It all started off with a practicum in the lab to learn how to take blood through venipuncture. This was the second time we had done this, and after each stick (all successful so far!) I feel a little more confident. Blood is an incredibly useful substance in the testing of a whole number of tropical infectious diseases, and not being able to acquire it is a huge detriment; thus, we practice on each other to not mess up when the real deal comes! Today we also practiced how to do a finger prick and use the resulting drop of blood to make a smear that we later stained and examined under the microscope. The stain has to be made thin enough so the RBCs don’t pile up more than one thick, but too thin makes checking for infections tough – a happy medium is best. The stain we used picks up nuclei, thus clearly showing the WBCs as well as any parasites present (such as those in malaria or chagas disease). Our basic self-check showed no parasites, nice!
(Our happy team – you know you work with good people when they let you stick needles in them!)
(Looking for parasites.)
After the practicum I headed out to meet up with Molly, the sister of my good friend Russell. Molly was in Ecuador on a spring break trip to assist in the delivery of medical care in underserved areas near Otavalo and had a few days free afterward to explore Quito. As she had already done most of the normal touristy activities I decided to show her parts of my life in the city. This included a tour of the lab, walking (a lot) around parts of Quito she hadn’t seen, exploring Parque Metropolitano (where I go mountain biking), and returning to her hotel via the Ecovia (a double-long bus on a set route – fortunately it was packed to the point that almost everyone had to stand and hug each other to fit on; an experience I think shouldn’t be missed when in Quito:)
(Inside the Ecovia on a not so full day. Take this pic and add in about 10-15 more people just in the area pictured!)
After dropping off Molly I headed for home, stopping briefly to watch one of the live street comedy acts so popular in the historical center. I am always wary at these as the actors like to involve the audience, and a tall gringo is a ripe target indeed! Later on, waiting for the Ecovia, I felt a nudge at my elbow and looked down, an older man grinned up at me.
“How tall are you?” he asked.
“1.9m”
“Nah, you gotta be at least 2m.”
“I assure you, just 1.9m”
This was my introduction to Juan. He seemed like a friendly fellow and so as we boarded I took a seat next to him and continued to chat. He told me he is outgoing and likes meeting new people; I told him this seemed clear. We chatted about his life and mine, and I found out he was 79, amazing as I would have pegged him around 60. I asked for the secret to his youthful appearance and he replied sleeping with much younger women. Then he winked at me. I’m still not sure if this was some kind of manly connection wink or if the wink implied the whole thing was a big joke. We chatted some more but my stop came up all too soon. As the Ecovia passed me by Juan gave an enthusiastic wave and a big smile. Man, I love people Juan. I just hope he was joking about the multiple much younger partner advice:)
Tonight the adventures continued with Julian and I venturing out into the dark garden to look for animals. We were on the lookout for lions, tigers, and cows, but found slugs and pill bugs instead – a great success.
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