Día #5: Vamos para Baños

On Friday, we knew that Ismael would not come due to his class, so we taught the younger kids some new verbs and useful phrases. First, we learned “jugar” (to play) and some words such as “cards,” “basketball,” “volleyball,” “hide and go seek,” and “tag.” Then, we went over how to describe weather and the differences between Spanish and English phrases for weather (in Spanish, it “makes” cold, whereas in English, you say it “is” cold). We taught them how to say it is hot, cold, sunny, windy, snowing, raining, and humid in sentences. We then practiced the new words and phrases using hangman and the “tingo” game. The kids responded really well to hangman in a group setting!

Since Matt has not been able to cut his hair for over a month since he got to Ecuador, Justin helped him buzz his hair to a size 5 fifteen minutes before heading to Baños. Although it was uncomfortable at first, Matt was very brave and survived the haircut in the end!

Around 4 p.m., Luis came with Kris (Carla’s mom) to pick our group up to drive to Baños, a cloud forest town in the Andes a few hours south. On the way, we drove through the valley along Quito and then through the Avenida de los Volcanes, from which we could see mountains and volcanoes including Cotopaxi, the tallest active volcano in the world (the tallest non-active volcano is also in Ecuador) – on the way there, we could see some ash spewing from the volcano, which had erupted 2 weeks before and covered the south of Quito in ash. Our cars also briefly stopped for some ice cream and a bathroom break. Around 7:30 p.m. after it had already gotten dark, we arrived in Baños and checked into our hostel, Plantas y Blanco. The hostel was really nice and safe, and the man at the front desk gave us some recommendations for our time there.

After dropping our bags off in our rooms, we immediately spoke with a travel company to arrange a night tour of Bellavista, a high point with a glowing cross that looks over the city of Baños. Before our 9 p.m. bus departure, we had less than half an hour to find food (we were starving!), and settled for a fast food burger place (so American of us). However, only one lady was working there, and we soon realized there was no way she could prepare 6 burgers in less than 15 minutes, so we waited anxiously for our food before sprinting to the tourist office to get in a pickup truck. When we hopped in the truck, the driver said he would take us a few blocks to another stop, which we were confused by before he pulled up next to a full-on party bus and motioned for us to get out of the car and hop into what was basically a rave on wheels! On our way up, the bus blasted electronic dance music and some Spanish hits before we arrived at Bellavista.

At Bellavista, our bus driver gave us a 10-minute explanation of the city of Baños in Spanish, asking those of us who speak Spanish to translate for our friends (which was impossible, since he described the detailed history and altitudes of multiple locations in and around Baños without any pauses, but we tried our best!). We were also offered a hot, sweet tea called Guayusa, a rare tea cultivated in the Amazon. From Bellavista, we could see the city of Baños lit up at night, which was beautiful. It made us even more excited to see it during the day in the morning!

Once we made it back down, we walked through the town to get a better feel for the city of Baños, and hung out together in our hostel to get ready for a busy weekend.

Día #6: Swinging at the End of the World

Waking up to the rising sun, surrounded by luscious mountains, we walked to the panoramic breakfast area of our hostel in Baños to start our first full day in the city.

Each of us ordered traditional breads and muffins with scrambled eggs…besides Ben. Ben ordered pancakes, which turned out to be an enormous pile of syrup, fresh fruit and cream, with pancakes buried underneath. After breakfast, we picked up at a map and decided to hike up to the “casa del arból” on the top of the volcanic mountains. The hike was very strenuous at first, just a dirt path straight uphill. However, the views were amazing along the way and we stopped frequently to take pictures. Half way up the mountain, there was the famous “cruz”, which is a cross that you can see from anywhere in the city of Baños – it even lights up at night.

We continued our hike, through intense brush at first, but then along a paved road for the remainder of the trail. We passed time by singing throw back songs or learning new Spanish music. Finally making it to the top of the mountain, we all were in absolute awe of the views. For the one dollar fee, we were able to look out over the gorgeous Andes mountains and volcanos from a tiny tree house. Then, we were able to get on the tree swing and swing out over the edge of the cliff to get an even closer view of the volcano. The locals will tell you we swung off the end of the world. After breath taking views, we needed to rush down the mountain to get back for our next excursion. We found a local man that was willing to let us ride in his pick-up back to town, which meant three of us ended up in the bed of the pick up, Matt, Lauren, and Justin. The ride was bumpy but full of beautiful pictures and lots of laughs.

Justin swinging at the end of the world!

When we got back to town, Matt wasn’t feeling well, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the hostel room. The rest of the group rushed to grab sandwiches and run to the location for our zip lining tour. We ate our cheese and guacamole sandwiches as we rode with the nicest, most down to earth woman back up into the mountains for zip lining. She encouraged us to do more of the extreme sports adventures, and make sure we bartered for a good price, because we were good customers she said. Upon arrival, we jumped right into the course. The zip lines varied in length but all had absolutely amazing views. The company even did some of the lines in different poses, for example one of them we rode upside down, spiderman style over the canyon. Then, we had a second harness put on our legs and flew like superman across the next line. Andrew and Ben even got to race as supermen as well.

   

After a long day of physical activity, we all decided to wash up and head to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We ordered three giant pizzas that were immediately devoured by the hungry group. After dinner, a local band even came into the restaurant for some after dinner entertainment. Last, the team headed back to the hostel to plan out the next day and re-coup from all the physical activity.

Día #4: Zumba

For breakfast today, we enjoyed rolls but also tried “manjar de leche,” caramel spread in addition to our usual cheese and butter.

