Vacation blues turned rosy

Something unexpected happened after I came home from vacation. I will admit, the day before getting onto that bus for my 5 hour ride back to Tena, I was not looking forward to it. I was dreading going back to the daily grind after having spent 2 weeks with my parents, being reminded of what a great family I have back at home, hearing stories about life back in Cali, and having one of those weeks being spent in an unbelievably beautiful part of the world filled with snorkeling, animals, amazing food, and meeting some incredible people from all over the world. 

But what happened was that I was greeted with big smiles, hugs from co-workers, my kids, and my "little brother and sister".  Even though I had spent the 2 weeks speaking mostly English, for some reason I started to feel that my Spanish felt better.  I was able to slip back into my routine that I had created here without realizing it. Over the two week vacation I did a lot of thinking about "what next" and upon coming back was surprised by an overwhelming feeling of not being ready to leave Tena yet.  What it means as far as decision making, I am not sure. But for now, it feels good.  

Now back to the vacation- The first half was spent being tourists in Quito, trekking around the historic district, shopping til we dropped at the indigenous market, and all while trying to squeeze everything in to 2 days and keep 3 adults with different likes/interests satisfied. Not an easy task, and we only scratched the surface! Next stop: Tena!!

I was definitely feeling anxious but excited about having them come to Tena. I wasn't sure what they would think of it. Would it be what they expected? Better? Worse? More/less developed then they had hoped/pictured? Would the weather hold out for us to be able to enjoy the rivers I had talked about so much? When the taxi arrived and had a few other passengers, I thought, oh this is not what I had promised my parents, but they were troopers and piled into the van. We had a nice drive through the mountains, admiring waterfalls, landscape, landslides, and close calls of cars passing each other on windy (often unfinished) roads.  At our midpoint pit-stop, my mother looked at me with tears in her eyes as she said “I keep imagining how you must have felt the first time you took this drive. And now I’m getting to have that same experience”. Of course, like mother like daughter, I couldn't help but tear up.  Anytime she would look back at me during the rest of the drive, of course my eyes would well up again. Thanks mom, gosh! ;)  I’ll admit, it was a surreal drive the first time (and really every time, let’s be honest), but it was that much more powerful to watch my mom take it all in.  Meanwhile, dad slept through the first half… but then once awake, we watched as the terrain changed from high sierras to cloud forest to rain forest.  I liked hearing him comment on the homes and traces of life tucked up in the rolling hills.  We admired streams where I could imagine him fly fishing. Mixed in were comments like “I can’t wait to take George fishing”.  It melted my heart. 

3ish hours later, we arrived to Tena where we were greeted by the humid heat I had promised, and some of the sweetest people I have met so far in Tena.  Gary and Michelle are the owners of the hostel/residential hostel where we were going to be staying the next 3 nights- he a Tena native rafting/outdoors extraordinaire, and she an RN who came to Tena a few years back as a volunteer. They now are married, with 3 kids, and have just opened this hotel with the help of Michelle’s parents, who also live on the property 6 months out of the year.  I decided we should stay here since Michelle is a good friend of my director, but I didn’t know just how perfect it would be for us.  First of all, it is, by far, the nicest place I’ve stayed in Ecuador (besides my host family in Quito)! And I’m not talking 5 star hotel nice, white towels, mint on pillow, or room service kind of nice… but really well built, all the amenities you would need, without all the extras that you don’t, and 4 incredibly kind and friendly people to greet us and hang out with! Comfortable and low key, just our style. Gary and Michelle helped us figure out what to do and when (since again we had a lot of ideas but not very much time), Gary even drove us out to my favorite swimming hole, and Michelle’s parents chatted it up with mom and dad (and nearly had them convinced that they should live half the year in Tena). 

Probably the best part of our time in Tena was being able to head over to see the hospital and the clinic.  My mom was beaming as she got to carry in all the gifts and supplies that she had lugged over in an extra 50lb suitcase. As everyone thanked her, she made me translate to all of them about how grateful she was to know that they were the ones taking care of me every day. They got to see a couple of my kids who were there that day, and see all the equipment modifications I have been working on, so that was special for me.  Dad even chatted with Nicole (my director) about his suggestions for some outstanding jobs we had on our kids park outside.  They were both so in their element since they both spent the last few years (many years, really) in a big public hospital.  As I took them through the hospital for a quick tour, I was certain my dad would have some thoughts on the condition of the place- but surprisingly, his only remark was that the ceiling tiles were in better condition than the ones he had seen at his hospital back home. Not sure if he was just keeping the rest of the thoughts to himself.  Either way, it felt so good to take them to where I have been spending the majority of my time, and to introduce them to the friends I have made while here.  Everyone was so happy to meet them, and still, a month later, keep asking how they are doing, and remarking how sweet and happy they looked to be there.  

All in all, Tena was a success! We swam in beautiful water, experienced a major rainstorm (or two) from our rooftop, and saw monkeys, chickens, dogs, and ducks all on the same beach, at the same time.  I took them to some of my usual places to eat, and walked them through town so they could have some visual references to things they’d only heard of and imagined.  It was hard to leave after such a short visit, but now it was on to the next stop- Galapagos Islands!

