Wednesday-the ugly, the bad, and the good!

A bit of a change In our normal routine today...mid-trip illness has made its nasty appearance. :((. As we all gathered for our usual delicious breakfast, A.J.arrived and told us Alex wasn't going with us; he was feeling pretty sick, but he would try to taxi out to Esmeraldas at noon. I went up to see if I could bring him anything-he had already started the precautionary antibiotics the night before-and it was clear he was pretty well out for the day. After I went to my room to get him some ibuprofen for the fever he had, A.J.came in with 2 of the doctors who heard he was sick and wanted to check on him. I guess the lesson here is always plan your service trips in tandem with a medical trip because when we all returned to the hotel this afternoon and went to check on Alex, he said his room had been visited all day-dentists who came back to the hotel at lunch stopped by his room to check on him and a couple doctors who got back to the hotel about an hour before us stopped in as well. It was pretty clear as the day went on that he's got a nasty flu bug, but with the round-the-clock medical house calls, we're hoping he's well enough to go with us tomorrow!

Meanwhile, Alexandria was also a bit under the weather but much more mild, fortunately! She was able to hang with us all day despite some stomach distress. Olivia, however, has had her turn with the medical team tonight. :((. She missed dinner and our team meeting after a rough afternoon, so we're hoping she's back to her smiley self again tomorrow morning too.

Fortunately, the day had many upsides! About half our team worked in the clinic all day with the dentists, doctors, and pharmacists. Bob and Todd wired our new house for electricity so Juana and her children could have lights and a refrigerator! Annie and I volunteered to go with 2 of the dentists to an elementary school to help teach oral hygiene and help give them all fluoride treatments-possibly the most fun we've had all week! While we were gone, Adam and Becca started painting the outside of the clinic, and I helped them with that when Annie and I returned while she went to help A.J.and Olivia sterilize the never-ending pile of dental instruments. So lots and lots of random things going on today!

Tomorrow we are working in the morning and afterwards we are playing soccer with members of the neighborhood. Then we are being treated to a thank you fiesta by our homeowner Juana and her extended family. Hospitality is a tremendous matter of pride and kindness here, so we know that will be a special event.

After we clean up, we are checking out of our lovely hotel here and Dr. Zambrano and his wife are driving us to Mindo, a lovely little town in a cloud forest between here and Quito to allow us to see this wonderful place and hopefully do some hiking. I have no idea what Internet will be available; if you don't hear from us for a couple days you'll know why. :). Send us good thoughts that all of us are healthy and ready to enjoy the sights of Ecuador the next couple of days!