By Dr. Dan Wagner

The June 2007 expedition of the Student Rainforest Fund was to the enchanting South American country of Ecuador “equator” for the first time. Seventeen Pharm.D. students from 5 colleges had a grand time that mixed the natural rainforest experience with professional clinical intervention. For the first two days the team set up a diabetes and hypertension screening clinic at the Eugenio Espejo Hospital in the
capitol city of Quito. We were representing the World Health Mission for this clinical practice. The students did a fantastic job (despite the language barrier) and screened over 900 patients in 2 days. Free medicine, vitamins, toothbrushes, and pens were distributed. The endocrinology department of the hospital upon our departure thanked us for “elevating the integrity of their department.”

We then transversed over the rugged, but spectacular, Andes Mountains to a remote jungle lodge called El Jardin Aleman. We spent the next four days taking exotic ‘ethnobotany’ walks through the dense virgin forests. We learned about the local medicinal plants from an authentic shaman, and a guide named Pepe, who was an authority on the flora and fauna of this region of the Amazon. Our sojourn down the Napo River via canoe was a highlight of the trip. Upon our return to Quito from the jungle we visited the most famous South American marketplace in the town of Otavalo, and got to take a picture of each of us stretching our body across the official equator.

Ecuador offers every kind of ecosystem within a small area of land. From the rainforests to the high mountain to the coastal plains, Ecuador has it ALL -- wonderful, friendly people, good, affordable food, and stunning landscapes. It will surely be a return destination of SRF in future adventures.