Ecuador - part 2

It continues to surprise me how fast time goes when you are truely loving life. The past 6 weeks have been a blur of teaching, lesson planning, hiking and playing cards. So much so that I have decided to extend for another week. Our school, Larcacunga, is so beautiful, on one side is the mountain Cotocatchi which has a bit of snow and ice, and on the otherside is another mountain that is completly covered in snow. Such a rewarding view after the tough walk up the side of the mountain. I never thought I was an exercise in the morning person, but the early morning hikes in the Andes has changed my mind! Maybe it´s the incredible farm land we walk through, or greeting the locals on the way up, but this place is a bit enchanting really. The kids at Larc are so beautiful, their brown eyes, long dark hair, wind burnt cheeks and permanent smiles make it so easy to enjoy everyday, looking at the world in a simpler way, through the eyes of happy and kind kiddies. The kids especially take to the guys, as generally it is the women who play the parental role in their lives. In the photo below, Elliot chats to one of the year 1´s.

Below, Lizzie (another Aussie from Tassie) plays with the kids.

Below: view from my workplace

Weekdays are a bit crazy, between the early mornings, teaching, lesson planning, spanish lessons and early bedtimes, we don´t really have a chance to travel. So on the weekends we try and do something outside of Otavalo. One weekend we jumped in the mini van, and went to some hot springs about an hour and a half away. Being the only gringos, we got a few funny looks and people even asked to have photos with us! But the sauna´s and spa´s were amazing, there was even a hot pool that absolutly no-one was in because it hurt too much! Another weekend, we went up to the top of a volcano, which we walked around because it is now a lake. It was very beautiful and such a perfect day for it. Then last weekend we summited at 4,300m volcano called Fuya Fuya (which translates to Cloud Cloud in the local language, Quechua). The altitude definatly made it hard, every few steps I would have to stop and get my breath back! We ascended 700m in just under 2km´s. Unfortunately when we got up to the top, the cloud came in and we couldn´t see anything!

Incredible!

Ecuador - part 1

After a 26 hour flight, I finally arrived in Quito, Ecuador. At 2,800m it took a couple of days before I finally caught my breath. The city of Quito is like most big cities, only it is surrounded by mountains and from the centre of the city you can see the paddocks on the hills. After 2 nights at a hostel, I moved to another hostel and met the GVI project manager and some of the other volunteers. The next day we all jumped in the mini van and went to a tourist hotspot, the equator. After some egg balancing the guide pulled out a human head that had been boiled to shrink. Apparently they are super expensive on the black market being that they are no longer legal! 

After a stop for a bite to eat, we finally reached Otavalo, my home for the next 6 weeks. My homestay parents Eryka and Darwin live on the Panamericano and myself and two other volunteers live out the back in the granny flat. Such a perfect set up, we share a bathroom and a lounge, have all our meals cooked and our washing done! Amazing. Our house is about a 15 minute walk right into the centre of the town, to Plaza de Ponchos where there are markets which date to pre-inca times. The first week was pretty intense, having 4 or 6 hours of one-on-one lessons. Being that my Ecuadorian parents dont speak english, I really needed the lessons (and definatly still need them!). The town of Otavalo is really nice, there are some serious mountains around and a few volcano´s. On the first weekend we went for a walk to a waterfall just out of Otavalo. There was a little cave which we crawled through and came out at the river which feeds the waterfall. There was a hill that we decided to walk up, but it was super steep and couldnt get back down so we had an hour long hike to get back to the base of the waterfall, fail! But there were some incredible views. 

The first week of teaching was interesting, teaching only in spanish to  second graders. I generally have no clue what they are talking about, not just because of my lack of spanish, but spanish isnt their first language. Getting up at 5.30am every morning is getting easier which is lovely, then I have a 10 minute walk to the bus which goes up into the mountains. We get off at the last stop after about 20 minutes then have a 30 minute walk up into the community of Larcacunga. The walk is tough but so beautiful. We pass cows, chickens, pigs and puppies and are at school by 7.40ish. After making a poridge type breakfast for the kiddies, we start class at 8.30 and then lunch is at 10.30, which we do all the shopping for and carry the food up. The kids are super cute, a bit wild, but cute.