Cotopaxi

The group minus Janine is off to Cotopaxi National Park for the weekend for hiking, good food, a hot tub, and the goal of teaching Polly how to ride a bike. Here's a little taste of our view.

 

The Vandy kids taking advantage of a nice photo-op earlier this year 

Haunted House

 

Hey Folks - Sorry it has been so long since our last post.  In all honesty, we have been partying too much; two weeks ago we had our Adult English midterm party and this past weekend we had our Casa de Espantos! We have been having way much fun that we almost forgot to tell you all about it! 

It is tradition to invite our Adult English students over for lunch and some much needed relaxation after the midterm.  Several types of humus with vegetables to dip complimented with a yummy pasta dish polished off with some delicious home-baked snicker doodles; the students left with empty plates and full stomachs.  What beautiful weather we had as well and we made use of our patio soaking up the sun while listening to music, conversation and laughter filling the air.

As for our latest fiesta, the team figured it would be a great opportunity to put on a haunted house for the community in celebration of Halloween. With Jell-O bowls filled with gummy worms as an appetizer, we then moved to our craft station where the kids made spiders from egg cartons, pipe cleaners, beads, and of course paint.  And finally we had our main event, the haunted tour. Turning the Teen Center into a haunted house took a lot of creativity and resourcefulness from all the group members.  Our efforts were not in vain as the library was filled with genuine frights and screams all evening. 

Jenni started the horror tour by first guiding the students through the tunnels to the witches lair.  Lucy did a phenomenal job at setting the tone as our house witch, telling a story of children who once visited the library in years past who had gone missing; “to this very day, the neighbors can still hear the children screaming!”.  This was my cue playing the token zombie role to thrash the curtains and enter the window in pursuit of fresh meat.  Jenni would then lead the students to a table where the eyeballs and brains of children past were displayed for touching.  Nothing more than peeled grapes and spaghetti to do the trick, the kids then got another jolt of terror when our boss Heather would grab their ankles from under the table.  Next Jenni would lead them the tomb where our library mummy, portrayed perfectly by Polly, who would then slide the tomb top off and rise from the grave.  If the kids were not scared by this point, which they were trust me, Joey would come rushing in as a masked lunatic from behind the group and all monsters would gather to usher the students through the exit tunnel back to safety.  Even the weather had its very own role as rain, thunder and lightning played into the ambience of the evening.

Exhausted with hoarse voices we returned home for dinner. Shortly thereafter some of the girls finished packing for a weekend in Cuenca, another principle city to the south that would be celebrating its Day of Independence all weekend long.  As you can tell, we have been busy working and having fun simultaneously.  Check back with us later on in the week to read about our adventures down here. 
Que te vaya bien!
Pete

Internet/Elections

We had a long weekend last week because  it was a feriado (holiday) so most of us traveled around the country with some going to Otavala and others to Cuenca. Upon our returns, we were all looking forward to getting home and settling in for the week. However, we came back to a blown wireless router and a sad, internetless house. This wouldn't seem like a big deal to some but a number of different factors made it a tough past couple of days. For one, we have lived here for almost four months and this is the first time we haven't had internet so it came as a big shock. Secondly, the service industry here is notoriously slow/flaky/non-committal. Basically it's tough to get any help right away so we knew it was going to a be a couple days. And finally, living in a foreign country, its nice to be able to keep up with family, friends, and the news back home. And as it turns out, there was quite an important event going on right during the middle of our internet blackout. We tend to avoid talking politics in the house since the group is pretty divided on the issues. That hasn't stopped us from watching the debates together and throwing an insult around every once in a while. Yet, when the time came, no matter partisan lines, we were all woefully and completely in the dark. We joked on Sunday that we would find out who won the election from the Ecuadorian paper "El Commercio" on Wednesday morning. As it turns out, that is exactly what happened. While I won't personally say who I was routing for in the election, I will say that while internet has returned, my world is still sad and dark.

It is good to back on the blog though.

