Last week I finally added the service learning into my schedule. I went to the office at 3 on Monday to help prepare materials for the school on Tuesday. I cut up some paper, and unfortunately (or fortunately…) that was about all that needed to be done. Another volunteer (from Vermont) was in the office that morning and had pretty much finished everything. I sat and talked with the German intern for a while, and then I left early. On Tuesday I had my first day at the school. I arrived at the office at 7:30 and we took a van to Angel Isaac, which is about 10 minutes from my house. The school is kind of hard to describe. It’s completely gated and is built in sort of square shape with a concrete courtyard in the center. There are two levels of classrooms and the walkways are completely open to the courtyard. You can basically see the door to every classroom from the center. I only went in one classroom, but it was very small with a white board and about 45 desks in cramped rows. Luckily, because I was placed with one of the artists that focuses on theater, we held our class outside in the common space. We’re working with two different classes of third graders to prepare a short play. The kids seem to be really excited for our time with them, but they’re very difficult to work with. A lot of them are poor and come from abusive families, so they desperately want love and attention. Some of them consistently get into physical fights and have a very hard time listening. The Arteducarte artists are constantly talking about how poorly behaved they are and how the education system has so many problems. We’re in sort of a unique position because we only work each group of kids one period of the day once a week, but I hope to learn more about the underlying issues.
On Friday I got up early and went walking in the park with my host mom and later I met up with some other girls and we went back to the market near the university. On Saturday we finally had our first real rain storm since I’ve been here. I have to say….I’ve really enjoyed the nice weather, although I know we need the rain. I went to a museum with a few other girls in the program and we found that getting around in the rain is a lot more difficult. We had to take a few different forms of transportation to get to the museum, by which time we were pretty soaked. It took us about 45 minutes to find a taxi that wasn’t occupied (apparently everyone splurges for taxis when it rains). However, we really enjoyed the museum when we finally got there. Unfortunately our guide spoke Spanish with a very thick accent (possibly Russian or French), so it was a bit difficult to understand. The museum features the work of Oswaldo Guayasamín, who is a Quito native. His paintings are very powerful, as many of them portray the pain and suffering under the various Latin American dictatorships.
After the museum we went our separate ways for lunch. A bit later I met up with Sally (a girl in the program) to begin searching for a place to rent helmets, which we needed in order to go on a hiking trip the next day. Every store was closed, so we stopped for coffee instead. Since Ecuadorians don’t seem to drink much black tea, I had been thinking I might need to try coffee soon. We both got Moccachinos (chocolate and coffee) and I quite enjoyed it. However, later that evening (after some additional hot chocolate at dinner) I had Dietary Revelation #1: caffeine and/or chocolate do not agree with me. I really hadn’t had much chocolate or caffeine since I’d gotten to Ecuador, and I’ve had a few other instances since then that have confirmed this revelation. This is quite unfortunate, considering how delicious chocolate is and how I need black tea to survive at Colgate. But…I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Anyway, we ended up borrowing helmets from some friends and got to bed early. On Sunday we left at 6 am to meet several members of the Andinismo club for a hiking trip to the mountain Illiniza Norte: 16,784 ft. Since it was still dark, all we could do was hope that it wouldn’t be as rainy as the day before. I was especially desperate for good weather, since my synthetic hiking pants ended up in the “I don’t have room for this in my suitcase” pile and I left the house in cotton spandex, sofie shorts, and sneakers. Luckily it was a perfect day. After about an hour bus ride and another hour in the back of a “chiva” (basically a pick up truck that provides cheap transportation) we arrived at the base of the mountain. We each took turns using nature’s bathroom, and since I was last I decided to jog up the hill so as not to hold up the group. Poor decision: I was out of breath before we even started the hike. For about the first 10 minutes all I could think was “oh my god, there is no oxygen here, I’m never going to make it.” Luckily this feeling passed quickly and the hike went really well! It was a little bit challenging at times, but considering the general lack of exercise in my daily routine (minus my 10 minute walk to the university), I was quite surprised by my ability. The first part of the hike was about 2 ½ hours to the lodge. We stopped to eat our lunch and rest a bit.
The second part of the hike—about another hour and a half—was completely rock. We climbed up, up, and further up, using our hands the entire way. There was also some snow on the ground, which made certain parts a bit slippery and difficult. In general, I was pleased with the amount of traction my sneakers provided. We made it to the top, which was literally a rocky peak with not much room for the entire group. We had to climb back down some steep rocks, then we headed over to a different route with was entirely sand-like dirt, several inches thick, at a sharp decline. It was really hard to walk in at first, but then I watched everyone else and realized the technique was more like skiing. Once I got the hang of it it was kind of fun. However, I’m not sure if I’ll be bringing my formerly white sneakers (now encrusted with dirt) home with me. Overall it was an awesome day….my favorite day in Ecuador so far. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole way home. Unfortunately I got sick about an hour later. I think it was some kind of delayed sunstroke/dehydration/altitude reaction with nausea and a fever. I got over it quickly and I’m better now!
This Saturday we head off to the Amazon (Misahualli) for our first IES trip! We’ll be back Tuesday, so my next post might be a little bit delayed. It looks like we’ll be doing some pretty awesome stuff there! Cross your fingers I don’t come back one giant bug bite…
Great Pics Honey! ... looks like a really nice group you're with!
ReplyDeleteDad :-)
These pic remind me a little of climbing in Machu Piccu .. It was foggy in the morning too when we started around 7:00 then it burned off by 10:00AM .. beautiful honey..
ReplyDeleteDad.