Te Odio Mr. T!

"I hate you Mr. T! I will NOT be at the next meeting of Nature Club!"

These were the words of one of my students during the first ever meeting of Nature Club. Encouraging stuff...

Recently, a fellow volunteer finished her time here in Latacunga and has returned to the United States. I was lucky enough to work with Liz for a year. She taught me so much about being a volunteer and what it meant to be dedicated to one's school and community. Last year we created an English Club and have had a small dedicated group of boys that show up week after week.

In the absence of Liz, a Gringa with considerable draw for the boys, I decided to modify the club. We live in such a beautiful place and yet the students have rarely left their small community. I wanted to change that. I suggested to the students that we should start a Nature Club where we would explore the province of Cotopaxi. Once a month we will go on mini-excursions to beautiful places near Latacunga. The first scheduled place was Putzalahua. Don't worry Liz, we are continuing our weekly English meetings.

Before we left. Putzalahua in the background.

Putzalahua is a small mountain sitting at 11,558 feet just outside of Latacunga. When I mentioned we should hike it the students all were very excited. We planned the date and what each student would bring. The students were in mass until 11:00 am and I really hoped they would not flake on me. I was happy to see them show up to the specified meeting point. We hoped that the late start would not result in us getting rained on in the common afternoon showers. We hopped a bus and got on our way.

These kids, same as most Ecuadorians, are not accustomed to walking any considerable distances and this became apparent within the first 30 feet of the hike. Complaints flew throughout the 3 hour hike to the top. About an half way up a light rain started. The kids had no rain gear. I tried to motivate the kids to move faster so we could get to the top where there is a small refuge.

When we did finally get to the top the students were soaked through. Half of them collapsed on the floor and said little. I unpacked the food I had brought and the kids chugged coca-cola trying to rehydrate. Of the 3 liters of water that I brought for the group only one was finished... by me.

Once the kids ate and dried out a bit they began to enjoy themselves. They took in the views of Latacunga from a vantage point they had never seen before. The rain let up and thus afforded us a chance to walk around the top and digest our large lunch of fried pork and hominy.

Raining on Latacunga

We took pictures then packed up and got ready to go back down. On the way down I chose a different path that is steeper and would take less time. This turned out to be a mistake. In true Peace Corps luck, the rain started again just as we left the refuge. The trail essentially became a muddy, steep slip 'n slide. I was in the front and the kids would basically form a train and push and slide their way down. This led to me falling forward several times. I would tell the kids to space out and go down solo but nevertheless the "train" would form again resulting in all of us ending up in the mud.

I was pretty miserable for about an hour of the descent. Despite my rain gear, every article of clothing was soaked through and I was covered in mud. The trail had become a muddy stream and we were spending more time on our rear ends then we were upright. Things began looking up near the midpoint though. Yes, the kids were just as dirty and wet as I was but they were having the time of their lives. Every time someone fell the group would erupt in laughter and sometimes slip themselves. My mood lightened as I watched the kids enjoy such a crappy situation.

The face of the kid on the right says it all..

When we finally arrived at the bottom we huddled under an awning. We were cold, muddy, and wet. A small boy passing by said the bus should come anytime to take us on the 30 minute trip back to Latacunga. We waited and waited and waited. After an hour I asked another person and we were informed that the bus doesn't run on Sundays...

We were able to convince a passing truck to allow us to ride in the pickup bed to Latacunga. The rain never let up and we all huddled together soaking wet and cold. This is when one of the students told me, "Te odio Mr. T. Y no te voy a acompañar en la próxima reunión del Nature Club!" Basically he said he hated me and he would not be at the next meeting of the Nature Club. This is why I joined the Peace Corps! We made it back to Latacugna, opened the tailgate and essentially poured out of the back of the truck and onto the street.

Top!

Despite the ups and downs on the first meeting of Nature Club the kids are excited for our next adventure. This time we are scaling it back a bit and having a BBQ in Cotopaxi National Park. And don't worry, the kid that "hated" me has since denied his words will be joining us.