Climbing Rumiñahui, Press Conferences, and Quito

I have had an exhausting few days. A group of us wanted to do a little more exploring of the country in the time we have left as a group. The country was virtually shut down for Easter weekend. We had Thursday and Friday off and we made the most of it. We all swear in this Thursday and will depart for our sites on Saturday. This would be the last chance to travel in a group for quite some time.

We started off with a trip to Quito. A staff member of the Peace Corps had asked if anyone wanted to volunteer their time on our day off to teach English to taxi drivers. Our lessons would take place in the taxi and we would get a tour of the town. The idea was for them to practice speaking English and we would correct and coach them. This sounded like a great idea and a nice (free) tour of Quito.

Apparently the taxi cooperative thought this was a great opportunity and they wanted to make sure the whole country knew. They called the press and they turned out. A group of 20 of us arrived in two small buses and piled out. We were wondering what was happening because there were so many cameras and reporters around the taxi drivers. They quickly spotted us and a few approached us. I feel that they all wanted to but felt that maybe their English wasn’t quite up to par. I was informed by many people that the first reporter that approached us was a very famous Ecuadorian TV personality. Funny character to say the least. After a few short words we were escorted down the row of taxis and each driver said hello and awkwardly shook our hands. Cameras caught each and every exchanged word and greeting. After the strange procession we stopped at the end where we were put on display for all the news crews. The staff member from the Peace Corps said a few words about our project and our purpose for being there. I had joked with her that I would be fine with speaking for the group. She took that to heart. The reporters asked for one of the volunteers to say a few words. Spotlight: Todd. I sped through a quick greeting and said we should get to work! I am comfortable speaking Spanish but it is a bit different when you are on a national stage. 

Camera was not camera shy. Slightly ironic.

We then were assigned to individual taxis. Mine had two taxi drivers that would each take turns asking questions and answering mine. A camera man and reporter asked if they could tag along. A bit more air time…? Of course! We went around the Centro Historico and the men told me a bit about the area. They were excited to get tips on how to better explain their country to English speakers. After the hour we returned to the cultural museum where we began our tour. We had a quick photo-op with our taxi drivers and then they offered to take us to our hostel. We kindly accepted the offer. The taxi driver “Edison” told me to call him anytime I was in Quito. I hope this meant for another free ride but hey, I will take a safe cab and pay any day over just picking one from the street. 

We arrived at our hostel, The Secret Garden, and it was great. It was cheap ($11), secure, and had a restaurant/bar on the roof. We had great views of Quito and the Centro Historico from our 5^th floor balcony. I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Quito on a budget. After checking in we ventured out in two groups to further explore Quito. We went to the Basílica del Voto Nacional to get even better views of the city. A friend of mine and I had visited it on another trip but were not able to go in due to time constrictions. I was excited to climb the spires and admire the beauty of the church. My small group crawled, climbed and explored every inch of that Basilica. The ladders/stairs that you must climb to reach the highest points were a bit scary to say the least. At one point you climb outside of the building in open air up a steep set of stairs. It is no doubt secure but certainly takes the breath from you when you look down. I was thoroughly amused at a few of the guys in my group who were more than a little frightened. As I took a video of my friends as they hugged the steep stairs one phrase kept coming out of an individual’s mouth. “Todd, this is not funny, this is not funny, Todd.” The top of one of the spires was fantastic. We had a 360 degree view of the city. We snapped a few photos and then began the precarious descent. I took a quick video but was hustled along so the guys could get back down to relative safety. I have added the youtube link below.

 Video atop the Basilica

Stairs/ladder to the top of a spire at the Basilica

The Three Amigos

  

After exploring the rest of the very old Basilica we walked to Plaza Grande. This is a large open plaza that has music, restaurants and is surrounded by buildings from the 16^th century. It is surreal sitting there. It seems that you are back in colonial times. There are stark reminders though if you look close enough, cell phone stores in a building that also saw the Spaniards rule the city to name one. That evening we went back to our hostel and enjoyed a freshly prepared dinner and hung out on top of the hostel watching the lights of the city. We had a big day ahead of us. 

