Three-Restaurant Town

And here we are now back in the cold, misty highlands, in the market town of Otavalo where we have so far spent a very pleasant three days, the only bad thing is that half the restaurants in our guide books have closed down so we are eating a lot of pizza and some giant sandwiches. This town is all about the shopping and handicrafts and we have indulged in a little shopping ourselves. Our hotel is 1 hr walk out of town, at nearly 3000m pretty cold at night but with 3 blankets and a logfire it is just about warm enough. When we arrived there were no other guests and we were outnumbered by the hotel dogs, Milky, Pacha, Rumi and Chuy, which hang around drooling whenever we eat there. We are in the totally cool penthouse apartment (in that it is the whole top floor) complete with our own balcony and everything.

Galapagos!!

Another week, another extreme wildlife experience... fortunately this time they were a much more cuddly and less poisonous bunch, it being the Galapagos Islands, home to many endemic and and extremely tame animals. We were lucky enough to get a good last minute deal on the good ship GALAXY, a first-class yacht complete with proper beds (no bunks!), hairdryer, swan-shaped towels, 5 meals a day, tv and dvd player, and Boggle! It was a 16 person capacity boat but there were only nine of us plus crew and guide Polo. Us two Brits, four Americans, two Germans, and one Peruvian via Long Island. We had four days sailing around four different islands. On arrival on Santa Cruz island I got excited at seeing iguanas, crabs and pelicans and our first sighting of a sealion splashing around in the harbour... little did we know we would soon be suffering sealion fatigue... no not really. But they were certainly the most frequently seen animal on the trip, we even had a little stowaway sealion for one day who lazed about on the deck before hopping off when the engines started. The first day we saw giant tortoises who could actually move pretty fast when they wanted. Then down to the dock to board our yacht which definitely looked a cut above the rusty rest. My sea legs were a bit slow in coming as I felt a little queasy the first night down in our little cabin, as we sailed at night on to our next destination. We arrived the next morning at Floreana Island and disembarked to see flamingos, sealions, sea turtles, and lots of little birds. Then back to the boat and off for a snorkelling trip where we saw lots of fish and some sealions. Then back on board getting ready for lunch and an announcement comes over the tannoy - "Ladies and Gentlemen this is your guide speaking, just to let you know we have dolphins circling the boat", we go running outside to see tens of dolphins swimming along with the boat, including about 6 in a row right under the bow. In the afternoon we visited a look-out point and saw a little Galapagos penguin! Which I was convinced we were not going to see. In fact if our guide had not informed us, I would have just thought it was a duck. On the second day we went to Española Island and did more snorkelling, the first part with sealions, which were supposed to be really friendly and would come up to us and play with our flippers etc, according our guide, but we only had one come up really close, which Tanya promptly scared off with a scream of surprise. The second time we got into the water I looked down and saw two Galapagos sharks right below our feet... I even had my underwater camera with me but I was too scared of potentially kicking the sharks and angering them to take any pictures! Saw lots of pretty fish, more sealions, and a few spotted eagle rays. It was cold water though even with a wetsuit. In the afternoon we visited part of the island with huge marine iguanas, yet more sealions, and lots of birds - the famous blue-footed boobies, albatrosses, nazca boobies, all nesting right on the rocks and you could walk right up to them. We were sitting watching the waves crashing around the rocks when our guide points out a Galapagos Hawk just hovering a metre over our heads. On the last night we sailed all evening to the next island, either the sea was very choppy or our captain was in a hurry or drunk as we hurtled along at full speed with the boat rocking madly. Unsurprisingly everyone started to feel a little seasick, fortunately they waited until we had anchored before serving dinner otherwise none of it would have stayed down. The next and final day it was back to the airport via an uninspiring trip to a visitor centre. Only consolation that we were leaving this animal paradise after four short days was that it was grey and rainy.

I have a friend!

