Back to Banos 8/9-8/11 for Horseback Riding, Canyoning y Monos

Claire, Sarah, Michelle, Rachel and I headed back to Banos for a few days. We didn't have enough time the first time around to take in all that it had to offer and it rained. Well.....it rained again. Guess it goes with the territory...Banos does mean "bath"after all. We pretty much were wet the entire time we were there again. But this time around, it was much more adventurous and FUN!!!

Got there Sunday afternoon. Some wanted to sleep in (not me!) so we took our time getting there. This just happened to be the best day too, weather-wise. We went there without hostel reservations (what's that? ...like we'd actually do that anyway?) Banos is a huge tourist city and thought many people would be there due to Independence Day August 10 but it didn't end up being too bad. Found a hostel, had dinner, booked our excursions for Monday. Played card games, had a few warm, no-ice drinks (Sprite and a $3.00 bottle of peach rum) and Tangos upstairs at Plantas y Blanco where Rachel and Ann Marie were staying. Early to bed for these chicas considering we were getting up at the butt crack of dawn, 0430, to head to the baths for an early morning dip.

Yup, woke up to the RAIN but it had stopped by time we had left the hostel. Walked our sorry, sleepy butts to the thermal bath only to be joined by several other "loco" Ecuadorians...from little kids to oldie goldies. These baths were "pools" that were situated right under a huge cascade. It was very calming, enjoying the baths while listening to the waterfall. There were only two baths, one extremely hot and another. Nothing can compare, however, to Papallacta. It was still nice. We stayed there til it got light out. Headed back, took a little nap, ate at Plantas y Blanco. Delicious!!!! Headed out for 4 hours of horseback riding at 0900.

The horses were waiting for us right in the city. I saw one and fell for him. Bonito (handsome) was his name and we immediately bonded. We had to get through the city before heading up the mountain. Never before had I ridden on streets like that. Buses and cars stopped for us. HORSE CROSSING! We owned the road! Running in the streets was so cool. I love the sound of the clippity clop. Too bad Michelle (ah, yeah, I want to go horseback riding for 4 hours with you guys. Did I happen to mention that I've never been on one before??? UGH!) was inexperienced or we could have done more cantering. Stopped at our highest point and had to get off and walk the horses down. It was a little STEEP. The pictures don't do it justice. Another absolutely beautiful breath-taking view.

More to come...canyoning and more monkeys

Getty up, gringas!!!

Bonito es muy bonito

The view from our highest point

Looking over the edge

Don't lean right, you'll fall off the mountain!

Safety first!

Over the river and through the woods...

A snack and a beer at the hacienda in the middle of no where. Renee was our guide

It RAINED again!!

Two little helpers

Tough last couple days at school...8/3-8/7

What can I say? The week was great and extremely frustrating at the same time. How can that be? Obviously, my students are what made my teaching experience a great one. However, administration caused my last week to be less that what I desired. I had so many great things planned to do with my students but I was left with very little time to prepare (and update this blog) because our directors failed to communicate with us about the paperwork we had to do before classes ended. I hate to revisit the last three days but...Monday we went into the office to see what had to be done. Poor Claire got the brunt of everything. She took the punches for Carrie and I. We were first supposed to hand write out these ridiculous information sheets. Ok, did that. Then they decided that no, the information needed to be typed instead. So, imagine us trying to painstakingly type (forms were in Spanish too, so was Office 07. Try formatting when you don't know what it says. UGH!) in all our students info. I'm pretty savvy at typing and Excel but this was so time-consuming. I was up one night until midnight...fell asleep with my computer on my lap. All-in-all, I spent about 12 hours in 2.5 days on this paperwork. This was work that a secretary or young student could have done. WT knew about what we had to do too and didn't let us now. FRUSTRATING...but I kept saying to myself..."muy tranquilo, muy tranquilo" The directors were not supportive or helpful. This was the only drawback at my school. My students felt my pain because I was very tired, crabby, and I didn't end the class like I had wanted to. I got over it but it really left a sour taste in my mouth for a while.

Did I happen to mention that there was a shooting, stabbing, and robbery at my school on Saturday? YUP. On Monday, I had asked the guard to get me a TV and he couldn't because they were locked up and they didn't know where the keys were. This was because someone had come in, stole 22 computers, shot a guard in the leg and stabbed another one in the neck. No one died but were in the hospital. I hope it wasn't the one with the bad teeth. He was really cool. This was how we found out about the incident. You think that WT would have told us. Needless to say, the guards with big guns were out in full force all week. And we were supposed to inform our field directors if one of our students had a cough or high fever. H1N1 is serious, I get it, but somehow it pales in comparison with what happened at SECAP and no one told us. Errrrrr... I was soooo happy to be done with the administration but sooooo sad for my last day. :(

IT´s TIME TO COME HOME!!!

I have NOT been able to get to the internet to update. There has been sooo much going on.