Basilica Del Voto

I woke at 5:30 and tried to sneak out of our 8 person room without waking many of my bunkmates. I went to the roof and started some coffee. It was much colder than I had anticipated. I watched the lights of Quito slowly turn off one by one as the sun came up over the city. It was a beautifully clear day and I was anxious to get climbing. In those early morning hours I had time to reflect over how lucky I am to be in such a situation. If you had told me a year ago that I would be in Quito, Ecuador, sipping coffee on the roof a hostel that contained some great friends and preparing to climb a mountain, I simply would not have believed you. I am truly blessed to have opportunities such as this. I hope to always keep this in mind when I have bad days here. 

Lights of Quito from the rooftop of the hostel

People began to slowly awake from their slumber and make their way to the roof for breakfast. I had fresh fruit, eggs, ham, yogurt, and bread. ALWAYS BREAD HERE. Our mountain guides met us at 7:30 downstairs. We made quick introductions and the guides gave us a once over to ensure we were ready. We piled into their small bus/van and headed south. We were headed to climb Rumiñahui. This is volcano high in the Andes mountain range. It is 15,459 ft tall. This would be the highest peak I had climbed. It is situated in Cotopaxi National Park. This park is named for the volcano Cotopaxi (highest active volcano in the world) that I anticipate climbing sometime during my service. 

View from 2/3rds way up the mountain

We drove the two hours and arrived at the base of the mountain. We began hiking at a slow pace after the
guides told us this was a good strategy. We hiked uphill for probably two hours before we really started climbing. We worked our way up the south face of the mountain and the clouds started rolling in. About two-thirds of the way up the rain started. It was cold and a little windy. I put my waterproof shell on and hoped that it would be enough without having to put on my heavy coat. After twenty minutes of rain, the small hail started. We were all pretty tired at this point but soldiered on. The weather, at that point, did not warrant our descent. The guides told us we could continue on. 

The only thought in my head at this point: Get down.

Around two in the afternoon we made it to the final ascent. We had to use ropes at this point for safety. The combination of the weather, altitude, and fear of heights kept a few people down from this last ascent. I scrambled up to the peak, took a few snap shots, took a short video, shivered and then waited to be belayed down. Short note, it really was a “peak”. The peak was the point of a rock that had room for one person. It was a bit precarious but absolutely worth the euphoric feeling that it brought me. We all hooted and hollered for the allotted 3 minutes. The guides told us more than that would not be allowed due to the weather conditions. Here I have a short video from the summit.  

Summit video 

We belayed back down from the summit using the ropes and the guides had rigged.Once everyone was down we began our cold descent. We made it down the mountain in probably half the time it took to climb it. At one point we were on very soft dirt that had small pieces of hail on it which made it very conducive to slide on. We all had a lot of fun sliding on the muddy soft ground. It reminded me of skiing in a way. 

Belaying down from the summit. Hail didn't help the descent.

The group returned to the base and to the van. We threw our wet, muddy bodies in the vehicle and pointed our nose towards Quito. We talked about the hike and did our share of high-fiving during the ride. The guides dropped us off in Quito and we took two buses to get back home. I staggered in the door of my house and my host family was happy to see me and wanted to hear all about my adventures. Before I could show them the pictures however, they told me I was famous! They had seen me on the national news the night before when the taxi story aired. That was kind of cool and I have been searching the internet for a copy of the story. When I find it I will post it here. 

And here it is!

Taxi video

The trip was a great final stone in the wall of my training. On Thursday I will officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and on Saturday I will head to Latacunga to begin my service. I am glad that I was able to share this trip with great new friends. One of the Peace Corps facilitators recently told us that we, as Americans, are very wealthy even if our bank accounts have a zero balance. We are rich in opportunities, she told us. I find this to be true. This trip is yet another example of how lucky, blessed, and well off we as Americans are. I am hoping to have many more adventures like this to keep the thought of “wealth” in mind.

