millionth world cup update and ecuadorian medical care

I want to start off with a brief World Cup update and share a couple of World Cup related pictures. The first news is that the US is out of the competition and deservedly so. They played ok but I just don't believe they deserved to advance. Good luck to Ghana, who beat them and will now play Brazil. Ecuador had already qualified to the 2nd round but lost their last game to Germany 3-0 after leaving out some key players. Now, in the 2nd round it's all or nothing. They have a tough game tomorrow against England. I really like both teams but I hope Ecuador will win. As they say here, it costs nothing to dream. As much as I hope Ecuador will win, I predict that England will take the day. The pictures here are of guys on the street selling Ecuador shirts and flags. They are everywhere! There have been lots of other WC games and there will be even more but that is all I have about the WC for now.
Now, just a word about medical/dental care in Ecuador. I preface this by saying that the care has been exceptional for us and pretty cheap. Saying this does not mean it is this way for everyone. This is something I have wanted to share about for a while. First, about the dental care. When we arrived I needed to get some dental work done that I was not able to get finished in the States before leaving. Some other missionaries recommended a dentist to me and I called them to set up an appointment. So I called and they asked if I wanted to come in that day or tomorrow...I said 'what did you say?, what planet am I on?, I love this country!' I ended up having 3 or 4 appointments and they did quite a bit of work-cleaning, fillings, and bonding. I won't put the amount but let me say they did it all for a fraction of what it would have cost in the States. Our other experience with medical care came recently after getting the amoebas. I went to the clinic up from our house. They took me right in and started treating me even before filling some paper work out. Again, what they did (hooking me up to an iv, stool sample to let me know I had amoebas, giving a prescription) cost a small fraction of what it would have in the States. So the moral of this story is to not worry about our medical care here and pray that the medical system in the States could learn something from Ecuador's.