Ciao,
Jefecito

Art Paseo

Last Friday, 8 of our star art pupils joined Polly, Joey, Janine, Madeleine, and Heather on a field trip to Quito. After corralling the children through 2 long and crowded bus rides – no easy task – we arrived at Parque Carolina, where CIMA Kids, an environmental awareness organization, was hosting an interactive and educational event. After having collected more than 1.5 million bottles to recycle, a feat that has landed the group in the Guinness Book of World Records, they set up an environmental fair for local kids and school groups to enjoy. We painted a giant elephant, got a 3-D jungle tour, and climbed a ropes course… some of the daredevils even scaled the giant rock wall! The kids (and PDs!) had a blast learning about recycling and participating in all the fun activities. It’s always great to provide our students with an educational and entertaining afternoon outside their local neighborhood!

Manna Retreat to Baños

After five posts describing our Programs here in Ecuador, I figured our immense number of readers would want a break and want to hear about our first group retreat. On the first weekend of October, we traveled to the town of Baños, a spa city nestled on the edge of the highlands that run through the middle of Ecuador and the Amazon jungle that spreads to the East. After finishing up Saturday classes, everyone hurried home to do some last minute packing. Baños is a perfect weekend destination for us because there are tons of different activities and its only a quick three hour bus trip away. Madeleine, our wonderful social chair, found us a great backpackers hostel close to the center of town that was crowded with interesting travelers throughout the day. It was called Hostel Princessa Maria if you ever wind up there and are in need of a place to stay. After a quick meeting to learn the rules of the hostel, we all got fancy and headed out to our first of many delicious meals we had there. While Baños is known for its cascading waterfalls, sprawling mountains, and challenging hikes, we all came away being most impressed by the quality restaurants that are sprinkled throughout the tiny town. After dinner, we headed out first our first and only night out bouncing around to a couple of different bars that line the three block long bourbon street-esque main drag. Again, if you find yourself there, try to check out Leprechaun Bar. They love giving free drinks to gringos and you can sip them around the bonfire they keep burning in the middle of the bar. After a fun and eventful night, we were excited to tackle our activities the next day.

We split into two groups so as a whole we got a good idea of what Baños has to offer. My group of Peter, Joey, Jenny, Madeleine, Janine, Heather and I all rented bikes and went down the path that goes past all four waterfalls. I was under the impression it was off road a lot of the time, riding through jungle paths, barely missing jaguars and swiping snakes from your face. Turns out it was all on the road but that really was the only disappointment. It was essentially downhill the entire time, winding down through mountains that looked like the were the background for scenes from Jurassic Park or Lost. There were so many scenic stops for waterfalls and beautiful views that we had to keep flying past some in order to make good time. Some of my favorite parts was when the road split into a tunnel and separate bike path for bikes only that ran along the edge of the valley we were following and afforded some of the best sights of the day. About halfway through it began to rain but that didn't dampen any of our spirits as we were having a blast. We ended the ride by stopping a popular hike down to the Pailon del Diablo (Devil's Cauldron). As one would expect from the name, it was massive, powerful waterfall that you could literally crawl through the side of the mountain to get to its source. The pictures will succeed where my words fail.

One of the many gorgeous views

Climbing through the tunnel 

That tiny white dot to the right is a person.....yeah

The other group of Polly, Sarah, and Lucy went canyoning, which is one of the more popular activities to do in Baños. It is essentially rappelling down waterfalls. From what I hear, they got just as wet as we did but had more fun doing it. Again, I'll let their pictures speak for themselves since I wasn't there.

Quite a pose

Nice action shot

After a round of massages for some of the girls, we all met up in the hot natural springs that gives Baños its name. We went at six, right after they were all cleaned, but also right when everyone else - tourists and locals alike - visits. It was an interesting experience to tell people we did, but all in all, the water was too hot and the baths too crowded. After a quick shower, we had our last amazing dinner and then ended the weekend with a group discussion on development a lively/competitive round Ecuadorian jeopardy.

Told you they were crowded