Latacunga: Home for the next two years

I have just returned from a 7 day trip to my site here in Ecuador. I have been assigned to live in the city of Latacunga. This is a city about two hours South Quito in the province of Cotopaxi. I was elated when I received the news that I would be living there. I will return permanently on April 6^th after officially swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and live at my site for the remaining 2 years of service. The city is high in the mountains and chilly. It is wild to think that I am living on the equator but I have to wear a jacket every day. I was certainly not expecting this. From my site on a clear day it is possible to see Cotopaxi, the world’s highest active volcano that I plan on climbing during two year stint. After exploring the city a bit this past week I am excited to live in Latacunga. The town is largely Mestizo but has a small population of indigenous people that speak an entirely different language. The town square is very old and is a remnant of the Spanish colonial period just as much of the highlands of Ecuador are.

 

I will give a bit of an overview of my week long adventure into new territory.

Monday: Each volunteer has an official national counterpart. The counterparts came from all over the country in order to meet and escort all of the volunteers in my training group to our respective sites. The Ecuadorian counterpart will work with the volunteer throughout their service. The head of the English department of my future high school came to meet me. All of the volunteers and their counterparts went through a day of training in order to inform the counterparts of all the absolutes of our jobs and logistics for the site visit that we were about to embark upon. Most of the twenty-four volunteers in my training group were going to sites in the South of Ecuador. This is a two day trip by bus. I was very happy to hear that I would only have to travel approximately 2 hours by bus to reach my new home. After the day of training I was informed by the PC that I would be leaving immediately after five o’clock. Luckily I had been informed this might happen and threw a bag together the night before. This was great for me because I would have an extra day in my site while others in my group wouldn’t arrive in their site until two days later after severe “bus-lag”.

I arrived in Latacunga around eight and at that point my counterpart decided to call my new host family to make them aware that I would be arriving that evening. My host father asked us to wait an hour before arriving. My counterpart and I walked around downtown for a bit before leaving to meet my new host dad. I arrived at his apartment not knowing what to think. I was escorted up three flights of stairs to my new home. My host dad greeted me politely and showed me around the apartment. It is a spacious apartment with two decent sized rooms, two small office-like rooms, a kitchen, and a large living room. He and I spoke about logistics of me living there and some basic need-to-know facts about the place. We spoke for about an hour and a half and he was very cordial. He told me that since I now lived with him everything in the house was mine. I was welcome to anything of his. I tried to explain that this was not at all normal to me but he insisted. Also, he would not accept any payment of rent for the week that I would be there. He insisted that I would not pay for a simple visit. He did, however, accept the fact that I would pay rent once I officially move there in April. I thanked him, said goodnight and was off to bed because the following days were going be full of new experiences. 

My "stove-top" and oven...

Tuesday: On this day I was set to visit the upper level part of the high school which consist of 10^th 11^th and 12^th grade students. They refer to this period as “Bachilerato”. This is where the administration of this large school is situated. The English department and the administration had planned a welcome party for their new volunteer. All of the English teachers took turns telling me (in broken English) how they were happy to have me there in their school and how they were looking forward to me working with them. It felt somewhat rigid and rehearsed but I will take praise whenever I can get it! After all the thanks were given the administration of the school (Rector, vice Rector, and Inspector which equates to Principle, vice Principle, and a person that is the police of the teachers and students) was given a translation of what the teachers said. They also thanked me for coming and welcomed me very warmly. 

Mural on the school

Shortly thereafter, the bottle of champagne was opened. I had been warned that drinking in school is a common occurrence. The vice Rector proposed a toast and we drank our small cup of sparkling beverage. I was then whisked away on a hasty tour of that campus of the high school. It is a technical high school that’s focus is to produce students of electricity, auto-mechanics, and  industrial mechanics. I was introduced to all of the teachers and quickly a group of administrators and teachers alike formed a wake behind me as I enjoyed the tour. I even got to run a machine!  At this point a volunteer is at the bachilerato part of the school and she later told me that she had never met some of the individuals of the school that I met on my first day. This is probably simply due to the fact that I have an extra Y chromosome. Gender equity is not on the radar here. It might also have been due to the fact that the vice Rector took a liking to me very quickly. Regardless, the tour went very well. One thought on culture from this day was that Ecuadorians are very open with their beliefs. One of the first questions that the vice Rector asked was about my religious affiliation. I answered honestly and felt good that I did despite the fact that he was not very satisfied with my non-Catholicism. Separation of Church and State a recognized.

