Journey to the center of the world

Here is a collection of photos, and experiences, of what started off as an impulsive plan to escape but turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. From the tops of the Andes mountain ranges to the basin of the Amazon rainforest, Ecuador truly is a beautiful country only made more beautiful by the warmth of its people.

Here are a few pictures I capture on our 4-hour journey through the Andes mountain range from Quito, the capitol city of Ecuador, to Tena, where we will be spending the next week.

This is Pichincha, an active volcano near Quito.

A departing picture of Quito valley, which sits 10,000 ft above sea level making it the highest capitol city in the world.

These waterfalls are called The Three Marys.

Some random creepy clowns promoting recycling by a gas station.

Our accommodations were at **El Establo De Tomas*, a small colony of log cabins off the Lupi river just outside of Tena.*

View of the Lupi river from the lodge.

One of log cabins in our lodge, I think this was the one where we found the snake.

This is one of the many parrots and macaws at our lodge.

I took this picture on our first evening in Tena, after we got our room assignments. As I took this picture, a bat flew out of the roof swooping every which way! Only to disappear whenever we ran out to get help. The story of the bat in our room quickly spread throughout our group, half met with disbelief and half met with reassurances that at least we don’t have to worry about insects in our room. All of which turned out to be a great story to tell our friends and family.

From our lodge in Tena, we spent the next week going to different remote locations in the Napo region where we set up Timmy Clinics, and received upwards of a hundred patients.

On our way to one of the locations, we had to cross the Napo river by boat. But the combination of the boat’s inability to properly handle our tour bus and poor road conditions managed to put a slight dent in our arrival time.

My Fiancee and the rest of the vitals gang!

One of the locations we went to was inaccessible via our tourbus. So we took pickup trucks there instead.

One of the stations we maintained was the Fluoride stations, where we would teach kids how to brush their teeth and maintain good hygiene. But we ended up just playing with them.

Here is Kathleen, is one of the many medical professionals we provided assistance to.

Here is Jessica, a study-abroad student in Quito, who joined us to help with translation.

This kids name is Hamilton, easily one of the favorites!

Here is Mike who, along with his family, has come to this area every year via Timmy for many years.

On our last day we visited a regional hospital in Archidona, which is still many miles away from the regions we visited, to get an understand of the available established medical facilities.

Though the days were long and filled with hard work, there really was a deep gratification in seeing these families getting the medical attention they need and through it all we found ourselves forming deep connections with the locals as well as ourselves in the group, bonds that are still resonating with us to this day.