On monday night Tanya arrived in Ecuador to accompany me on my travels in the last few weeks here! We have been around Quito a bit (mainly sorting out Galapagos), down to Ambato to visit Maria Teresa and Gonzalo, and the children at the school, now back in Quito and off to Galapagos for a 4 day cruise tomorrow!!
Tanya has conveniently brought 4 stripey tops so we are going to rock the nautical look. After my camera breaking we almost had a disaster in that she didn´t have an adaptor for hers... qué desastre... there is no point going to Galapagos if you don´t have a camera! Fortunately we managed to get hold of one so there will be photographic proof we have gone!

Welcome to the jungle!

So while I was working away at the school and planning my travels for my last 2.5 weeks in Ecuador, I started thinking it would be fun to go the jungle. The Amazon... how can you not go to such a famous, exciting, exotic place when it is so near... think of all the amazing animals and plants you could see... so I plan at the last minute to visit a place called Sani Lodge, in one of the deepest part of the jungle you can get to in Ecuador bar chartering a helicopter. I decide to splash out on taking the plane part of the way, saving myself a gruelling 10 hour overnight bus ride from Quito. The little plane takes me to Coca, a hot and humid town of little interest other than being the stop off point for most of the jungle tours. At Coca I am met by my guide (an english-speaking guide who has been begrudgingly cut his holidays short just for me, as the travel agency forgot to ask if I actually spoke Spanish) and we get on a motorboat for a 3 hour ride down the mighty Napo River, a big murky swirling mass of water most definitely home to man-eating hypnotic anacondas and other bugbears, nearly 1km across, always the fear that if you fall in if you don´t get eaten by something you will float through the wilderness and wash up months later in the Atlantic.... After this we transfer to a little motorized canoe, leave the big river and head down a small waterway for about half an hour to the lodge... en route being involved in a CANOE CRASH, don´t worry nobody was hurt, I captured it all on video but sadly will not be able to upload until back in the UK!
I arrive at the lodge to discover that I am the only tourist there... that my sleeping arrangements (I chose the much cheaper camping option over the private cabin) is literally a 1-person tent on a raised platform with a palm-thatched roof. The campsite is on the other side of the lagoon from the main lodge are and I have to be rowed across the black-caiman infested lagoon in order to get there. We go out on a night hike the first evening - a walk from the lodge after dark, with flashlights, to see all the exciting night activity... the first thing we have pointed out is a big hairy tarantula... we also see some tiny frogs, a psychadelic caterpillar, some very impressive stick insects, a few less-threatening looking but more dangerous than tarantula spiders, and lots and lots of huge millipedes. I return to my tent a little shaken.
The next day we are up at the crack of dawn to visit the canopy tower, a 30m wooden observation tower built around a giant capoc tree. We go up with the telescope and spend about 2 hours watching parrots, macaws, toucans, and many other really beautiful birds.
We then take a hike through the jungle with the guides pointing out all the insects and birds and explaining all the medicinal plants they traditionally use. We eat some lemon ants which unsurprisingly are little tiny ants, which taste like lemon. Hear a few stories about anacondas and their hypnotic powers. Just like in the jungle book... I am not sure if this is actually true... if anyone can shed any light please let me know!

