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!