Wednesday: This day was the day that I would meet the teachers that I would work with on a daily basis. I went to the campus of the school that consists of 7^th-9^th graders. I was once again warmly greeted by the teachers and given food as usual. On this day, however, there was no champagne. I sat down with the four teachers and we talked about my role in the school. I wanted to communicate to them that I was not in any way an employee of the school nor was I accountable to the administration. I am simply at the school to educate the teachers. After our talk I went to observe a few of their classes. 

View from inside the courtyard

Short point about the meeting, classes were going on during that hour and a half, they just did not have teachers due to my meeting. This is not uncommon whatsoever. Many times I walk by classrooms and see 45 kids and no teacher. This seems ridiculous to the American reader but it really is just part of the culture. Oddly enough, the kids do fine without a teacher. This might be because there is an “Inspector” that will have a nice chat with them if they are caught misbehaving. 

I went to observe the classes and I would allow the teacher to introduce me and then I would further introduce myself. I did a Q&A in each class and it was very interesting to hear their questions. They ranged from the typical “Where are you from?” to, “Do you know Oprah?” Of course I answered yes to the latter. At one point in the day a person from the Ministry of Education came to observe me. This was a surprise to me. The MOE is the reason we are here in country. They requested volunteers and now here we are serving. She watched as I described Texas and my city in particular. She laughed as I explained that Amarillo is not thought of as a Spanish word but simply as the name of my city. After this class we sat down and discussed responsibilities of the job and how I might be able to work out my schedule. This is nice part of my job, I make my own schedule. If I see either a teacher or class that I do not want to work with, I do not have to. I have recorded all the schedules of my teachers and I am currently working on creating my personal schedule. This is nice little perk of the job. I finished out the day by observing a few more classes and asking questions of my teachers or professors as they are called here. 

Another rainy day in Latacunga

That evening I wanted to converse more with the man that I will live with. I mean, if I am going to live in the same house I might as well get to know him. He told me that he had a friend that he wanted me to meet. We walked several blocks and arrived at a nice house and rang the bell. A tall man came to the door and greeted me as a new friend. To make a long story short I found out that this man had friends and family in Austin Texas and would soon be traveling through my town. He shared stories of Amarillo and he knowledge of it with his family and my host dad. It was interesting to hear an Ecuadorians view of my city. The man then went on to tell me that he knew George Bush. I took this with a grain of salt. It turns out however that his brother that lives in Austin is actually very good friends with our 43^nd president. He had a gift in his house that was personally from the president himself. Who would have thought that my closest link to a living president would be in a foreign country? We spent the rest of the evening conversing over some traditional Ecuadorian dessert that is served in a large leaf. It reminded me of a tamale but sweeter. The man and his wife were good company and I now am supposed to play tennis with their son once I move here. I expressed interest in sports similar to racquetball and this ended in me expressing an interest in tennis.

Thursday: On Thursday I went to the high school to observe my new teachers as well as get a feel for the school. I observed three of my teachers on this day. The classrooms are long and rectangular. They are very noisy and crowded. The classes that I observed had between 40 and 50 students. This is going to be a major challenge for me. The teachers want strategies on how to teach such as large group at one time. I suppose I have some researching to do. To any of my teacher friends, if you have tips on how to teach such a large group, you have my ear. Half of the classes do not have electricity. They depend on the sun and open windows for light. The courtyards that the windows open to are always filled with students playing soccer or Equivolley, a sort of volleyball played with a firm ball and high net. The teachers try to teach only in English but it is difficult because most of the students understand very little English. Also, the teachers’ level of English is very low as well. This is my primary goal, to increase the teachers’ level of English and give strategies to teach English. 

