Photos and Otavalo

Old Town Quito

A cab's view of colorful Quito

Here we are, Dr. Scotts, in front of the playroom at the hospital with our "rompecabezas" (puzzles!)

Plaza San Francisco, one of many in Quito's Old Town

The longest cable car in Mindo that gave us a bird's eye view

New friends at Baca Ortiz Children's Hospital

Oswaldo Guayasamin's Capilla del Hombre

Our last adventure was to Otavalo, a town 2 hours north of Quito that is famous for it´s outdoor market, featuring crafts of the indigenous people of Ecuador. We took off Friday after work and arrived in Otavalo in the afternoon, checked into our cute hostal 

and explored the city and market, gearing up for Saturday morning! Our new friend Tanya, from Germany, who we have been living in Quito with for the past week, joined us later for dinner. While enjoying that dinner, we were treated to the sounds of a band, a local family we think, who entered the restaurant, set up, and played indigenous tunes, ballads and a few familiar tunes..... all with the instruments of the region- flutes, miniature guitars, ocarinas and small pan pipes. They were mesmerizing, and we all decided it was a serendipitous event, a great night.

In the morning we strolled the market for hours, bargaining (or attempting same), eyeing a bit warily the huge food markets and stalls, impressed by the man who could in four slices create a bowl of coconut milk and ever amazed by the weavers, jewelers and embroiderers who surrounded us. 


We then, rather sadly, began the transportation marathon that had us on a combo of modes for the next 24 hours- bus, cab, bus, plane, Metro, Budget truck (?)....... all finally leading us home to DC and waiting friends and family- one (Mike) who even came to DC to help us move Sarah home to OH!!


In all, it was a trip of a lifetime, an opportunity for this mom to enjoy some incredible time with one wonderful daughter, one very savvy traveler, one very special person. Thanks, Scoot- love, M


We need to thank Elise Heil (author of the guest post), one of Sarah's fabulous DC roommates for all of her help with this blog. Elise has not only helped us to get the blog up and running, but to also monetize the blog, which means that you will see new advertisements popping up on the sides of the blog. The money, if any, generated through these ads will go to Elise's foundation, which she began in college, for the education of young women in Ghana. Please visit her blog, http://tugbeawo.blogspot.com/. We love you Elise!


News from Bolivia in a few weeks!

Sarah and Holly in DC

Guest blog post by Elise, Sarah's roommate.


Sarah and Holly arrived safely in DC this morning around 11! However, their trip is far from over. Holly, Sarah, and Michael are going to pack up a Uhaul and the 3 of the them (all in the front seat) are going to drive their truck through the night to Chagrin. Details to come!

Highlights of Quito

It´s hard to believe that our two weeks is coming to an end already! We both feel like we have done so much in our short time in Quito; we have visited amazing museums, walked through beautiful parks, explored new foods and towns and learned a ton during our time at the children´s hospital. We saw some of our favorite patients get discharged and heal up a bit, while others who were in for the long haul appreciated the distraction of the entertaining gringas stuggling with their Spanish and bringing them crayons and puzzles. The poverty of this country isn´t apparent on the streets and in the daily life that we have experienced, but it is very evident in the overcrowded hospital of needy children and families.

Our volunteer host house expanded to five this week, with the addition of our new friend Tanya, from Germany, and a revived Sahib (our British friend who worked with us at the children´s hospital this week.) Spanish lessons stopped this week and we quickly learned how valuable those hours were for us. The weather has been great, despite the rainy season weather´s forecasts.

We spent our last week getting to know Quito and our volunteer friends a bit better. We found that the busiest time at the hospital was in the mornings, so this week we left by lunchtime, when the kids were booked with lunch and doctor´s visits.We explored an area of Quito known as "Gringolandia", also known as Mariscal Sucre, filled with hostals, bars and fun restaurants, very near the hospital.We spent an afternoon at Oswaldo Guayasamin´s museum, the most famous of Ecaudor´s artsists who created the beautiful Capilla del Hombre, a piece of art dedicated to the struggle of humanity and the quest for world peace. The chapel is filled with Guayasamin´s enormous beautiful murals and the chapel´s location offers amazing views of Quito.

Just arrived in Otavalo, a small town notorious for it´s outdoor crafts market and weavings. Details to come! xoxo 

We´re Moving to Mindo

This past weekend we visited Mindo (a two hour bus ride from Quito) and we fell in love with the place! We arrived on Friday evening to find a cute little town neslted in the cloud forest of the Western Andes. The one main street and welcoming faces (who were accostomed to tourists) provided a needed break from the overcrowded and crazy Quito!

