few hours, others helped us for days and days! I can not speak highly enough about the people in Ecuador. Phenomenal.
Ecuador was amazing. I learned a lot, specifically about traveling with different people and in a group.
We stayed in three different hotels. One of which was a 5-star and was super nice. They gave us hot towels when we checked in!!
The food was fantastic! Truly, so good! The fish was so yummy and I could have eaten the rice every day! And the banana chips, which had a name that I can't remember, were surprisingly really good also! They eat them with some sort of mayo mix, also very good!
We went to the ocean....
And I even swam in a sulfur lake...only four of us had the guts to get in. I am proud to say I was one of them!
And, of course, I saw some of these...the famous Blue-footed Booby!!
Sorry I have not posted about my trip yet. I brought home some sort of Ecuadorian bug and have been a sicko all week. I am hoping that I will feel better soon. Blah. In the mean time, a little Ecuador trivia. In the above picture, can you point out the lemons? The limes? If you guessed the big yellow ones as lemons, you are wrong!! In Ecuador, limes are lemons and lemons are limes. So if you order a lemonade, you are really getting a limeade. No wonder all my lemonades tasted slightly odd!:)
Ecuador was AMAZING!! Truly amazing!! I loved it!! I can't wait to go back. Add another place to my list of places I could live in a heart beat. My friend, Lena, has been there many times and told me that I would love it but I didn't understand just how much I really would love it. The people were phenomenal. I loved the big cities and the people and the ocean and the people and the food and oh, did I mention I loved the people. More to come but I literally just got home 20 minutes ago from the airport and I am going to bed.
And apparently I have not spread the word enough. Which is strange cuz I am SUPER excited. I have never been to South America and I am so excited to see another part of the world. My biggest complaint about Paris (which I LOVED) was that it was so much like home. I am really hoping that Ecuador will bring new things, new sites, new ideas, new people, etc.
For those who do not know, I am going to Ecuador on a school nursing trip. There are about 12 students going and 5 teachers. Since we do not have our RNs behind our names yet, we don't really get to do much along the health aspect of things so most of the trip is observation. We are going to an orphanage, a nursing home and a home for those who have had Hansen's disease (better known as leprosy). We will also be visiting two nursing schools and presenting health information in two health fairs. We are touring two hospitals, one for those who have money and one for those who have no money. We get to go to a place called Iguana Park (I am guessing lots of random iguanas), a Catholic church service, the ocean, an island off the main islands of the Galapagos variety, and we may have the opportunity to do a home visit and see a typical Ecuadorian's home. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!
I am in charge of the presentation that we give at the nursing schools about us here where we live. It is going to be a PowerPoint presentation and I am hoping to make it kind of fun. It will be interesting to see if my sarcasm and attempts at jokes translates well. The goal is to include our school and our labs along with things like where we live, who we live with, what we eat and how we cook, etc. I am also doing two health presentations with one of my friends. The first will be at the two health fairs and the topic is how to prevent diabetes and the second presentation will be at the orphanage and is more geared towards teenage girls. We are hoping to do a craft project specifically for them (the majority of us will be doing craft projects with the kids). The goal is to teach the teenagers about self-worth. A big topic in a short amount of time. How do you show these girls that they are special, really, truly special and that they deserve to be treated that way? It is a daunting task.
I am so so excited to go on this trip. I have a huge interest in nursing outside the US. I hope to be able to return to either Ecuador or another South American country once I am an actual nurse. We will see very shortly if that is a for realsy goal or just something that sounded good until I actually did it. I am hoping that I blog like a mad woman about my trip when I get back. And that you all will think my trip was as interesting as I thought it was!:) But first, very first, I have to pass third semester. Wish me luck.
I leave for Ecuador in 12 days. I officially pass third semester nursing school in 9 days. I am practically packed for my trip. I have not even started to study for finals yet. Where are my priorities??
Things I have not done that I meant to do for the trip...get crazy in shape so I can hike like a mad woman. Things I did do...bought crazy cute shoes for the hikes, so even if I am huffing and puffing, (and possibly being resuscitated), at least I will have cute shoes.
Tonight I had to make an emergency trip to the grocery store. I had ran out of calcium enriched OJ and this is unacceptable. (ok, and I wanted cookies, but OJ sounds like a much better reason to go to the store) So anywhos- I ran to the store and while I was there I saw this guy who had giganto arms. Not fat, more like 'spend way to much time in the gym cuz I have a love affair with my own arms' giganto. My first thought?? Gross. And I rolled my eyes. I walked by thinking how glad I was that so far I only had asparagus in my cart instead of the sugar cereal, mint oreos and OJ that would be in my cart by the end. But I also giggled to myself. I laughed because seriously, my first thought about this guy was 'gross'. Some of my guy friends think that girls love this sort of thing. There is this guy that I have met that is all sorts of buff, or so I have been told. I was never that impressed. But some of my guy friends think that this buff guy is all that and that girls love it. Now, as much as I like it when men have arms bigger than my not anorexic thighs, I think it is gross. Maybe it is just me? Or are my guy friends right and most girls really do swoon over men who have giaganto arms?
If you accidentally wax off to much of one eyebrow, do not try to make the other one match. Because instead of having just one extra thin eyebrow, you will suddenly have two penciled in eyebrows. Ugh.
We went to the ocean....
