Back to (Semi) Reality

I’ve been living in la la land the past month or so, essentially just being on vacation. So now that my family is gone and I have a regular schedule again, it’s time to buckle down for my OTD project. I always knew that coming to Ecuador would present me with things of which I didn’t anticipate, but I didn’t realize just how much change would be needed for me to successfully carry out my doctoral experience and capstone project. After making connections in this city, us OT students have come to realize the immense needs of services around here. We met a man who has an above knee amputation from the military service, but he’s unable to get a prosthesis for a variety of reasons; he is searching for a way to keep working in his food truck in some type of adapted positioning. And Hannah’s downstairs neighbor suggested we check out a city near by with equine therapy for individuals with disabilities. And the local prosthetic center recommends us to visit a separate nursing home and to assess it for OT needs. And an Ecuadorian friend’s mom works for one of the interior offices who is trying to start an OT-like group for disadvantaged populations. The need is HUGE.

Apart from work, last weekend us students visited Peguche. It is a place around 40 minutes away on bus where a lot of people go on the weekends, as a large waterfall is there. We got dropped off on the side of the road, walked around 30 minutes to the entrance, and were able to explore around the waterfall area for a few hours. It was really really beautiful, and we were able wade in some of the smaller pooled areas of other run-offs. We didn’t prepare to get the deep into the water or adventure as much as we did, so we were pretty unprepared. But on the outside of the waterfall entrance, vendors were selling obleas- which are the wafers with fruit fillings smashed in between that I originally discovered in Colombia. I could not resist!! The next day on Sunday, some of our Ecuadorian friends invited us over to make paila, which is a traditional form of ice cream in Ibarra. It’s made by first having a basin of semi-melted ice, then a large bronze bowl is placed on top in a position where it can easily be spun around. You first add your choice of fruit juice and spin and spin and spin until it spread out and becomes frozen. You then add a small amount of egg white to make it fluffier and lighter in color. After 5-10 minutes, voila! Such a small amount of juice makes a large amount of ice cream, so we ended up with a pint of blackberry (my favorite flavor).

This week felt like normal week at home to me, as if I were in Columbus or something. I went to the dentist and got 4 cavities filled + a cleaning all for $140 without insurance!!! At home just the 4 cavities would have cost me $900, so I was very pleased, and the quality was just as great. Hannah and I have been taking Spanish lessons and have noticed that we are slowly improving: me with the speaking, and her with the writing/reading aspect. I learned via textbooks and grammar in school, while she learned from listening and speaking while on student exchange; we love to practice whenever we get the chance, like when we went to the nearby Lake Yahuarcocha . When there’s extra time, Corri and I are always running errands together- she’s a student who arrived beginning of January from Iowa. We spend a lot of time at El Quinde when possible, go running together now that we each have company, make guacamole literally every night for dinner, drink the BEST fresh OJ from the street for $1, and spend too much time puzzling during the night. In two weeks we’ve finished a 1000 piece, and a 500 piece 3-d… and today we bought a 1,500 piece.

This current weekend, we planned to go rafting on Saturday morning, though when we arrived, the guides told us the water levels were too high and there was dangerous debris/logs floating around. So instead, us 5 students and Elaine, all headed to La Siete Cascadas, a private land area with a walking tour of the seven waterfalls.It’s about 2 hours west of Ibarra and halfway to the coast. We spent the afternoon swimming and jumping around the waterfalls in much warmer weather, and I had a decent amount of slips and falls which only bruised me up. Elaine hit her finger on a rock and tore a ligament, so now her hand is so swollen! Luckily, she’s a certified hand therapist, so she made herself a splint that night. We are going to have to check how it keeps progressing… because right now it is all blue and purple.

Today for Sunday afternoon, our friends told us to meet them at this park that is a half hour away from Elaine’s house and that we were going to go to a dance competition. We get to the park and it is another hour or so to this event! But once we were there, it was super super cool. It was a ton of locals surrounding a large dance area, where kids were paired off and had to dance half improvised, half choreographed to tons of musical genres. One pair was eliminated after each round, and the top 5 were awarded prizes. Afterwards, the adult competition started, but we decided to leave to do homework. Sadly, Corri and I are always needing to do things for school/fieldworks, but we always get distracted by wanting to do all the things that are available here! There’s too much to do in too little time.


My advisor from Ohio State was supposed to visit Elaine (and me) this week for around ten days. Sadly, she threw her back out three or four days before departure and wasn’t able to come. I was excited to share this experience with her and show her what’s been happening lately, but now will not be the time. This week, I’m headed to 2 centers for older adults to give some trainings on a variety of pre-written topics. First will be safe feeding/swallowing and positioning for at risk populations. It’s a shorter topic, and with my spanish still not where I’d like it to be, I told the centers it will be a trial run. Regardless, the staff are so nice and accommodating that I’m sure it will be fine. Hannah and I have also been going with the physical therapists we know in order to perform a needs assessment of the centers they are working out. We’ve been traveling around the outskirts of Ibarra, and same thing as I mentioned before, the need is gigantic. Hopefully in the future, with what we have seen, other students that come to Ibarra will be able to expand OT services at these locations. We also had the chance to visit a prosthetic center in Ibarra, and it is run by 2 Americans who have relocated here. It was interesting to hear all about what they do- from prosthetic limb casting, to creating orthoses, to gait training, to seating and positioning adaptations. This was another place where you would be amazed at the technology they have with such limited resources and money. We hope to be able to get out there and try our hands at making some pieces of adaptive equipment for a few clients we think could benefit.

The best view for a bathroom selfie

Every day has been flying by at the speed of light. I arrived in mid-November, and it’s already the end of January. Even though I still have 2 months left, I’m already beginning to get sad at the thought of leaving. Though this afternoon I did watch an Eleven Warriors video of the Ohio State-Penn State recap from this year’s game, and that made me equally miss Columbus. Wherever I am, I’m always saying to myself, Go Bucks!