I swear, I am here for work... even if it doesn't look like it.

I am not sure how I got from week 3 to week 6 so quickly, but here we are! As I sit on my balcony with a welcomed refreshing breeze, the rain is beginning to fall and lightening is lighting up the sky in bright flashes. I have tried to video the lightening storms, but they just don't come out well enough to pass along.  I think that will be my project for the year, get at least one good picture or video of a storm.  Only 10.5 more months to make it happen! ;) And in just that short amount of time, the rain is now POURING down. The analogy I use is to imagine a fire hose being sprayed directly at your window- that's what it sounds like. Impressively loud. A corrugated metal roof does not help to dampen the sound.  And just 2 minutes standing in the rain and you are drenched as if you'd jumped into the river.  We'll see how long this downpour lasts. I'll keep you posted.

So as I sort through my pictures to share, I am realizing I am taking more pictures of the every day life and adventures, and less of the kiddos or clinic. But I promise! I am working! So I'll start by sharing about them.

 Remember the donation I talked about before that was given to the special ed school? In that same donation, there were some items that were specifically for the clinic. Here they are! They included a few therapy swings that we will suspend from the ceiling, ladder swing, monkey bar swing, tunnel, adapted chair, walkers, a handful of different general toys that have already been a hit, trampoline, wedges with straps for positioning, 3 huge boxes of foot/ankle orthotics, and even some sensory toys, puzzles, and foam tubing specifically for us OTs! :)  The foam tubing is to build up handles on things when kids (or adults) have a hard time gripping things like pens, pencils, toothbrush, utensils, etc.  We're still trying to get creative and figure out what kind of material we can find here in Tena to use to make small hand splints. So far we're at a loss so if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears!

This has by far been the most popular new toy in the clinic. It's a great tool to use for kiddos that need to work on posture, neck strength/control, using both arms to propel, bending their wrists, opening their hands, weight bearing on their arms.  We've all taken it for a spin and it's not easy! 

Besides the new toys, we have also been preparing to have an inauguration for the new accessible playground that is going up next door to the clinic.  This is yet another project Nicole has organized and gotten funding for. She is truly amazing. She has been here for 6 years, established this clinic from nothing (literally- there was no rehab at this hospital before she came), and has done it all with grants and funding she has acquired from mostly international sources, CMMB being a major one.  We're having a work-party this Friday to complete the playground, so I will be sure to take pictures and share them.  Here are some pics of when the guys from Quito installed the play structure last week.  

As for the kiddos, I have what would normally be considered a full caseload, but this being Latin America, I have yet to have a day where all my kids showed up.  So in my downtime, which there seems to be a lot of, I have been doing a lot of reading of text books, finding info online to teach myself, and doing my best to learn as much as I can while I have the time.  I'm also trying to come up with a project that would benefit the clinic, and have a few ideas, but none have been initiated yet. Again- I'll keep you posted. 

Here I am working with a little guy named Mickel. He has arthrogryposis and does NOT like to let me bend his arms.  He has some serious lungs when he gets upset with me. Luckily, this day I had him mesmerized by our "kitchen" toys. Either that or I'm a really good therapist... yea that's probably it. ;)

In case you were wondering, the storm is still rolling. Which usually means, it may be an all-nighter. Great for the fresh air, not so great for peaceful sleeping. The thunder is in full effect now. I even tried to take a video, but as luck would have it, the thunder and lightening cracked just AFTER I turned the camera off after 45 seconds of just rain.  Figures. 

Okay, now for some day-to-day fun stuff.  If you have a queasy stomach, you may want to skip down a bit... these next two pics are not the prettiest. :) 

So, I wanted to share some of the local delicacies with you... The first one is called Cuy, aka guinea pig.  Usually I find it roasting on a spit with a few of it's friends being spun around. Still not my favorite sight to see, but this one was especially disturbing. Check out those teeth! I have not tried it yet, but of course have been told that it "tastes like chicken".  