At ten o’clock the Inspector surprised me and the English department with hamburgers and coffee. He and I had spoken about my city and how the Panhandle probably has more cows than people.  We all ate our hamburgers that were actually not too bad. He asked if I liked playing basketball, I responded that I enjoy it but I was not very good. He then informed me that we would play at 10:30. My stomach was full of hamburgers and coffee and now I was expected to the white Lebron James. Promptly at 10:30 classes were dismissed, as they frequently are, to watch the game. The Inspector handpicked the 5 boys that would play against the Inspector, me and a PE teacher. An English professor told me to wear sunscreen. I said ok, but didn’t. Playing outside at 9,000 feet has its drawbacks. I was exhausted after ten minutes and got a thoroughly sunburned face after the hour long game. I am happy to say that despite my shortcomings on the court, we won the game.

Right after the game

 That afternoon I observed my teachers as they taught their students. As in the States, classes in the afternoon are more difficult to teach. Students are more awake and thus more talkative. In each class that I observed I gave a short speech. I told them that I want to help them and that I would be there for two years to ensure they would have the available resources to learn English. However, I only help those that help themselves. I have no obligation to the school to be there. I am only accountable to the Peace Corps and if need be, I can change my schedule to find classes and teachers that want my help. I do believe I got my point across to most of the classes. It is always nice to switch from English to Spanish for the first time in front of people. They suddenly realize that you understand the jokes they are making as you walked in the door. 

Thursday made me realize the importance of my job and the complexities that I will face. All the teachers want me to work with them and also work in their classes. This simply will not be possible and I have to make some tough decisions over the next three weeks. I will have to let teachers know that I will not be there 24/7 and I have to make the best use of my time to benefit everyone. Also I began to realize that the administration wants to have a say in my schedule and my duties. I have no obligation to them, but if I do not make an effort to please them it will be very difficult to plan any sort of extra-curricular activities for the students or even for the teachers. I need their approval for just about everything I do outside of the classroom such as teacher trainings, workshops and conversation clubs. It is a very fine line that I will walk.

Friday: On Friday I went to speak to the head of the English area of both campuses. We spoke about my goals for the next two years. I wanted to see how well they matched up with her goals. I have a considerable about of say in my schedule and projects and I wanted to express this to her early on. She explained to me the perceived needs in her school and I empathized with her. After a few hours of conversation she asked if I would like to play table tennis with one of the male teachers. I, of course, responded I would and she quickly went to search for an opponent. It turned out that the warehouse that had the table was locked but I was promised that I would be able to play whenever I pleased when I arrived at site. I am looking forward to being called “Rey de Ping Pong”. 

When I left that campus of the high school I had plans to return to my campus. I told this to the head English professor before I left but it was not set in stone. I quickly found out how much they are worried about me. I decided to head home to work on a paper that I was writing. After an hour had passed I got a frantic phone call from the head English teacher wondering where I was. Apparently many phone calls had transpired about me and my whereabouts resulting in a cloud of worry. I informed them I was ok and would be at the school in a matter of minutes. This was an important set of events. Even though I feel the same independence that I had in the States, I am accountable to this school and my teachers. They culture is more community oriented and I need to realize that I am a part of that community. The idea of privacy and independence is certainly foreign to them. 

Saturday: I was invited by a member of the Ministry of Education to go to a massive crater lake called Quilatoa. This is a lake in the crater of a volcano that is probably a mile across and a mile and a half wide. It was high in the mountains, even higher than Latacunga. I was accompanied by another volunteer that lives in a city nearby. We traveled for 2 hours by car to get there. This drive is pleasant and windy. I had the realization as we passed through the mountain passes of the Andes. I had taught all about the Andes and South America when I worked for National Geographic but I really had no idea what this area was like. It was incredible to see the area that I taught about and realize the true immensity of it all. Teaching is one thing, but experiencing is quite another. 

About half way to the crater lake we were stopped for construction that was being done on the highway. This was not your typical stop. We sat there for about an hour as bulldozers and other heavy machinery cleared parts of the path we were about to pass through. One thought on this, OSHA does not exist in a developing country. We passed the time playing Spanish vocabulary games and taking snapshots of passing sheep herds. 

