UIDE University, Quito

We went to vist an Internation University here in Quito this week to watch one of our doctors from our NRT project teach medical students.  Dr. Hinojosa is one of our champions that we work with here in Ecuador.  Some of the equipment the students are learning on are donations from the church.  They are all studying to be pediatricians.

Practicing  incubating a baby that is having diffuculty breathing at birth.

One of the bags full of equipment donated by the church. 

Practicing on mannequins.

Dr. Hinojosa teaching his students.

More practice!

One of the mannequins donated by the church.  Had to have my grandma fix!!

Dr. Hinojosa teaching!  He is passionate about his work!!

Another trip to Santo Domingo to a maternity hospital

This week we took a trip to Santo Domingo, a city to the west of us about 2 1/2 hour thru the Andes.  We hired Edison, our taxi driver to take us there.  He has taken us to other places in the city.  It costs about $10/ hour for a taxi.  He was always cleaning his windows when we stopped.  He is very interested in learning about the church.  We have given him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, a Liahona magazine and a Book of Mormon to read while he waits for us.  We haven't given all this information to him all at once but over the last few weeks.  He and Dad talk the whole time we are together.  It is good practice for our Spanish.

We visited a small hospital and looked at the maternity room as well as the pediatrics area.  Our bosses in Peru want us to focus our projects this year on helping those hospitals that work with expecatant mothers and children.  This delivery bed was very wide and short.

The place for the baby after delivery.

A bulb and mask to use when the baby is having trouble breathing.  This one was very old and the seal on it was not good.  During our NRT training the church donates this kind of bulb and mask to many doctors and nurses to be used in the delivery rooms.

A very old ultra sound machine.

An old incubator. 

The name of the clinic is ASMECXS.   Don't ask me what it stands for!!

On our way home our taxi driver stopped at a waterfall by the side of the road and took our picture!!

Another shot of the young missionary couple!!!!!

Another shot of the waterfall.  It had been raining so the waterfall was beautiful!

An outside shot of the hospital.  You can see Dad talking to Edison on the right.  Sorry the pictures are out of order.  I'm still learning how to do this blog thing!!!

A visit to Baca Ortiz Hospital

This is the largest children's hospital in Quito.  It is about a block from our apartment.  Over 140,000Children come from all over Ecuador to be treated here. They do emergency as well as long term care.  I was able to get a few outside pictures before the guard came up and told me picture taking was not allowed.

Dad talking to a member of the Ministry of Education.  We are trying to do a project with them where the church will donate school desks and equipment to a room in the hospital where children can come and keep current in their school work.

A cute little girl receiving chemo.  Some foundation donated the chemo chairs but they are huge for the little children.

The school room where the children come to be taught.  The furniture they have now is not in good condition so we hope to be able to help them as well as donate some learning toys.

Even though she is sick with cancer and having chemo she still had a smile for us.  We had to ask permission for all these pictures.

Some of the children are in the waiting room so there is a teacher there with trays, papers, pencils and crayons to keep the children entertained and learning at the same time.  There is also another teacher that rotates thru the cancer patients rooms who are unable to come to the schoolroom.  She teaches them in their beds.  The church is donating some laptops to make their learning a little easier!

Two cute little girls with their mothers.  They had smiles for us.  All the cancer patients were bald so if you want to donate your hair to "Locks of Love" we are sure some little child somewhere would appreciate it!!

The little girl on the right has a compromised immune system from her chemo treatments so has to wear a mask.

Having fun coloring even while hooked up to her medicines.  Only one parent is allowed to stay with their child at one time.  The government doesn't have enough resources to help all the poor that come to the hospital so families have to look for money to help their child receive treatments.  It was a very heartwarming but difficult to see these little ones suffer so.

