Hola Ecuador!

We have arrived in Quito! Nineteen of us have made our way from coast-to-coast Canada: Victoria, Mill Bay, Nanaimo, North Vancouver, Terrace, Prince George, Edmonton, and believe it or not Newfoundland, to come together for the Ecuador project.  We have

Eyeglasses ready for flight

on our team optometrists, opticians, retired folks, an animal nutritionist, a bookkeper, a student, a Guy Friday, and me.  The people I am traveling  with are amazing.  For the majority, this is not their first project and they openly declare it will not be their last.

Sitting with Marina and Derrick after dinner last night, they revealed that this project almost came to a grinding halt on October 18, just days before departing Canada.  It is nothing short of amazing that the tenacious spirit and the never-give-up drive that lives within both Marina and Derrick made this project a reality.  Suffice it to say that they spent countless hours phoning and emailing numerous people to keep this project moving forward.  It was not

Preparing for Customs

until we cleared customs and we were actually at the school attending to the children did they believe that nothing can stop us now.

I remember at one point, in the airport and after clearing customs, hearing Derrick laughing deliriously with relief that we had cleared.

October 30, the B.C. people met at YVR at 3:00 A.M. This is where we labeled boxes and packed equipment into suitcases.  In total, for the project, we transported twenty-seven pieces of luggage.  This did not include any personal effects.  Everyone stepped up and pitched in to collect trolleys, lift boxes, stand in lines, lift the boxes again and so on. Our itinerary took us from Vancouver to Houston, Houston to Quito.  We had a four-hour lay over  and a slight delay leaving Houston.  We were finally in the air about 6:30 P.M. and landed in Quito near midnight.  Here we collected our boxes and luggage and convoyed through customs to a bus for transport to our hotel an hour's drive away.  It felt as though we were in the middle of nowhere and apparently we were.  It was so dark we could seen nothing.

After photocopying our passports the hotel staff assigned us to our rooms.  They were

Children waiting for us

clean and a welcome sight for tired bodies.  We fell into bed for a three-hour nap.  Alarms were set for 5:00 A.M. for a much needed shower before leaving at 6:00 A.M.

Angel, our bus driver was waiting to load our luggage.  He even had bottles of water, a welcome handout considering that breakfast was still three hours away.  The drive was scenic.  We encountered more hair-pin curves that I have experienced in my life.  We descended through rural areas, passed through towns, ascended and descended again.  There is no lack of road-side eateries for the locals.  Dogs run free.  Cows, tethered to god knows what, dotted the roadside.

We arrived at the school in El Placer.  The children were waiting.  Derrick let us know this

Eye examination

was the first time that we were arriving at a location with no time to set up before the people arrived.  We, I have to admit, we were somewhat disorganized.  In no time we had translators helping with registration, the visual acuity stations were set up and the flow started.  Registration, visual acuity, triage to auto refraction and special testing or they are finished and free to go.  Of those needing special testing, once they have seen the doctor they then head to  dispensing.

We tested 681 and dispensed 30 pairs of glasses.

It was a very long day.  We were all happy to get to the Hotel Grand Santo Domingo to shower and eat dinner.  At dinner, Marina and Derrick gave their heartfelt thanks for the successful day considering the chaos at the start.