We take another hike in the afternoon and go and wake up some noisy night monkeys. The guides know exactly which trees they live in and take the telescope, so we get fantastic views of two little yawning monkeys.
In the evening we go hunting for black caimans in the lagoon. We see one about 3m long... they are apparently scared of humans though so not so dangerous. They hang about at the edge of the lagoon waiting for fish or something to swim into their mouths and they have reflective eyes, so you can shine your torch around the lagoon and see all these red eyes staring back at you...
The next day we canoe right to the other end of the lagoon, through the mangroves, and take yet another hike. It is raining when we set off so we take rain ponchos, mine comes down to the ground and I look like the worst witch. We see yet more plants and insects and the biggest giant capoc tree ever with buttresses about 6m high.
On our return to the lodge our guide suggests a swim in the lagoon. Ok so I know there are black caiman there... but have been reassured they are scared of humans, not the other way round. However then one of the other guys starts asking him "So are there anacondas here?" Guide replies "...yep."
"Are there manta rays?"
"Yep."
"Piranha?"
"Yep."
"Electric eels?"
"Yep, and a local boy was killed 2 months ago by one".
(Liz moves swiftly out of lagoon).
In the afternoon our guide takes us to his house where we try some traditional jungle food (fish and plantain wrapped in banana leaf and smoked over a fire), play with his 2 pet black tamarind monkeys and observe 2 tiny feruginous pygmy owls which are living in the roof of his kitchen.
Another night hike in the evening and we see the BIGGEST TARANTULA EVER, about 20cm across and with huge grey hairy legs. Very happy to get back into my little tent all zipped up and safe.
The next morning there is a tiny frog in the shower as a huge thunderstorm outside has forced it to seek shelter from the rain. I am wondering how frog and I are going to shower together then fortunately discover there is no water, so problem solved. (It was my last day and I had been wearing the same clothes for 4 days... decide I will just wash back in Quito!)
The boat rides back to Coca are less eventful but I am still fairly unnerved when we set off in the middle of a big electric storm. No-one has ever been struck by lightning, gracias a dios, the guide says reassuringly. At Coca I get the plane back to Quito and have the 2nd most appreciated hot shower of my trip (no. 1 was following the cold and wet ascent of Puñalica). I have never been so happy to get back to civilisation.

Last day of school!

Thursday was a very sad day as it was my last day at the school, after 7 weeks working there. Looking back I´m not sure if many of them have learnt any more English than they knew already with me... but we have had fun. At least in the art classes.
They put on a "banquete" in my honour which consisted of their normal school lunch, plus a plate of goodies including popcorn, biscuits, cheese, ham and fizzy drink. They gave me a little straw bag as a leaving present and I gave them each a copy of the class photos I had taken the previous week.

Puñalica Ascent no.2

We took the children on an exciting school trip last week up the mountain Puñalica, of wet and misty fame from the ascent a few weeks back. We only took the 6th and 7th grades (10-11 year olds) as there were only 3 adults accompanying them: Me, Gonzalo and the headmistress Delia.
A few Puñalica statistics: Its summit is just under 4000m and is pure páramo (moorland) on the highest part. It is apparently an extinct volcano. The lower slopes are gentle and cultivated then the (long) last part a steep climb. The school, our starting point, lies at around 3100m.
We set off around 9.30, taking fortunately a camioneta (pick-up truck) from the school up until the road ran out: unfortunately leaving us on a side of the mountain Gonzalo and Delia don´t seem to know. So we start off at a lively pace along a track though the children are desperate to go off the track and just run/climb straight up. Which after about 15 boring minutes on the track, we do.
They all go running ahead leaving me (accompanied by my little friends Luz and Jessica) and Gonzalo struggling in last place. We find all sorts of plants. Rabbits. Treasure-filled (allegedly) lagoons. A little frog. A talking log (an invention of Gonzalo´s). The mist chases us uphill and threatens to envelop us but never succeeds. After about 2 hours we reach the giant cross on the summit and have well-deserved lunch stop. Popcorn, potatoes, rice, biscuits and jam, even the extra-special guinea pig has been brought for the occasion.
It starts getting cold and we pack and head down - straight down! As the descent is steep the path zigzags all the way down... but the children run and jump (and fall) in a straight line directly down the mountain. The first ones are nearly at the bottom when I am not even halfway and my legs are like jelly! We make it back to school around 13.30. Me and Gonzalo exhausted and the children as if it was just a gentle stroll.

Breaking the silence...

