DanaDO

We decided to spend out last weekend in Ecuador at Baños, a city in the mountains known for its hot springs. I didn´t realize until we got here though, that it was also known for its waterfalls and various adrenaline-packed activities. Baños is located Northeast from Duran in the highlands. After a 6.5 hour overnight bus ride we arrived in Baños at 5am. Thankfully they let us into our hotel at that time and we slept for a little while. When we woke up we had breakfast on the roof and saw for the first time how different this area is from Duran. There are 250 days of rain here per year (we experienced 2) so there is a lot of greenery, something that is surely lacking in dry Duran. Baños is situated in a valley ... read more

For our last two weeks here, we get to experience clinics in Guayaquil, the more metropolitan city next to Duran. The best comparison I can make is that Duran (where we live) is like Camden and Guayaquil is like Philly. The two clinics we are visiting each day are called Hospital IESS and the Padre Damien House. The Hospital IESS is a social security hospital, meaning that those that have social security (people who work with W2s and retired people, and their families) can be treated here. The hospital looks like it´s from a different world compared to the clinics we were working at in Duran. The hospital is big, with many specialists offices and it´s super clean. They have a lab onsite and X-Rays and CT scans, though they still have to send people elsewhere ... read more

We spent last weekend in Montañita which is a little surfer town on the coast of Ecuador. The town was founded by a few exPats so it´s basically a hippie haven. We arrived on Friday night after a 3 hour bus ride. The trip was actually pretty nice, a comfy ride with a movie and bathroom (and the trip cost $5.25!). The bus terminal in Guayaquil is new and looks like a huge mall from the States. It amazes me that people here don´t have running water but they have a mall with every fast food restaurant and nice stores blocks from their homes. The first night we stayed in a cute hotel right on the outskirts of town. We were told to stay a litte outside of the center if we wanted to sleep. We ... read more

On Saturday, my host brother, Jordi, who was home for the weekend from the military, took us into Guayaquil. Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador and it´s about a 20 min bus ride away from our neighboorhood. It´s very different from Duran, very metropolitan. July is the ¨Festival of Guayaquil.¨ Yes, the entire month is the festival. Our host mom said there would be parties every day. As soon as we got into town, we happened upon a parade and our host brother realized it was the beginning of the festival. We had no idea. We walked to ¨Malecón 2000¨which is a waterfront restoration project. It´s like a boardwalk on the riverbank of Guayaquil. It was very nice and modern. We came across something of a children´s exercise class and they were dressed as fruit ... read more

Hi All! First, pardon any typos because this keyboard is different. We arrived yesterday, Tuesday after a bit of trouble. After receiving a call from American Airlines at 3:30am that our first flight would be delayed with a new arrival time of 6:40, I realized we would never make our connection at 6:50. I called American and they got us on a Delta flight: Philadelphia to Atlanta, Atlanta to Miami and then our orginal flight Miami to Guayaquil. Our first flight was at 11:45. We had to make quick changes at each airport but we actually made it all the way here, and so did our luggage!!! Our host families picked us up at the airport. Melissa, the other student from my school, is staying in the same house as me. Our host mom is Alicia, ... read more