A visit to the llamas

The llama is a South American relative of the camel, though the llama does not have a hump. These sturdy creatures are domestic animals used by the peoples of the Andes Mountains. (Their wild relatives are guanacos and vicuñas). Native peoples have used llamas as pack animals for centuries. Typically, they are saddled with loads of 50 to 75 pounds (23 to 34 kilograms). Under such weight they can cover up to 20 miles (32 kilometers) in a single day. Pack trains of llamas, which can include several hundred animals, move large amounts of goods over even the very rough terrain of the Andes.
Llamas are willing pack animals but only to a point. An overloaded llama will simply refuse to move. These animals often lie down on the ground and they may spit, hiss, or even kick at their owners until their burden is lessened.
Llamas graze on grass and, like cows, regurgitate their food and chew it as cud. They chomp on such wads for some time before swallowing them for complete digestion. Llamas can survive by eating many different kinds of plants, and they need little water. These attributes make them durable and dependable even in sparse mountainous terrain.

A herd of llamas live in a park here in Quito. 

Dad watching the llamas.

These were younger, smaller ones.  They let us get pretty close.

Hermana Walton in the midst of the herd.

Hermana Walton posing by a huge eucalyptus tree in the park.

New Year Traditions

Dad talking to a cute lady on the day before New Years.  Everyone likes to dress up! She is selling things for the big New Years celebration.

Here she is again with crazy eyelashes.  She has a little store outside of our grocery store where during the year she sells candy, gum, magazines etc.

The Ecuadorians make these stuffed dummies all different sizes.  At midnight on New Years Eve they burn them in the streets.  They can be effigies of politicians, pop culture figures or whatever they want.  These are called "ano viejo" (old year).  Burning these is symbolic of cleansing the bad from the previous 12 months before the new year commences.  If you want even more good luck you can jump over the flames 12 times for each month although that might be a little dangerous!!!

More effigies!  They even made one from our apartment that was life size and looked like one of our guards.  I didn't get a picture.

On the streets there are lots of masks and wigs to make your stuffed person!

They are all over!

Lots of masks too.  At midnight on New Years Eve  we were woken up and it sounded like World War 3.  There were fireworks going for over an hour and loud explosions.  We could see a lot from our bedroom window since we are up 17 floors overlooking part of the city.   The families get together and eat a big meal at midnight and celebrate most of the night.  We had a nice quiet walk early New Years Day.  Everyone was recuperating from the long night of partying!!!

Another strange tradition is that the young men dress up like women on New Years Eve day and stop traffic to get money.  This picture was taken from our apartment window.  There were 5 or 6 guys dressed up and were they ever making a racket.  We even had a young boy about 10 years old in the lobby of our apartment building who was all dressed up like a girl with a purse begging for money so we gave him 50cents!

Old Town the day before Christmas

Narrow streets and very crowded! We were in a taxi and the traffic was so bad we finally got out and walked.  It was faster!

Indigenous woman in typical dress.  Each community has their own style of clothing.  Always very brightly colored.

We went to old town because we had heard about the cool nativity displays.  There were only a few and not very elaborate.  This one was of metal sprayed white.

Star Wars natavity

A more native looking Nativity

A replica of one of the churches in Old Town, Quito

This one is all  made out of metal and it rotated.

Mom bought a couple of table runners from this mother and daughter duo.  Part of the price was that they would let us take a picture.

A police woman in full uniform directing traffic.

A view down one of the narrow streets where there are no cars!

Here you wear your backpack in the front to protect against pick pockets.  The church is the background is called the "Gold Church". It was closed so we didn't get to see inside of it but it's supposed to have alot of gold inside.  It costs $4 to visit. 

The front of one of the Catholic churches.  They had Christmas lights and a Nativity.

The Nativity at the front of the church.

Not a very good picture of a very ornate door on a church.

Some nice comfy benches!

Gorgeous architecture and colors.

Feeding her baby at the side of the road standing up!

One of the main squares with tents set up to sell Christmas things.  The lady in front was cooking some food for sale.

A view looking up the the angel that is on top one of the hills in Quito.

Another indigenous woman carrying her homemade crafts to sell.

We could have rented little cars to ride in around the park but I opted to walk.  Sister Naylor helped a young man get over a small bump in the walk way.

Fruit for sale in the park.  We never buy it!  We always clorox all our fruits and veggies that we buy from the store.

Lots of vendors in the park.  They all sell pretty much the same things but always fun to look at!