I have been away for the last week and unable to update blog properly! Also camera is misbehaving so not able to upload any pictures, or take new ones... just in time for my once in a lifetime Galapagos trip!! Since last entry I have been to the deepest (in Ecuador) Amazon jungle, come face to face with tarantulas, snakes (well 1 baby one), plus some cuter animals like monkeys, owls and tiny frogs.
In the meantime please enjoy this video (if I can manage to upload it) of a fun blindfold directions game with the children on my last day of classes!

Monday art class creations!

My mural!!!

At long last I started my mural in the playground this week, and finished in 3 days as it was fairly straightforward! You can see its progress below!

School pictures

At Frances´s request and for anyone else who may be interested, some photos of the El Porvenir school.

Inside one of the classrooms where the 6th and 7th grade (totalling 22 students) are taught together.

The main building here contains 2 classrooms.
The larger building behind is an auditorium.
In the background on the right is the mountain Puñalica which we climbed a few weeks ago in the rain!

This is the playground and play area with the headmistress´s office, third and final classroom, and computer room in the background.

Origami madness

Another monday rolls around and its time again for me to teach "art" to the entire school (all 50 of them) of El Porvenir. With somewhat limited resources I decided this week to do paper-based activities, which for the older ones meant fun collages, and the younger ones fun origami! The collages went down well and the origami even better, this was the first time the 4th grade have managed to concentrate on something in my classes for more than 5 minutes!

Large weekend in Bolivar province!

With my time here running out (in 1 month´s time I will be sitting on a plane somewhere!) I am now using my weekends to travel about beyond Ambato. This weekend was the turn of the little-visited province of Bolivar where I intended to visit a small village called Salinas which is known (to serious cheese and chocolate experts) for its cheese and chocolates. So I set off friday lunchtime on the 3 hr bus trip, the first 2 hrs of which are supposed to be spectacular as you cross the moors at about 4000m with views of the mighty Chimborazo (6310m, a huge snowy mass) BUT! as the bus made its ascent we hit thick thick fog with visibility of maybe 5m... we chugged along at a snail´s pace and I crossed my fingers a) we wouldn´t hit anything and b) I would get to see the views on the way back. I arrived into the provincial capital Guaranda to change buses at about 15:30, having read there should be the last bus to Salinas at 16:00... shame no-one knew where to catch this bus, I was sent all over town and didn´t find it, toyed with the idea of going back to Ambato but decided to stay the night in Guaranda then try again the next day. So I wandered back into the town centre to look for a hotel, tried about 4 places but they were either full or just didn´t like the look of me... except one place which officially had been closed for some reason and had all the rooms sealed off, but I could stay there if I was willing to climb through the window into the room! Anywhere was considering going back to Ambato where at least I knew I wouldn´t have to sleep on the street, when I heard a "de donde eres?" (where are you from) behind me in a foreign accent and turned round to see a group of blonde girls, who turned out to be on a school exchange year in Guaranda and were curious as to who the foreigner in town was! They proceeded to help me find a delightful hotel room for $7 a night, with assurances that I could stay with them if I couldn´t find anything... then later on invited me to a quinceañera party at a club in town! Though the host was celebrating her 15th the rest of the invitees looked more like 18 so I didn´t feel too old! (A little foolish wearing hike boots in a club though.)

I made it back to the hotel not too late but slept badly due to 1. the cold 2. the noise 3. the light streaming into my curtain-less room (you expect curtains for $7??) 4. THE COLD!!!

Next day I got up bright and early ready for mission impossible 2: finding the bus to Salinas. Fortunately I found it soon enough and was off again on the windy mountain roads. We pulled into Salinas about 11:30 and I wandered up to the only hotel in the village but they were waiting for a big school party to leave, so some locals took me down to visit the salt mines in the meantime. A little bit about Salinas: it was your normal run of the mill highland village until about 1970 when some young Italian priest turned up and set up a load of cooperatives producing cheese, chocolate, salamis, and er, footballs, cooperatives which now involve pretty much the whole village. The chocolate is excellent, the cheese I saw being made but didn´t try, and the footballs... look much like normal footballs. The idea is also that you can visit the various producers to see everything being made, however unfortunately as it was the weekend nothing much seemed to be open. Still it was a nice village to visit and I walked about a bit in the mountains, did some drawing and watched the simultaneous and very entertaining town football and volleyball matches in the main square. And bought some chocolate and a lovely woolly hat which does not look unlike a teacosy. (Ecuador hat purchase running total: 3!)