Updates on the last week of school
2 days in Baños with monkeys again, canyoning (OMG!), and horseback riding
Getting Ecua-napped yesterday by my students´family for 6 hours
Becoming a godmother and celebrating Ecuadorian style til 12:30am last night
Off to Papallacta for the day to relax in the thermal baths

Final dinner with the group tonight
Trying to update more before I leave...

More later,
Chao!

The Last Week of Classes....

Single digit days until I return home. It will definitely be bittersweet considering the last few days I had with my students. I took my morning class out for breakfast on Wednesday. They are insane as evidenced in the pictures. This class was much younger in age than my night class. They were a great bunch though. We had a party yesterday and they brought empanadas, cola, and gifts! I received a pair of pantelones, a t-shirt, an Ecuadorian bag, finger puppets, and a beach dress...plus many hugs and kind words. The best, however, was a speech (toast) made by Eduardo. He is a captain in the Air Force and is one of my favorites. Only about half of his speech was captured on video but what he said brought me to tears.




When we were told that our students will be what we remember the most, they weren´t kidding. Not only did I have the opportunity to teach them, I have made friends and will forever have connections here in Ecuador.



big brother and sister

Eduardo

McDonald's at 0900 after our LAST class. Claire had to get a Tango McFlurry. I wasn't hungry, just thirsty...and it was one of my gifts!

Same holds true for my night class. I had more adults in this one. They were a goofy bunch as well and I will always remember how TARDY many of them were but we still had a lot of fun. For our despida, we went out for pizza. I´ve made many great friends in this class and was even asked to be the GODMOTHER of Evelyn. She is 14 and has never been baptized. Her dad, Walter, is in class, as is her sister. Walter, in his very poor but best English, asked if I would be a part of the ceremony. I´m not sure if it will really happen but tomorrow would be the mass. I don´t plan on signing any papers but if they want me there, I will. Funny thing is that Claire was also asked to be the godmother of her host family´s unborn child. We had a good laugh about it.

On the last night of class, they gave me a necklace and earrings that Hortensia had made. She is so talented! She beautiful beaded jewelry and also paints. I went over to her suite yesterday to see what she had for sale. OMG! The beads!!! What fun!

Tomas gave a speech and it was as touching as Eduardo's.

Andy, Katty, Tomas, Hortensia

Evelyn, my "goddaughter"

Maricela, Walter, Evelyn

Chop, chop, Walter!!

I will never forget my students. What a wonderful thing technology is. We exchanged emails and I hope to keep in touch with many of them. They have opened their hearts, minds and even their homes to me. They were my family here during this difficult time being away from my OWN family and friends. Trust me, I was well taken care of down here!

But....I'm looking forward to seeing everyone!

The Colors of Otavalo

Went to Otavalo again last weekend with Sarah. This time we found a hostel and stayed overnight. It is a very tranquilo town and the people are very friendly. We spent too much money...but only $8 on a hostel. We had a homemade ice cream bar that tasted delicious but was like licking a stick of butter/crisco....yeah, that thick n creamy, and found a restaurant that served NACHOS!!! OMG! What a treat! Pretty chill night and ended up going to bed early.

Snacks at the bus terminal. Oh, poor Wilbur!

r You can buy almost anything while waiting at the tolls

Soccer jerseys, and....

back-scratchers for $1!!

The many colors of Otavalo



so much color it almost makes your eyes hurt





Who needs cuy when you have rats?

I feel so tall in Ecuador. She´s about 3´6"and oh, so cute!

Cotopaxi post is below...

Scroll down for pictures and video.
:o)

Catching up from last week 7/28-8/1

I´m not sure where the time goes but I sure do have a hard time keeping up, especially when I have very limited internet access. Just when I´m getting used to things here...I´ll be leaving. As I type, I have only 11 more days here in Ecuador.

Last week...
School is school. My students continue to work hard at improving their English. I have to decide this week which students ¨pass¨or ¨fail¨. It is so subjective...oh the joys of teaching. We don´t have a curriculum and I don´t assign homework and they don´t have any formal evaluation like tests or quizzes. I am given free reign to teach them what I want. In a way that is good but it has also been frustrating at times as well. I´ve put in a lot of time preparing lessons with many games and activities. Watch out students! We´re going to have fun this coming year with all of the new ideas I´ll be bringing home!

Working out has been a great release. Claire and I continue to go to the gym. I also went running yesterday OUTSIDE in Parque Carolina. It was a beautiful day. So, there I was just minding my own business (ok, trying to not keel over from lack of oxygen) and this Ecuadorian guy comes up along side of me and starts talking in Spanish. If it wasn´t enough that I couldn´t breathe without talking, imagine me sucking air as I TRY to speak to him in Español. Hah!! That lasted about 200 yds and I had to stop and walk. He was very nice and went on his merry way. Good thing I brought my $.15 again...you know why!!!

