F.A.C.S. G uayaquil is a city of two million souls on the cusp of development.
Construction is everywhere.
Cell phones and beepers sprout from the hands of the emerging middle class, but public health care is virtually non-existent. Even from our five-day stay in July 1997, it became apparent that cataract, glaucoma, and retinal diseases are common and generally untreated among the less fortunate. The civic-minded members of the Rotary Club Guayaquil Moderno met us at the airport late Wednesday evening and arranged for us and our 40 trunks, crates and boxes to be whisked through customs with minimal formality. We were transported by armed guards to the Clinica Alborada, where we would spend the next two days. We were then shocked to be taken to the ultra-luxurious Hotel Hilton Colon, a sharp contrast to what would follow.