More photos to follow on the flickr site in a day or two!

Laguna Quilatoa

Last friday my classes at Quinchicoto were cancelled for teacher training hooray! So I took advantage of the long weekend, packed up my little rucksack, and headed off for the well-known but off the beaten track Laguna Quilatoa, a crater lake up in the mountains. Distance-wise it is not too far from Ambato but it´s unpaved road half the way and there is only 1 bus a day, so it takes 5+ hours to get to! My lodging was the famous (in the eco-world) eco-hostel Black Sheep Inn, a lovely place, all vegetarian, green, very welcoming, with composting toilets with possibly the best view in the world.

Despite my guidebook saying you had to reserve as it´s very popular, the first night there were only 2 other guests, then the next day a few more turned up. The setting is fantastic, on the side of a hill overlooking a range of valleys and canyons. Completely cut-off from civilisation with the only sounds those of the farm animals on the hostel grounds and in the valley.

I had one full day there and had hoped to do the popular hike from the lake back to the hostel, mostly downhill, through a dramatic canyon, but a) didn´t fancy doing it on my own and b) to get to the lake you have to catch the one bus a day which passes the hostel at an insane 3AM! So instead I joined the other 2 guests on a more leisurely hike from the hostel to the nearby cloud forest. Cloud forest, you may say, what is that, as I had wondered also, is it not just a forest which is a bit misty at times? For there are surely many of those in the British Isles. But no, it turns out to be a super-humid forest full of orchids, vines, bromeliads, and other exciting things. My photos don´t do it proper justice as it did look like something from a fairy tale.

The next day I was returning home and visited the lake on the way... so after that being the point of my trip to the area, I only ended up spending half an hour there! Fortunately the sunday bus service was much more extensive than other days so I was able to avoid the 3am bus and catch a more civilised 9.30am instead. I got to the lake, took a few photos, bought a nice woolly hat, and caught a ride down to the next town where I would catch the first bus on the long journey back to Ambato.

I love to go a wandering...

.... up a freezing cold rainy mountain on my day off.



Yesterday was the chosen day for the ascent of the well-known (to the few thousand people who live near it) mountain PUÑALICA, a mountain of nearly 4000m but as there are snow-capped volcanoes of 5000-6000m nearby, it only looks like a fairly modest hill in comparison. Where we started was at about 3300m so it wasn´t too far but it is a steep climb and the weather didn´t make it any easier. Not too bad going up but towards the top we went into the clouds and as we reached the summit it started raining.
Coming down we went a little off-piste and got completely soaked by the waist-high grass, not to mention falling over a few times into said grass as the ground was uneven (fortunately it was very soft grass and quite nice to fall onto, if only it hadn´t been so cold and wet). At the top we would have had fantastic views of Chimborazo (where I did my cycling 2 weeks earlier!) and Carihuayrazo... had it not been for the rain.... which reduced visibility considerably.
For entertaining moving pictures of the above photo, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECUZ2Bz0Fww

El dia de los difuntos en Salasaca

The 2nd November much of Latin America celebrates Day of the Dead: the day the departed return to earth... Here in Ecuador people celebrate by visiting cemeteries, taking plenty of food and drink with them, the whole family going, spending the entire day there. We went to visit an indigenous village called Salasaca, where the celebrations are very traditional. Everyone goes along to the cemetery in their finest clothes, including a hat so fine it has to be covered up with a plastic bag to keep the rain from damaging it (they can apparently cost up to $200... but if you were going to end up with a hat-shaped plastic bag on your head would you not just skip the hat...?).
The current cold and rainy spell began this weekend as you can see in the photos - despite that you can still see in the last photo my best sighting yet of the very active volcano Tungurahua!

