Thursday
Went to the school in the morning, out to lunch to a place recommended by the English professor at the school, to an internet cafe for a little, to our Spanish lessons, and to a salsa party.
Friday
Friday was an interesting day. The three of us (Samantha, Sarah, and I) were invited to go on a field trip with the fifth grade class. They told us we were going to the Museum of Water (located in the middle of the city), but as we drove out of the city we realized we had a different destination. Turns out we were heading to the ecological park of Cachaco. All in all, it was a nice surprise (minus the fact that we dressed as if we were going to a museum, and ended up getting bit by a million bugs). We drove through a lot of interesting towns on the way there. Even though you can see the poverty in Quito itself, you can see it even more in the small towns outside the city.
At the park, the tour guides told us (including the kids of course) all about the history of where we were and about the wild life there. Apparently the place used to be a dump before some people from the town decided to clean it up. I learned that the cyprus, the eucalyptus, and the pine trees were all brought to Ecuador from other countries (not native species).
After a quick lunch and a lot of nature, we packed all thirty of us onto a very small bus. The children were absolutely wired on the trip home. Taking pictures, singing, etc.
Later on Friday evening, we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. It tasted sooo good to have pizza and pasta after a week of rice and chicken.
That night after dinner we went out to a bar/dance club called The Sky Lounge. It was a lot of fun, and I was loving the music. We met a few nice people who were in town for the day because one of them was buying a Chevy truck, but was from the coast. They said they had a beach house and that we were welcome to stay there for a few days if we wanted (although I don’t think we are going to make it to the coast)
Saturday
On Saturday at 8:30 Pablo picked us up, and we began our weekend trip to Otovalo (an indigenous market), la Cascada de Peguche, Cotacachi, Cuicocha.
On the way there, Pablo decided to take us to a lookout spot that he knew of a little off the main road. Little did we know that the “road” was not exactly what we expected. At one point we had to turn around because if we had continued, the car probably would have flipped over. Finally we made it to a lake called San Pablo that lies at the feet of a volcano.
After our little desvía, we finally made it to Otovalo. We had a lunch and then began our shopping marathon in the market. All of the goods are homemade and worth a lot more than the indigenous people ask for. Some of my purchases include bracelets, shirts, and alpaca sweater, a belt, a few paintings, etc. All for under 100 dollars.
After the market we headed off to a waterfall called la Cascada de Peguche. The path to the waterfall was constructed in the 1700’s by indigenous slaves.
Pablo then took us to the home of one of the indigenous Otovalenos. They showed us how to make traditional flutes, and then did a demonstration. As I’ve been told, the indigenous Otovalenos are one of the few groups of rich indigenous people. Many are great business people and/or have studied abroad. This was evident from the house we visited.
We stopped off at the hostel after our visit so the other group of girls we were with could change. It was then that I noticed that my foot had swollen up from the bug bites that I had gotten the previous day. Luckily, Pablo came to my rescue and bought me some menthol (which apparently helps with swelling).
We went to dinner in an indigenous-run hotel. The hotel itself was beautiful, although the food itself was so-so. It was the other Pablo’s birthday (yes, there are 2), so we celebrated with some ice cream. A few of us grabbed musical instruments that were hanging off the wall as we sang happy birthday.
After dinner, although I was really tired from our day, the group decided to go out because it was Pablo #2’s birthday. Not many people can say that they’ve been out in an indigenous town… but now I can. It was a little weird at first (everyone looked confused as our group of 25 girls walked by), but fun when we finally made it to the club. I met a few of the indigenous people, and a few even invited me to their house if I were to come back (although I’m not sure I’m going to take them up on that either).
The next morning we headed off to Cuicocha, a lake (with an underwater volcano). After a hike around the lake’s rim, we took a boat ride on the lake. Apparently there is no wildlife on the lake as a result of the sulfur from the volcano. At some points, you can actually see bubbles.
Finally, we headed home (after a quick lunch in the leather making town of Cotacachi).
Monday
This Monday, I began with the English teacher, Mariana. I had the first grade, seventh grade, and fifth grade. The first graders were cute, but a lot to handle. They were taking a quiz, but that didn’t seem to stop any of them from coming up to the table where I was grading papers. One little boy came up to me and said, “eres muy bonita” (aka you are very pretty).
In all the other classes (besides the 7th grade, where they were learning the alphabet), the kids also had quizzes. When I wasn’t answering questions, I was grading papers. The general trend were grades that weren’t that good…
Tuesday
Tuesday was a crazzzy day. In the morning I was grading papers, while the English teacher had to show grades to a line of about 100 parents. It was interesting because she would tell the parents what their children’s’ grades were… and then they would often argue with her… say, “oh, my daughter did that” or whatever. In that situation, I was glad that I was not a teacher at the school.
The rest of the day was also crazy. After the first class, the teacher told me that she wouldn’t be at the next class which was the second grade. She told me what they were learning and sent me on my way. Well, with the older kids in the school that would have been fine, but with the little kids…they see someone who is not their teacher, and they let loose. They were screaming and running around the classroom and not listening to me. This same pattern was repeated 2 more times with 2 classes of third graders. They kept asking, “Where’s the senorita?”… and I kept saying… “She’ll be right here”… even though I wasn’t sure that she actually would be. And she didn’t come. After those two classes, I searched the school for Sam. I needed help, haha. She came with me to the fifth grade class… but they are older and well-behaved anyway… so it wasn’t much of a problem.
Kind of a stressful day. To let off some steam, I went to my first private salsa lesson! It was great, and I really learned a lot. And… It was only $10 which is really cheap compared to what such a lesson would cost in the U.S. I’m looking forward to my next lessons on Thursday.
Today
I finally made it to today… Nothing that interesting happened. Classes were a lot better than yesterday because the teacher didn’t abandon me. We did accompany the fifth grades to sex ed. which was kind of interesting. Other than that, we had 3 hours or Spanish lessons followed by group salsa lessons. Went out for dinner after.
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