Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

These posts are way overdue, but as you read down you will understand why it has taken me so long to update our blog. I posted them all today, however they go back over the last few months. First of all, we went on a three week expedition to Peru and Ecuador with a non-profit organization called Wings Worldwide to provide dental humanitarian services. This trip was so amazing, the people were so humble and thankful, and we got to see so many magnificant sites. Sorry for all the pictures but I had to choose from the 300 we took. (I will put the descriptions under the picture so you don't get confused.)

This was at Equator Park in Ecuador where we actually stood on the real equator and Jeff balanced an egg on the head of a nail.

This was also at the park.

Jeff working away in one of the clinics. We had very make-shift stations with lawn chairs for the patient chair and we also had to use head lamps to see.

Me working away...and by the look on this girl's face, she knows I'm about to get her numb!

Children in the streets of Cusco, Peru. The elevation here was about 12,000 feet.

Ruins outside of Cusco, Peru called Ollantaytambo where they layed these huge stone bricks on top of each other and somehow formed them to fit perfectly.

Children at a school in Moray, Peru. This was about the highest elevation we visited which was almost 14,000 ft. It was a beautiful site with the snow capped Andes surrounding us. We were fortunate not to get altitude sickness.

Jeff and Rob pulling out teeth, which is most of what we did on these patients to help them.

Salt mines.

The famous Macchu Picchu in Peru. This was such a sacred site that only the most spiritual families could come and live here in the 14th century.

This was in Puno, Peru where we were on our way to Lake Titticaca to visit the Isles of the Uros which are man-made islands made out of reeds.

You can't see how thick it is but the islands float on 6 feet of mud which is covered by another 6 feet of reeds which they have to lay down weekly. There is a small community of LDS members on these islands as well.

And this was our yummy lunch we were served while working on the islands...fish, rice and a potatoe. I especially loved the fish head left on the fish!
To finish up the trip we went to the Galapagos Islands where we finally got some warm weather. If you look close, there is an iguana off to the right of the old boat.

This was a very friendly tortoise who posed like this for the whole group to take their individual pictures. He was so cute.

We got in some snorkeling time which was really cool. We were hoping to see some sharks or sea turtles but we only saw colorful fish.

These were real turtle shells so we just had to get into them.