Feb. 5-Latacunga

Saying goodbye is such sweet sorrow. Today was the day that all the hard work really paid off. There were so many familiar faces. I’ve posted some of the patients you might remember. The boy who got bit by the snake in the river has healed well and just needs to keep his surgery site clean and of course, the new beautiful Matilda who can now turn her head. Both of these patients are Quichua and live in the country where they are isolated without creature comforts like showers.  Both of them had skin grafts that smelled so bad when they removed the bandages. If they don’t keep the grafts clean, the snake bite could result in the boy losing his leg and Matilda new neck is all for not. I’m sad to say that the amputee who lost his finger did not come back. The group has decided to return to Coca next year and perhaps then, he may come back so he does not lose all his fingers. Another woman who had a cleft baby did return. She warned us that she lived too far and would not return and when she arrived she was soaking wet! When we thanked her for coming and learned that she walked 3 hours with her family, the Mayor’s bus offered to give her a ride home 🙂  I interviewed 2 more residents and Carlos whose passion exuded every day commented that his frustration was turning away patients and taking 15 minutes to rest meant that a patient would not get an operation.  I actually don’t remember Rick, El Hefe, who is in the photo loading into the military plane, ever turn anyone away unless it wasn’t critical. The only thing he did do was to refuse to do more than 1 major surgery because anesthesia for a long duration is dangerous. By the looks for the waiting room today, most of those patients will be coming back next year for their second operation. What a feeling of joy to be part of this trip!!!!

We left Coca today and just arrived in the beautiful town of Latacunga.  The roads are cobblestone, the elevation is over 9000 feet and many people speak English – well . . . compared to Coca.  Tourists are not a common occurrence and our taxi driver was quite intrigued when we wanted to mount a suction cup to his windshield to shoot the narrow road to Latacunga. He obliged us and took photos while we got creative.  It’s funny because the military escorts for the entire week in Coca ended with a military personnel giving me his phone number and telling me that if anything happened on my taxi drive to give him a call and he would come help. He then welcomed me to his country very enthusiastically. Maybe Correa hates Americans but the people seem to like us. I left my reading glasses in the car and the taxi driver, who thought he was getting a local fare into Quito, had to drive over 100 miles only to turn around and come back on all one-way streets to return my glasses. The people are so friendly!!  Just goes to show that money does not make you happy and comfort does not require a lot!

Boy who got bitten by a snake

Matilda

Loading up the supplies