The lama wasn't very excited to have his photo taken with me

Once we were able to pass the construction we finished the extra 20 km of driving and arrived at Quilatoa. This place was absolutely beautiful. From the rim the lake was pristine and so far away. We took in the view for about 15 minutes and then began our descent to the lake. It was a very steep path and I slipped more times than I care to remember. We made it to the edge of the lake after half an hour of walking, slipping, and sliding. Words cannot describe this feeling of this place. Like I said, experiencing is a whole different ball game. We ate lunch and chatted about our week in our new site and the difficulties that presented themselves. I saw that a man had kayaks to go around the lake. I made my fellow volunteer promise that she would return with me to paddle the lake. 

As we prepared to start the ascent, the member of the Ministry of Education and her husband decided to hire donkeys to carry them back up. In hindsight, this was not a bad idea. We slugged ourselves back out of the crater to the rim. This took considerably longer than our descent. I may splurge and spend the 8 bucks next time… We descended back to our respective cities for dinner and well deserved sleep.

Sunday: On Sunday I hopped a bus back to Quito and made it back safe and sound to my current host family. I was quickly “kidnapped” and taken to a family party before I even had time to unpack my bags. I had/have much homework to complete and it was initially frustrating when I thought of all the work that needed to be done. But after awhile I decided to just relax and enjoy the party. We ate blood soup and drank Chicha. The blood was cooked and had many gristly parts. After the meal we sat around and talked. I picked up three lemons and began juggling in front of a few of the kids. This turned into a contest of one-upping one another in feats of strength and balance. It ended in all the men in the group making a large human pyramid with the two young kids on the very top. Of course they put the Gringo on base. 

My site visit was very eye opening. I see what challenges I will face and I am trying to figure out how I can adjust and be successful in Latacunga. I am excited to see what the next two years will have in store for me. Look out Latacunga, I am coming to stay.

Tech Trip

I have just returned from a weeklong trip around the Northern portion of Ecuador. I went to tour different high schools, observe how professors currently teach, co-plan and teach with them, as well as give a lecture at the end of our visit. It was a whirlwind trip and it was packed with activities and experiences. I certainly learned a lot during this short excursion.

I departed our city on Monday morning at 6:30 with 5 other volunteers that had the same itinerary. From there we navigated our way to Quito and the Northern bus terminal of Carcelen. I will say that traveling on  packed busses in a group with large bags is very difficult and frustrating. The buses that travel within a province are the most difficult to ride with all your bags. On these buses you must keep all your belongings on the bus with you. These buses become extremely full as they progress on their route. A bus we traveled on yesterday must have had at least 75 people. In these situations it becomes nearly impossible to keep physical and visual contact with your belongings. I have not had any problems so far though. 

From Carcelen we bought tickets and boarded our bus to the city of Ibarra. This is a large city in the province of Imbabura near the border of Columbia. This bus ride was about 115 km or 50 miles but it lasted about 2 hours. This is something new that I am growing accustomed to. Despite being relatively close to everything, we are very far in respect to travel time. Long travel time is due to two things, bus travel and mountain roads. The buses are a safe form of travel if a slow one. They have a slower speed limit and many times the roads are clogged with other buses. Buses are also all privately owned. This explains why buses stop frequently to pick up more passengers even when the bus seemingly could not hold one more passenger even on top of the bus. The bus prices are very cheap just like many things in the country. The prices equate to about 1 dollar per hour of travel.

"By ignorance we descend to slavery/servitude but by education we ascend to Freedom"

Ibarra is the provincial capital of Imbabura. It is a large city that seemed rather similar to Quito on first sight. They had similar amenities and the people seemed to be of the same demeanor. When we arrived at the bus terminal we took a quick taxi ride to our hotel. I asked the cab driver how much it would cost for a ride to our hotel. He told me a dollar fifty. We quickly piled four people in the cab and off we went. When we arrived at the hotel he gave me fifty cents back informing me that it was closer than he had thought. This is another example of the kind of people that are here. Granted, there is a lot of crime and petty theft, but on the whole people here seem to not want to take advantage of every situation.

Center of Ibarra

We arrived at the Montecarlo and checked in. The hotel was nice by Ecuadorian standards. I shared my small room with a fellow volunteer. We had hot water and a good view of the very large volcano for which the province is named, Imbabura. The hotel also had a dilapidated exercise room that I used a few times.