Our fabulous hotel, The Dragonfly Inn, was right in the middle of things, on the main road with a little hummingbird garden out back and a private balcony for people watching. This relatively new hotel sported polished wood floors, to the point of having us remove our shoes before entering the main part of the hotel- a great idea! The town is full of expats, locals, nature hungry tourists and great restaurants!

We found ourselves in the middle of the festivities of Mindo´s 140th anniversary, complete with prarades, battle reinactments, marching bands, singing and dancing well into the night and a great crafts market. Saturday we rode the longest cable car in Ecuador, called the tarabita, above the tree line, and followed hiking trails to beautiful waterfalls. Sunday morning we rose at 5:30 AM to meet our bird watching guide, William, for a morning of more rigourous hiking and incredible bird sightings. Mindo is the best place in the world for bird watching; 25% of all of the bird species in Ecuador can be found in Mindo. We were able to see toucans, parrots, fly catchers, tanagers, kites and woodpeckers- a very successful first bird watching experience for both of us!

Yesterday was a holiday in Ecuador, the 24th of May, honoring their independence from Spain in 1822, so we didn´t have to get up early for work, hooray! We did a bit more sight seeing in Quito with our co-volunteers. Miss you all

Children's Hospital and Spanish Lessons

As this has been an evolving adventure, our Spanish classes have now begun in earnest, right after dinner when all we can think about is chocolate and bed- but we try! Our instructors are two 16 year old boys, one with braces, John, and one with this cell phone attached to his ear, who are so cute we want to bring them home.....Our linguistic skills are improving and they are actually a pretty funny ending to a day that has us all whipped and tired from working to get through the days in another culture and language. They are helpful, needless to say....and last night we gave them a beer which seemed to do the trick- maybe we´ll get out early tonight!

The hospital continues to be an amazing place, full of the cutest, bravest kids, on gurneys in hallways, waiting days for simple surgeries, playing all the while, smiling, working up a sweat at foosball and today, singing and dancing, when able.The under 10 year old male patient population is increasing, or certinaly not decrasing, as most if not all have grande crushes on Sarah- who can blame them???

We are spending our mornings visiting the sixth floor, where the kids are unable to come downstairs to the big playroom- mostly due to broken bones. We have been bringing puzzles and coloring books and crayons to their rooms and attempting to converse with their parents, or comfort them when mom and dad have stepped out.

Downstairs is a huge playroom for families, siblings and kids who are recovering to come and play, and for a change of scenery from their rooms. I think we are learning so much about patience and patients. We miss you guys!

¡Bienvenidos a Quito!

Hi everyone! So I´m going to attempt a blog for my South American travels! My fabulous roommates helped me to set up a blog last minute before my mom and I left for Ecuador, and unfortunately I forgot my camera cord, so I can´t post photos until we get back to the states (on June 1). ¡Lo siento!

A little background on this trip, my mom and I are volunteering in Quito, Ecuador for two weeks, spending our days at a children´s hospital. Yesterday was our first day at work and it was overwhelming but truly amazing. There are only two children´s hospitals in Ecuador, along with tons of community clinics, one in each of the major cities, Quito and Guayaquil. So you can only imagine in an overcrowded city, how crazy this hospital is!

Our supervisor (Maria) is incredibly kind, patient, and has much for us to do- work in the child life room with patients, visit those who cannot leave their rooms and take games, coloring books, etc. to them, and join in on a foosball game when there is an opening! The kids are amazing, the poverty heart wrenching, and the doctors, nurses, incredible...already we have been asked to find a US hospital to take a Marfans patient, a 12 year old who, due to Marfans, is out of whack tall, and blind.....learning every second, and really enjoying the different culture and peoples.


We are staying with a family who lives outside of the city, it takes about 40 mins on a bus, which is an adventure in itself, but we´ve got it down pat now, so we´re feeling good and local! Speaking of fitting in, we have probably only seen a handful of other gringos/as since we have been here and there is little to no English spoken in the capital. We are living with two other volunteers, which is great! Alex from London and another boy Shahib from London but he has been terribly sick with a fever he caught on the Inca Trail in Peru so we haven´t seen much of him, he has been at the hospital and in bed!


Ok, we´re raking up time at the internet cafe and need to get to work so more to come!
Love, Sarah and Holly