And then I went from -32 to +37. Ten and a half hours driving through blizzards and freezing rain with logging trucks, not everyone’s idea of a fun day. Then it was my mom’s 70th birthday. She is a phenomenal woman my mother. Its hard to put into words the mentorship she has provided to dozens of people over her career. Her passion for the marginalized often setting her apart from the right wing Calgary community she worked within, who often preferred to turn a blind eye in self-righteous indignation to the needs of the global poor as well as those on their own front step instead of being faced with the discomfort of inequality. But I digress, point is, she’s amazing. After the big party we hopped on a plane together, through Bogota to Guayaquil in Ecuador and then on a bus to Machala, the malaria and dengue capital of Ecuador! Then with some trepidation we put mom on a bus to the Peruvian border, where she caused a minor riot, watched the bus drive off with her luggage and eventually got to the airport in Tumbes to get on the newly minted Peruvian airlines on a flight to Lima for another birthday celebration with my sister. She’s decided to celebrate turning 70 all year, this seems like a good start.
Why come to Machala you ask? Well, the spousal-unit does Dengue fever research here. People describe it as Donde el Diablo perdio su poncho (where the devil lost his poncho). But I must say, it does have a certain sweaty-banana plantation-mango paradise-type of charm once you get a handle on the 37 degrees part. Last weekend we went on a hiking trip through Podocarpus National Park. In the lowlands of the park there were hundreds of orchids in dense humid forests, with plentiful rivers and waterfalls to jump in for refreshment from the oppressive heat. The highlands had amazing bird life and a bit too much of an adrenaline rush in a climb and descent along a steep ridge for several kilometers. Although the view was breathtaking on both days we hiked about 8 km longer than our legs were happy with. We’re turning into old farts.Back at work this week in Machala, I’m working on a manuscript but did get the opportunity to go to a Dengue community meeting in one of the communities the TDR project is being run in. There was a certain irony in the fact that I got eaten by mosquitoes for the duration of the evening meeting…oh dear. Amazing to see how the project actually works on the ground though.