The following day we went to the fourth best school in the country. Colegio Nacional “Ibarra” is an all girls school in the heart of the city. Here the high school girls dress in uniforms that resemble a doctor’s attire. The school had very few discipline problems and I was impressed with the construction of the school. This is probably a result of the testing that students have to endure in order to be admitted to this public entity.

Colegio Nacional "Ibarra" with Imbabura in the background

Our objective while at the school was to determine the needs of the school, observe the English professors, give feedback, co-plan and co-teach with the professors, and give a lecture at the end of the visit over new methodology. From my perspective, a teacher in the States would not want a young person to come to their school and tell them how they can improve their teaching. I found the opposite however. I worked with two professors that had many years of teaching experience and they were more than open to having me in their class and were receptive to my help. This only boosted my optimism for my service here. The professors at this particular school and many others around the country realize the importance of having new methods implemented in their classes and want the information. They also want to improve their English. This is another goal of the Teacher Trainer program that I am a part of.

Courtyard at Colegio Nacional Ibarra

I and two other volunteers gave a brief introduction to the administration and professors over our objectives and goals of our visit. At this point we got to work. I spoke with the professors about their current form of teaching and what we could work on during my very short visit. We looked at the lessons for the week and made lesson plans that incorporated some newer English education methodology. As I said before they were receptive to my ideas. I was not expecting this but didn’t let on. I spent the next two days co-teaching in the very large classes. I worked with 14 and 15 year olds. We had between 35 and 50 students in a class. This requires a very different style of classroom management that I am quickly learning out of necessity.

In one class the students were learning about the use of can and cannot. As an incentive to speak English I told the students that if they spoke in English and used the verb can or cannot I would answer any question that they could come up with. This was a greater incentive than I had expected. I was bombarded with questions that simply had “can” interjected in the middle of the sentence such as “You can marry an Ecuadorian woman because you are single?” Or, “Can you sing in Spanish?” I had to reply to this one… I began singing Selena’s “Como La Flor” to much fanfare. The rest of the week I was asked by random students in the courtyard to sing. Lesson learned.

Eric and I, educating everywhere we go

At the end of our visit a volunteer and I gave a lecture, or charla, to the English department over teaching listening. We discussed simple exercises that can be used in the class to enforce listening skills. From my observation listening is not an emphasized part of English education. This can be attributed to fact that the English teachers themselves to do speak English with a high proficiency level and thus do not want to speak in front of their students for fear of being incorrect. This is a two part problem that I plan to tackle once I have been assigned my site where I will serve for two years. The charla went very well and the teachers were happy to participate and take information from the session. We were told by the Peace Corps that one of us would be assigned to this site. After working in the school and seeing the desire of the professors, I would be more than happy to be assigned there. The professors echoed that sentiment. I was happy to hear that they wouldn’t mind having a resident Selena singing Gringo in their school.

After this visit we went to the small Valle de Chota very near the Columbian border. This was a mountainous, desert region. Hot, dry and high. This region claims about 3,000 residents. The Valle is famous for producing world famous soccer players. I would give names, but I have forgoten them already. I am not a huge soccer fan… yet. I had been told that all the students in the region aspired to play as well and academics does receive a high focus. This became evident very quickly. We arrived at Colegio Technico Valle de Chota near mid-morning after another jolting bus ride. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be hot and sweaty. The Valle did a good job of making me appreciate the climate that I had left. We entered the school and were ushered to a small room where two other volunteers would give a charla. I was very thankful I gave my charla at the Colegio in Ibarra where we were warmly greeted. This school was different. We had no chance to form a working relationship with the professors before the lecture was given. They did not participate in discussions and really were not keen on taking any information from the charla. After the hour lecture we discussed with the professors the time of the next presentation in the afternoon. We all agreed on a time and then left to go to a cultural center in a nearby city. We returned to find the school had dismissed all the students early and the professors had left. Needless to say this was a bit disheartening and frustrating. Throughout training we have been told to expect this sort of behavior from schools. It was just difficult to see this come to fruition. Lesson learned.