WEDNESDAY...
I was ECUA-napped!! This is a way of saying that some Ecuadorian, usually a member of your host family ¨kidnapps¨you and makes you do something that they say will take an hour but ends up taking all day. This was my first time and at an inconvenient time. We didn´t GO anywhere but LIGA (the best South American soccer team and happens to be from Quito) was playing some team from Spain and it was on TV at 2pm last Wednesday. Ana Maria´s son, Juan Carlos, who by the way is crazy, ¨ecua-napped¨me into watching the game. Mind you that Ana does not have a TV in the living room...only the kitchen, her bedroom and the extra bedroom. So, there we were, sitting on her bed watching the game. It was the first time that I actually watched TV since I´ve been here (I don´t miss it at all). They were hoopin´n hollerin´. LIGA ended up losing but that was besides the point. I couldn´t leave and my only excuse was that I had to go get my laundry and go to class. Juan Carlos, being the kind man that he is, walked me to get my laundry and then to school. He is hilarious and talks so fast that I get maybe a quarter of what he is saying. Unlike some of the other volunteers, this has been my only time being "ecua-napped". Some of the others have great stories, especially Claire with Eddie and Dorita. She lives with a CRAZY, ZANY family and has the funniest stories. She is on the go with them all the time and at all hours of the night. Part of me would find that great fun but I´m glad I have the peace and quiet of Ana Maria and no other family around. I can actually get work done at the apartment.

THURSDAY...
Day trip to Mt Cotopaxi. See separate post tomorrow.

FRIDAY...
After my night class, I went home, ate dinner and wanted to pass out from exhaustion. However, being the "more-organized-since-coming-to-Ecuador" self, I actually started packing for the journey back home. Good thing I went out and bought another piece of luggage...I don´t think that will even be enough. UGH! I better save some $$ for overweight charges, just in case.

More later...hope you are all well!
Chao!
Jayne

Mt Cotopaxi (Thursday, July 30)

Last Thursday, the good karma was flowing. We had wanted to take a day trip to Cotopaxi but we didn´t exactly know the best way to do it. We´re done teaching at 9:00 and don´t teach again until 6pm.....so, technically we have enough time during the week to do something like this, which is nice. The perks of living in Quito! Carrie´s mom was here for the week and we had to go back to their hostel and on the corner was a travel agency. I decided to stop in and check things out. Ended up working out. Lady called her guide/driver and said we could leave in 30 min. It was 10:15am and we would have plenty of time to get back in time for class. We got things ready, ate breakfast at Magic Bean, and headed back over to catch our ride. It was now 11:oo and driver was still not there. 11:30 rolls around, still no driver. Traffic is horrible this time of day. He finally gets there at noon and we still have to get gas and get out of Quito, a feat in itself. It´s a 2 hr ride and as I calculated the time, we would be cutting it close.

So, we´re in a van and our guide is Luis. He´s fairly quiet on the way there. One hour on the highway and one hour on a cobblestone road and then a"road" with loose gravel/big rocks as well. I don´t know how the van survived the trip. Anyways, told the driver to stop at the hacienda that we had lunch at last year and YES!!!! they had the t-shirt that I wanted. Colleen, Joanne...the same one! Good karma! The skies opened up and it ended up being an absolutely beautiful day. Made it to the top. Carrie and her mom survived the climb. Had a beer and lunch at the refuge. Luis opened up a bit and was hilarious! He climbs to the refuge 250 times a year and summits who knows how many times.

We left the refuge about 4pm. Gives us 2 hrs to get down and get to school. Yeah, like that happened. We ended up stopping at a lagoon, saw wild horses and an eagle of some sort. He sped along the Panamerican Highway (there is no speed limit in Ecuador, seriously, there are no signs, even in the cities) and we had to take in the breathtaking view of the avenue of the volcanoes. With less than a 180 degree turn of my head, I could see Cotopaxi, Antisana and Cayambe....all of this as the sun was going down and the snowcaps were now pink. I can´t even put into words.

The time is now 6pm. My phone rang. It was one of my students. Told him we were in a van and heading back and we´d be there in what we thought was 20 min. Yeah right! Got to school at 7pm. Carrie´s students were gone and I had 7 of them left. My student who called me understood us to say that we would be there in 20 minutes but he thought we were at a bar (Luis was yelling in background he wanted to take us to a bar and go dancing). Needless to say, we talked English for a half hour and I was glad to leave before 8pm. We were covered in dirt and I still had 3 lbs of sand in my shoes. Day was great and glad I got to go back. No experience needed to summit. I may just take Luis up up on the adventure! The mountains NEVER get old for me!

We thought this poor cow was going to shoot out a calf onto our windshield

love to see animals in the wild

See the yellow speck? The refuge.

Getting closer

Luis, Carrie, Lisa

Can never have too many pictures

Celebrate!

looking out from above

This is as close as I can bring you.