Before and after

Little Ecuadorean guinea pig, you are right to look scared and try and hide in a corner. For you know the Day of the Dead is approaching and you are the meal of choice for that day... as you are for many other special occasions. Yours is not a life spent idly in cage, taken out to be stroked and fussed over. You are not to be named Fluffy, Toffee or Gnasher. You are to be roasted and served with boiled potatoes.

You are, actually, quite tasty... bit like chicken.

The children´s library

On saturday there was a special half-day reading session held at the flat for various members of the community (mainly El Porvenir students) and their families. The idea is to encourage reading amongst the children and also their parents so they are invited over to Ambato to make use of the many children´s books that Maria Teresa and Gonzalo have here. On this occasion with christmas approaching, there was also a christmas card making session, with cards based on some models we had made earlier, but with about 10 times as much glitter on them. Once the cards were made we moved onto reading, with the littlest ones being read to, the older children reading (picture) books by themselves, and the parents (when I say parents, I mean mothers) reading magazines and newspapers. Some of my favourite pupils from the school were present and fun was had by all! More pictures on the flickr site.

A standard day´s teaching.

7.00: Get up.
7.15: Breakfast. Fruit, yoghurt, coffee, bread, marmalade.
7.45: Leave house.
9.00: Arrive at school. 4th grade (8 year olds) english class. 1 girl and 8 boys, programmed to stay in their seats for a maximum of 30 seconds at a time. Play bingo, with prepared cards as drawing 8 squares was too complicated in previous lesson. Shouts of "bingo" at everything number I say despite insistence they only say it when have all the numbers, also despite them not understanding half of the numbers I am saying. Half an hour easily filled.
9.30: 5th grade english class. Play bingo again this time slightly more civilised, though I have to promise to bring about 30 bingo cards for the next class.
10.00: Playtime. Football reigns supreme and breaktime snacks of maize and popcorn.
10.30: 6th grade english. Smallest year group in school with only 4 students. Struggle through asking each other "how old are you".
11.00: 7th grade english. Bit of boring grammar work followed by wordsearch which goes down a storm.
12.30: Lunchtime. Rice and lentils which bizarrely has all the children queueing up for seconds. None of your turkey twizzler rubbish here.
13.00: Home time... back to the buzzing metropolis that is Ambato for a latte and leisurely afternoon.

Links

Here is a link to a video from one of the classes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_eplA5oXLg Also photos as usual at www.flickr.com/photos/lizporter
Bye!

Finally some photos!

Here we have the playground of the school in El Porvenir. There is a space reserved for me to paint a nice bright mural like the ones in the picture.
The fantastic clear blue skies you see in the pictures are not actually that common, it is cloudy most of the time! We were lucky on this day!
The 4th grade (8 year olds) watching a video in the computer room.
Playing a point to the object game with the 5th grade! I just love the little stripey poncho!!

Another day, another school...

Today I had classes at another primary school in a village called Quinchicoto which is at around 3300m and a 20 minute steep walk uphill from the main road. This school is a little larger than the other one, a little more organised, I was told, and the children are better behaved. Definitely not the case though I realised during the first class as soon as Maria Teresa got her camera out and 15 kids all jumped onto their desks in what was almost a human pyramid in order to pose... Once the camera was put away they calmed down a bit but each class (4 in total) got progressively more out of control. It didn´t help that half the children either didn´t have textbooks or had left them at home, conveniently leaving them free to run around the classroom, play with yo-yos, marbles and spinning tops and do NO WORK whatsoever. Fortunately I was not officially in charge, only there for help with pronunciation (it was brilliant hearing them repeat whatever I said with spot-on intonation and british accent - shame they didn´t know what they were saying) and foreigner comedy value. There was entertainment at breaktime courtesy of the school band, made up of probably about 80% of the school, who demonstrated varied talents in drums, trumpet, flute, xylophone and a strange wind-keyboard which actually we didn´t get to hear as one of the musicians failed obviously some crucial moment so all you heard was 5 kids berating the other for ruining their slot. Apparently today was their first practice and the headmaster was their slightly reluctant conductor, they have plenty of time to practice before their first gig at some town procession in November!

