back log

hey all,

alright, so i THINK i've figured out why i can't post pics...i've been trying to upload high res pics, so im gonna lower them and hopefully they'll load. wow, i should know this...i do this everyday. for my regular readers, im usually quite detailed, but alas, time does not allow such a luxury at this time...so i'll brief you thru the medical caravan and my weekend...

the medical caravan was an amazing experience. we went to a place called PUEBLO Viejo, not PORTO Viejo, like i had originally thought. the difference? about as different at weather in Saskatchewan NOW, and weather in Vancouver. i was packed for warmer weather, and found out 10 minutes before we left we'd be up in the mountains. yep, i was actually in the clouds. my duties were to take highblood pressure and prep the patients for the docs. we saw over 400 patients in 3 days!!! they were looonog days....breakfast at 7am, clinic closed around 7pm, dinner, then Quichua service...hit the sack, and repeat. killer long days, but amazing experience. we slept on the floor in a school. the air was fresh, and cool. so yeah, i got my taste of medical-ness...what did i learn? i have a deeper appreciation and utmost respect for medical staff...nurses, docs, and everyone else in between. to aid patients all day long... diagnose, and not go insane is awesome. that said, it gave the work that i do in the internet ministry more worth - not that it didn't already have that already. this experience showed me the ministries i was supporting as a result of doing internet ministry. when i post an article about a medical caravan, or a water project, i now KNOW that our staff are working with real people in the middle of nowhere, helping them and meeting a need. yah, amazing experience....so blessed to have gone on this caravan.

weekend was INSANE! kara, dan and i went to Riobamba (basically where i was for the entire week on the caravan cept the city, not in the mountain) and caught a train to El Nariz del Diablo. we sat on TOP of a train for 7 hours admiring amazing views of countryland, mountains, valleys, rivers etc. El Nariz del Diablo - the Devil's nose, is known as the most difficult railway in the world, because the track zigzags back and forth on the side of a rock mountain. yep... we went forward, then backward, then forward, then backward, until we reached the bottom of the mountain. good times spent this week.

k, so what follows are pics i've wanted to show awhile. if you don't understand the pic, scroll lower down to the actual post...you'll find it :)

enjoy!

dL



pic from the jungle... people of the community eating breakfast on a bananaleaf



me, trying to stand on a rock as a waterfall showers me in Hola Vida!



me taking someone's blood pressure...felt so medical!


a shot of us on the top of the train whizzing by the side of a mountain!



kara, me, and dan at the bottom of the devil's nose



ok, so if you look closely, you'll see that this pic was taken from on top of the train...then you see a cliff... then you see another railway..that's the railway that the train went backward on....forward, then backward down a mountain till we reached the bottom. tight squeeze!



birthday festivities at my house... Gaby baked 3 cakes for me...well and to feed the rest of the extended family!