Colegio Technico Valle de Chota

We decided to take a walk around the small pueblo that the Colegio was in. We ran into a woman on the main road that offered to take us to a small art studio. As it turns out, it was her art studio. She spoke about the struggles of the Afro-Ecuadorian people in the province. The Valle de Chota is almost entirely comprised of Afro-Ecuadorians. Her artwork reflected the struggles and suffering that her people had endured. She showed us her studio where her husband made us pure sugar cane juice. This was so sweet but delicious. It seemed that she might have waited a long time for visitors. She showed us her work and then asked if we would like to see her create some art. We crowded around her work table and watched her roll clay that was taken from a mountain behind her studio. She took about ten minutes and created a mask of an Afro-Ecuadorian man. I was thoroughly impressed with her work and it showed me that even in such a small and seemingly desolate town, there are rays of hope and talent.

Local artist that creates Afro-Ecuadorian artwork

On our final day we went to the town of Otavalo. This city is famous because it is home to the largest market in Latin America. I was excited to go because I needed a hammock. However this was not the reason for our visit. We were taken to the School of the Millennium. This is one of two schools that the government has built in poor indigenous communities. The school is supposed to be a modern first world school with every amenity available. The class sizes were much smaller than we had observed in other places in the country. Also, technology was readily available. The teachers had laptops and Smartboards at their disposal. I felt like this visit was more for the Ministry of Education to show us what they had and were capable of. We did get to visit the Plaza de Ponchos. This was the enormous indigenous market that I excited to shop at. It was a large sprawling market that everything Ecuadorian you would want to buy. The downside was it was very tourism heavy. Everywhere you look you seen Gringos, Europeans and other Latin American tourists. It is difficult to explain to the venders that you are not a typical Gringo and you are actually a resident of Ecuador. This was important to get much better prices. A woman tried to sell me a hammock for 32 dollars. I could not hold my laughter. As soon as you begin to speak to them in their language they relax a bit on prices. After a considerable amount of haggling, I eventually got a hammock for 9 bucks. To anyone who thought I was cheap in the States, you would believe how thrifty I am on a volunteer’s salary. 

After our adventure in Otavalo we met up with a group of Natural Resource volunteers that were also about to head back to Tumbaco. We all hopped on the same bus and swapped stories of our travels for the remaining 3 hour bus ride. We spoke in English which we had been advised not to do on long bus rides but sometimes it just necessary to speak in your native tongue and plus we took up at least a third of the bus.

The Tech Trip was very useful in my opinion. For one, we got to get out of our city and see a bit more of the country and possible sites for service. Also, I know my Spanish is constantly improving and this trip only helped me progress in my language acquisition. We will be back in our city of Tumbaco for another week and then we go on a “Site Visit” for seven days. This week is packed with assignments, presentations, and a visit from the Ambassador. On Thursday we will find out our site assignments. This is where we will serve for the following two years following training. I have not given much thought to this significant date but now I am getting excited for the big reveal!

Our sense of humor is never dampened

Also, on Thursday I received a call from my sister in the States concerning my father and stepmother that are missionaries in Belize. My stepmother, Tricia, broke her hip and both she and my father were medically evacuated back to Amarillo for treatment. As I write this she is in surgery to have a hip replacement. This has been very difficult to deal with from such a far distance and very few means of communication. I was able to speak with my father this morning about the occurrences over the last few days and it seems that everything will turn out alright supposing a successful surgery. It was good to speak to him for an extended period of time since I have not been able to before this point in my service. It seems that they will be able to return to their mission in Belize that they now call home. This was their greatest fear that they would have to leave the boys that they work with and love so much. Please keep my stepmother, Tricia, and my father, Neil, in your prayers as they navigate through this rough time. It is difficult for me to hear about troubles that my family is going through and not be able to be there for them. My host mother has been an excellent ear for me to talk to about it. She knows that it has been difficult not being able to talk to my family or share in the experience all of this and for this I am truly grateful. 

If you are still reading this you have probably taken two naps and slobbered all over your laptop or keyboard so I will draw this post to a close. Thanks for following my disjointed thoughts to this point. My overall thought about the week is that I am excited to see that there is a desire for us in the schools. I feel that if I am lucky or blessed enough to be placed in a site that wants me, I will be fulfilled in my duties as a Teacher Trainer.