First day of classes!

Monday should have been my first day but classes were cancelled province-wide due to a transport strike! So today was my first day... and it didn´t go too bad! I had been worried about having enough things to do, and not stalling to a halt... however that seems unlikely as the main problem is going to be controlling the kids. I had an easy start with the 8 year olds, and only about 10 of them. We managed "good morning" once they had mastered my strange handwriting, but bingo was a bit too complicated. Then I had four 10 year olds, then an uncontrollable NINETEEN 11 year olds... I was just trying to get them into groups for a fun game when a couple of doctors pulled up outside and everyone went MAD. Turns out they were due to have some vaccinations... cue mild hysteria and a fair bit of crying. I don´t think it helped that nearly the whole school (about 50 of them) had their jabs all in the same room, at the same time, with everyone watching! Anyway more of the same classes tomorrow so I am going to try and prepare some good activities that involve everyone, that and some crowd control.

Picture a big volcano...

Seem to have some problems uploading photos, so please imagine there is a nice picture of volcano Cotopaxi here!! Which I took on the bus from Quito down to Ambato on my second day here! The route is sometimes known as the Avenue of the Volcanoes due to the number of them that line both sides of the route. Unfortunately though it is often cloudy here, or at least over the higher land, so they are not always visible... I was lucky to have this view. Down near Ambato we have Tungurahua which is one of the most active volcanoes at the moment.. only on orange alert though not red as I had thought. Like Cotopaxi it is a fairly perfect symmetrical cone but sadly even more elusive. It is maybe about 20km from Ambato and right next to the little spa town of Baños which I visited last sunday. The tourist office give you an evacuation map of the town along with the normal map, which is good to know.
I have not yet started my classes yet, i.e. the reason I am here... this week I have just been preparing the classes, and meeting the schools. The main one that I will be working at is a tiny primary school in a village called El Porvenir de Mocha, which is about 15km from Ambato. There are a maximum of 16 students per class and only 6 year groups. English will be taught by year group and focusing on the final year (11 year olds) as they need a certain level for when they go to secondary school. For now they seem to know colours... numbers... and not a whole lot more! I will also be teaching art & craft classes on a Monday but for that they will be 2 year groups at a time. Also will be helping with english classes one or two days a week in a (slightly larger and more organised) school in a village called Quinchicoto. The organisation by the way is http://www.voluntariosdeoccidente.org/
As for where I am staying... in Ambato, a town of about 300,000, with delightful hosts Maria Teresa and Gonzalo who run the organisation. They are originally from Colombia and have been in Ecuador since maybe 1990 or so. VDO has been around for 10 years now. Maria Teresa and I went to Quito on thursday to pick some things up (some clothes donations for the schoolchildren, documents, and a copy of The Big Lebowski on my reccommendation after watching Fargo the other night). Did some touristy stuff like visiting er the touristy area of El Mariscal, the botanical gardens which were beautiful, and listening to Maria Teresa go on about how dangerous all of Quito is. Didn´t even touch the historical centre which will have to do on another visit! And try not to get mugged or kidnapped!

Welcome!!

And thank you for visiting the first entry of the blog of my exciting trip to Ecuador!
This is my first blogging experience so apologies if it is unprofessional or worse still unexciting... I will try and get some photos up soon and on the flickr site too (the 1-person facebook boycott begins here!)