It was not a quiet week in Guadalupe

Which is not to say we are going to make the newspaper, but, you know, it was lively enough 🙂

Most of the week was routine, in all honesty, which was fine. Wednesday was a national holiday--though not everywhere . Apparently, different parts of Ecuador celebrate Independence Day at different times.

Anyway, Tuesday was pretty slow in the clinic. But on Wednesday, people took advantage of the day off, if they had it, and we were crazy busy. Felt like home...

My Case of the Week: a 25 yo man with partial congenital cataracts, bilaterally--nearly blind on the left. He is trying to work in a nearby city doing computer programming, but his vision is really beginning to bother him, and glasses are not helping.  Never had an eye exam before, just bought glasses.  Fortunately the eye doctors come in January...

Today we went to the village of San Carlos de las Minas, named after the gold mines nearby, for a "jornada" (colloquialism for "working day"). We saw 80 people over 6 hours. Many came just for "desaparasitar" -- to get treatment for parasites. Some came just for glasses: the clinic buys glasses at various strengths in bulk and we do basic eye exams and acuity checks using different size fonts for different refractions, and then we let them try different lens. Simple, but it works. Many had what I now see as local pandemic concerns--gastritis and degenerative arthritis. Kids, old folks, and entire families. Pretty fun.

Tonight Austrian dentist Andreas (Andi) is making dinner, as the sisters take the weekend off...My turn is tomorrow night. I bought achiote paste in Zamora on Thursday. We will see. Tonight, it seems the town will have music from 10 pm to 2 am. Just my style😉

Marc