Along the street walking to work, I ran into this fine fellow.  It really is true that they use ALL parts of the animal for food, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see this entire cow head chilling on the counter.  The less attractive part was that the eyes were still open. Couldn't they have at least closed his eyes? Come on!  Another common one to find is an entire spinal column of a cow with all the different organs hanging off of it.  I have yet to get a pic of that yet, but it's fascinating to see.

Okay, back to pleasantries.  As Wednesday was Halloween, no one here cared.  What they did care about was Friday which is known as Dia de los Difuntos- aka Day of the Dead. It's similar to what we see celebrated by Mexican/Mexican-Americans in the states, except instead of sweet breads, here they make a drink called Colada Morada and a bread called Guagua de Pan (which means baby of bread) that has jam of some sort in the middle.  The drink is made with finely ground blue corn, fruits (pineapple, melon, strawberries, blackberries), cinnamon, and herbs. It is usually served warm and is delicious! Here I am eating  my colada morada and guagua de pan that they served at lunch on Thursday at the hospital.  You can also see how big our typical daily lunch is... and that's without the soup that's also served.  I have to draw the line with the soup- it's 90' outside and they want me to eat hot soup?! ;) On the other hand, the fresh juices are always delicious! 

Let's see what else... As many of you know, I had a bit of difficulty getting my visa before coming here, so 2 weekends ago I went up to Quito with Tamara (Swiss volunteer- my travel buddy) and Nicole so that we could get it all straightened out. Well, Tamara used the same letter that I had been denied with and had no problem, but me being from the USA, I am required to provide a myriad of paperwork showing why I should be allowed to stay for a year.  So thinking I had finally gotten everything I needed, I was denied yet again and sent on my way. Back to the hospital I go to beg for more paperwork, which has to be notarized, and back to Quito I will go. But that's not the interesting part of the story... As most of you may also know, Quito is at 10,000 ft elevation. Yikes.  Boy did I ever feel the altitude. It took me about 6 hours to recover, during which time I had to stay laying down or else I felt like I was going to pass out from incredibly low blood pressure. Thank goodness I had Nicole and Tamara with me to help me get from point A to point B since we had to eat lunch, pick up Tamara's paperwork, then finally get us to a hostel for the night.  That was my first phone call home in tears.  Thanks, mom, for listening and helping me out. :) 

The next day when I was able to stay upright, Tamara and I were able to enjoy the weekend sight-seeing in Quito. Here are some pics... 

Mariscal- "Gringolandia" where our hostal was located. Which meant loud music all night long, but also meant some fun dancing the 2nd night when I was feeling better. 

First stop was the "middle of the world".

Obligatory tourist pic

Dancing between hemispheres

More obligatory tourist pics.

 Then we went to the centro historico to check out the beautiful buildings and scenery. Felt like being back in Spain!

Hanging with Mr. Fireman. No big deal. 

We bought these handmade leather sandals from this man. Such a nice guy, beautiful work!

The sky and clouds do some amazing things here! Makes for some pretty pictures.

The virgen, overlooking the town. 

Typical Andean garb. The sack on the woman's back  is holding a small child.  No need for a  fancy baby carrier here. 

 This kid is a shoe shiner, waiting for his next customer. He couldn't have been more than 10 years old.  Works hard for his money. 

More guaguas de pan. MMMMMMM.  

We came across one plaza that was having a demonstration of some kind and they had some regional dance performances going on as well.  These are some girls from the Afro-Ecuadorean region of Esmeraldas. Lots of bootyshakin' going on!

Then came the traditional indigenous dancers.  I love the costume of the guy in the middle.  So colorful!

Lots of old buildings with bright colors, and balconies. Reminded me of Spain. 

We ended the day at the basilica,and climbed to the top of the towers for another great view of the city.  

Another jam-packed weekend, with some ups and downs, but all recoverable and it all went smoothly in the end.  As I've been working on this blog, I got a phone call that I can get a ride to Quito tomorrow- so think happy visa and happy altitude acclimation thoughts for me everyone!

Stay tuned 'til next time.