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Well here is my next blog, I cant really remember where I last left off but so much has happened in the past few days! On my final night in Quito I went to the local supermarket and bought 3 steaks for 50p and a abg of rice and some really tiny bananas, they have so many weird fruits here, most of which i cant pronounce. Anyway I rustled up some steaks and then went to bed only to get up at 5:30 the next day to catch an early morning bus to Macas whch is also pronounced in a way you wouldnt expect. The bus ride was 8.5 hours in the end but actually didnt feel like it. The scenery was incredible the whole way and thlandscape completely changed as I headed south. At first it was bloody freezing as we headed into the Andes but it soon warmed up. I headed through some massive valleys and eventually ended up entering the rainforest. I have never needed a pee so badly in my life, for 4 hours I held on and I really thought I was going to wet myself. At one stop I asked the bus driver if there was time to go to the toilet and he said yes so naturally i get off to search for the toilet only to hear the engine start up an see him drive off!! Luckily I caught up with the bus and leaped in through the door, as apparently is quite normal in ECuador but it certainly gave me a fright. I met a nice nurse on the bus wh couldn´t understand my desperate need but was soon very helpful and gave me what I can only describe as oranges. The most increible part of the journey was when we suddenly were in the middle of the rainforest. tThere were huge mountains covered in dense jungle and with flowing waterfalls, the place was stunning. It was a huge tropical valley heading towards a plaace called Puyo. After Puyo there was only the final 3 hour stretch to Macas which meant even denser lowland rainforest. It was just how you would imagine a rainforest, just like on TV and in books. The vegetation was incredible and there were black vultures circling the canopy. I saw plenty of odd insects and wild orchids. The road was essentially a dried up river bed, althoug not that dry as there were 2 trpical storms whilst I was on the bus. One thing I did notice was how humid ti was. Every now and then we would pass a tribal village, Shuar and Achuar tribes. Once again these are also just how you would imagine them although they were fashioning machets not spears. Some small boys called Kevin and something else :S got on the bus and couldn´t get over my camera, they thought it was hilarious. I did too until one of them smeared whatever was on his hand all over the lens! My camera has suffered a few almost fatal accidents, including falling out the bus window when the bus driver decded that gong at 45 dgrees along a river bank would be a good idea, I thought we were going to go over. Eventually I arrived in Macas after much breathtaking scenery only to find noone there to collect me, only confused looking locals. I somehow found the office of the local healthcare centre where a man called Rolando sat me down. Soon after I met a docor, whom I have not seen since and a german woman of 26 called Ana, whom i am now living with. (She is quite odd). Yolanda, who is my organiser picked us up and took us to dinner at the local resauarnt where I had yasi, i think, which is some kind of tuber plant and a weird tea which was incredibly sweet. I was tehn dropped off at a huge empty hous which turned out to be my home for the next 3 months! at the moment it is only Ana and I and this place is very bug so it is pretty wird. Mind you, having said that there is large rat in the kitchen with whom i share rsidency! First night was difficult as the matress is like concrete and there seem to be cockerels everywhere who think that it is dawn all night and hecne make a racket. I woke up at 6:30 the next day, rather tired having had some Pizza somewhere along the lines. In the morning walked down calle soasty to the military airport where I had breakfast with the soldiers, which consisted off bread, cheese and egg with a weird papaya juice, i have since had guava among many other non-descript tropical fruits. the txture of the juice can only be described as spit! Well that day I went o the meeting place of Yolanda only to discover that she was not there, apparently quite normal of her, so we hopped in Rolando´s open top chevrolet and went to the Muicipio, basically a town square where a procession was being held. the 27th of feb is a big day in Ecuador as it marks the beginning of the republic so there was no work today. I saw Miss Macas from afar and admired her beauty only to discover that I would be spending the whole day with her, cracking bad jokes, either way she laughed alot. We went to 2 schools to see their graduation day, which is at 16 here. We sat in a large sports hall and watched children in unifrm and military gear kissing the flag whilst shouting !si justo!. It is fairly dictatorial here :S I sat beside Miss Macas which got me a lot of stares and whistles but I enjoyed it all the same! I then went and had lucnh with the mayor, who turns out the be Yolandas husband. There was alot of crap singing and Ecuadorean anthems to be sung but Miss Macas and her gay fashion designer helped me trhough the avocado and non-descript meat. Fianlly I got back home, which resides under the fatal shadow of an active volcano by the way, only to be hauled out to the mayors pad in the countryside. I spent the afternoon in a huge tropical paradise, all to myself. There was a pool the size of a largebuilding and rapids and rainforest huts with a nice tribal man serving me guava! It all felt rather too colonial for my liking as Yolanda ordered him about so I retreated into the rainforest to discover some beauties¨a large tarantula, a wasp the size of my hand and tthousand of army ants carrying leaves. I returned late at night with a baby in my lap, I dont know why or how but it was there! I went for chinses last night and had one glass of wine, which embarassingly made me drunk, but it only cost 2 quid all together so I am happy. This morning I had the same routine except I went to work i the hospital which was interesting as it is tiny, filthy and crowded. Fo any of you who work in hospitals, ie Billy, you would appreciate the many differences in practise. For startersd the doctors here are lazy b*****s an do nothing except drink whisky whilst seeing patients, with no concept of patient confidenitality, and I am not over exaggerating! I did my first intramuscular injection today of antibiotics into an lod mans ass, that was exciting. I am also starting to learn suturing, unfortunately not on a prosthesis but on a boys foot ith no painkiller! Anyway tomorrow i am going to theatre i hope. I better go as this is really long. lots of love xxxxxx
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