Dia uno

Hola Missions Prayer Team!

We are on about an 8 hour bus ride to Saraguro. It is very wet and very beautiful. It looks a lot like Peru here, but much more lush.

We made it through DFW and Atlanta with no problems. Customs in Ecuador was a slightly different story. There are 7 Americans in the group. A couple of us had made it through already when the problems started. Brian the optometrist was ahead of Eddie and I. He had 3 bags of glasses and equiptment and this raised a big flag. Then Eddie sent our bags through the x-ray. They wanted to know what was in the bags and who they belonged to. Eddie gave them his name so he got in line for a search. Well, they didn't spacifically ask to see my luggage so I grabbed mine and left. After about an hour of negotiating they were finally allowed through.

We got to our hotel around 12:30 and went straight to bed. Then we met at 7:00 for breakfast. We loaded onto our bus around 8 and the journey began. The country side was so beautiful! The journey was slow. There are lots of rockslides and road construction. Not to mention the steep, windy inclines and decents. But without any real issues we arrived here safe and sound around 4:00.

We rested until 5 then walked to the church and set up the clinic. After rearranging almost everything they had set up for us and decided who would be working were, we walked to dinner. The people of the church will be cooking for us all week. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tonight we had a traditional Ecuadorian meal of roast chicken, rice and fried plantains.

After dinner we had a meeting to discuss the next days plans. We are now back at the hotel. It is very noisy in our room. We are right by the street and the windows let a lot of sound in. Its 9:30 and I am exausted. My ankles, legs and feet are so swollen it's almost hard to believe. Eddies are swollen too. I hope to have more exciting news for you tomorrow.

Hasta Manana,
Heather
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