But wait- before we get to the islands, I have to tell you about our trip back into Quito.  First, we had to take the 3 hour trip back in the taxi, which this time, was even fuller than the first trip- especially when we had to accommodate 2 more passengers that we picked up from the side of the road. I wasn’t sure how my parents would feel about this, but what can you do while your luggage gets strapped to the roof, with impeding rain clouds making their presence known in the distance, then to just say “well, I hope they stay up there” as my mother did? “Yep, I hope so too, mom, guess we’ll find out.”  Then about half way through the trip, we come around a bend to a road block- of beer!  A delivery truck had lost its load on the highway and beer bottles and crates were scattered across the right lane. People were gathered scavenging whatever bottles were still intact and taking them to-go.  One of our passengers jumped out to snag two and gave one to our driver. Don’t worry, he tucked it away to enjoy for later.  Then we were back on our way. J

Tragedy.

Okay, NOW we can get on to Galapagos.  Since the idea first arose of me coming to Ecuador, (and after she was done having her fit about me going away AGAIN) my mother talked about wanting to go the Galapagos, and I certainly wasn’t going to argue against this one.  But I decided to let her do the planning so that she could pick out whatever itinerary/details she wanted. This is all to say that I had no expectations going into this part of the trip, other than that I’d heard it was nice.  Nice doesn’t do it justice. Nice is a cold drink on a warm day. Nice is someone complimenting your new shoes. Galapagos, on the other hand, is the coldest, most delicious cocktail you’ve ever had when you’ve just trekked across the hottest dessert in snow gear. Galapagos are the Prada heels you can only dream of strapping onto your little footsies as you walk the LA strip. Neither of those scenarios I would even want to do, but you get my point?  Picture every animal you’ve seen in one zoo/aquarium, and put them on a volcanic island surrounded by crystal blue waters, take away the cages/fences/retainers (and maybe the lions, and tigers, and beers), and add a swanky 16-passenger yacht, one ridiculously intelligent tour guide (and pretty good looking, if I might add) and a group of exceedingly interesting tourists from all over the world. That, my friends, is the list of ingredients that best describes our week in the islands.

Our dining group was particularly interesting, and is really what made the trip that much more fun and entertaining.  At our table were Stefano and Debi (a spunky young Italian couple who are so in love it’s tangible, and who currently live in Paris), Claus and Candy (a seriously intelligent, nerdy German man married to a giggly sweet woman from Hong Kong who live in Germany), and Marius (a 20-something bachelor, class clown, instigator, anything goes, Swiss banker, trapped in a 40-something year old’s body).  Compared to them, we were ignorant boring Americans! These 5 could talk politics, history, and pop culture about ANY country, all with a completely reasonable tone, straight face, with a better English vocabulary than I have, and a genuine interest in everyone’s opinions and points of view.  To add to the fun, our senses of humor were all uncannily compatible.  Each meal we would rotate to have a new president sitting at the head of our table, everyone was able to poke fun at each other and laugh, and we taught each other games that would keep us at our table well after dinner was cleared away.  This trip would not have been the same without them.  

International Island Hoppers

Each day on the boat was an early rise followed by a hike on a new island. Then, on to snorkeling in the clear salty waters, full of life. Would you believe me if I told you that I snorkeled in shark-infested waters, with MY mother?! Well, I did! The first time we jumped in and immediately looked down, 3 sharks swam just below us. 3! And every time there after there were more! We even found ourselves swimming faster TOWARDS the guide when he told us he found some sharks hiding under a ledge of a rock and to come check it out. They were all typically about 5-7 feet long, and usually 20ish feet away, but sometimes much closer. We saw reef sharks, Galapagos sharks, and hammerheads- and many many fish and rays who all tended to stay in large schools. I’m talking 100-fish schools, it was incredible.  Sea turtles and sea lions were still my favorite to watch since the turtles are so peaceful, and the sea lions are playful, graceful, and fast!

To top it off, my mom had planned for us to stay an extra day on the main island so that I could do a dive trip- and what a treat that was! Although I will say it was the most difficult diving I’ve done since I have never been in current that strong before.  But never in my life did I EVER think I would be gripping on to the coral, my hair being blown back by the force of the current, and being surrounded by at least 20 reef sharks… and smiling! Unforgettable. Here are the pictures and videos to prove it!  

Now do you see why I was nervous about going back to “real life”?

Needless to say, this was a trip of a lifetime, and I am lucky to have gotten the opportunity to spend it with my parents.  Thank you, Mom and Dad!! 

Here is the photo album of our amazing two weeks. 

There was definitely no down time to recover from this whirlwind vacation, since I immediately met with Nicole who handed me a sizable to-do list to get ready for our big Neurological Brigade and park inauguration that was scheduled to happen in two weeks… so I had no time for vacation blues! Hit the ground running and get ‘er done! Busy, busy, busy, just how I like to be. So since returning and between rain pours I have been painting lines for handicap parking spots (which included making a big stencil of the handicap symbol, and re-measuring the spacing every time the rain washed away my chalk lines), planting flowers, organizing a work party to have the parents help finish up the last touches on the park, and ironing out all the details on the lunches, transportation, supplies, making copies/flyers/invitations/tshirts/banners for the brigade, the list goes on. Obviously I was not doing all of this alone, but was doing my best to help take as much off of Nicole’s plate as I could since she has done nearly all of the work leading up to all of this in the past 7 years that she has been here. The work she has done is impressive, and she deserved all the help I could give her.  Bit by bit, we were getting closer and closer…. And now the big event has arrived!!

Stay tuned for the next chapter to hear all about the inauguration of our barrier-free kids park and the 5^th Neurological Brigade where we expected to see ~300 patients coming from all over the county of Tena!