When teaching in the morning, the younger group went over parts of the body, fruits and foods, and verbs including “to want,” “to run,” “to eat,” and “to drink.” The kids also taught us new games involving basketball and a “burrito” donkey game (similar to “monkey in the middle”). We continued going through conversational topics with Ismael including differences in traditions between Ecuador and the United States in terms of typical foods and largest meals during the day, distribution of religions in the country, holidays and customs for festivities, and family dynamics. Since Ismael is participating in a three-day program this weekend as preparation to work as an assistant in the nearby airport, and will be interviewed for a job, we also did a mock interview in English with him. We asked him about basic information, previous work experiences, greatest strengths and weaknesses, and times he had to work in a team. We continued talking about his interests in music, TV, and movies while kicking around a soccer ball. Before he left, we wished him the best of luck on his program!

After teaching, we ate a beef stew with vegetables, rice, and a squash soup. We also splurged on some of the ice cream we bought at the store the night before!

   

In the afternoon, we rested for a few hours before going to a Zumba class with two of the other UBELONG volunteers for $1.50 each. Our VA group was luckily all receptive to the idea of going to Zumba! Apparently, the Zumba studio has been an insider tip passed down in the UBELONG volunteer house for several years as they cycle through. We got dressed and left for the Zumba studio around 5:30 p.m., arriving at 5:50 to check in. As we paid the instructor at the desk, we each were assigned numbered spots on the floor – all of us were conveniently placed in the third row in a line! Before we knew it, the class had started and we were already struggling with stamina (given the altitude) within minutes, especially after doing jumping jacks, high knees, and other bootylicious dance moves! Many of the songs during the hour involved some pretty sensual hip shaking, which we got over after a few minutes as well. Our favorite part was trying out more traditional “cumbia Columbiana” and “bachata” dances at the end.

A (sweaty) group pic after returning from Zumba!

After returning from Zumba, we were all exhausted and in desperate need of showers! However, our hunger trumped how bad we smelled, so a few of us had lunch leftovers beforehand. During dinner, a UBELONG volunteer also showed us “maiz tostado” (toasted corn), also called “choclo,” a type of corn that has larger kernels. In the evening, we finished our ice cream, had coffee, and chatted in a group about our plans for Baños tomorrow.

Día #3: Exchange of Knowledge

This morning we woke up to a bright breakfast of the usual rolls with jam with the addition of some fresh pineapple. After breakfast and getting ready, we went to the place where we teach our class and were surprised that many kids had already arrived and were waiting for us at 9am. We started the day off by teaching some food and drink vocabulary to the kids. To help enforce the lesson with writing, we played hangman where the words were english but the guessing was in Spanish.

We then wanted to work on the speaking, so we would ask questions in Spanish and asked for the answers in English. At this point, the kids were getting a little restless so we decided to take a short break, where the UBELONG staff provided jello for the kids. During the break, Nidia, one of the girls who came to lesson today, asked Lauren to help her with her English homework to prepare for her exam tomorrow. (Some of the kids take English classes during the summer through their school.) Lauren was impressed with the level of difficulty of the homework and gladly assisted Nidia. After the break, the kids had SO MUCH ENERGY – which meant a game of duck, duck, goose was necessary to continue. After 20 minutes of physical activity, the kids were ready to get back to lessons. With two more new verbs under their belts, we played a game of hot potato to finish off the lessons for the day. In Ecuador, they use “Tingo, Tingo, Tingo…Tengo!” and whoever has the ball when the leader yells “Tengo” needs to answer the question. This was definitely a day of learning for all of us, because Erik, Lauren and Andrew also participated in the game, only they had to answer in Spanish instead. It definitely helped the kids have more trust in us when we participated with them. Justin and Ben continued working with Ismael on vocabulary and conversational topics including scenario such as selling a house, giving directions, or giving a job interview. After a long morning of teaching, the kids left to go home, with excitement to come back tomorrow.

   

We sat down to a wonderful lunch of chicken, rice, and a radish/tomato salad. Lauren and Justin have now taken up a habit of drinking coffee at the end of each meal too. The team also has a routine of pairing off for dishes to make the process quicker (and the kitchen less crowded!). After lunch, we decided to take the day to hang out around the house and bond with each other. This mainly consisted of napping, and then speaking with one of the girls who lives at the house, Carla. She’s an eleven year old who speaks her mind, but was awesome to practice Spanish with while we exchanged tastes in music.

We learned a lot about the types of music that is typical to listen to in Ecuador and found songs in common that we both knew the words to. She also introduced us to the ostriches and alpaca in the neighboring yard. We got up close and personal, as we tried to feed them lettuce from over the wall.

Around 6:30pm, we decided that we wanted to explore the area of Tumbaco and go to the local grocery store. The walk was pleasant and filled with the sounds of the town, as we meandered our way based on verbal directions from other volunteers. We arrived to the equivalent of a Meijer store, with many colors and foods we hadn’t seen before. We came up with chips, animal crackers, ice cream, and Gatorade…most of which got broken into on the walk home. When we arrived back home, we sat down to dinner of soup, chicken, rice, small rolls, and cold broccoli salad. And we didn’t forget the after dinner coffee! We talked to Geovanna, the main UBELONG contact, about our weekend travels to set up transportation with her father, Luis. After dinner, we sat around, enjoying each others company over movies, music, and our newly purchased snacks. We are eager to see the kids again tomorrow!

Día #2: First Day of Teaching

This morning, we woke up and anxiously awaited our students so we could get started with our English lessons. Although we were aware that the kids could be trickling in anytime after 9, we were worried that they might not come since they were still on vacation. However, right before 9:30, the first two students arrived – we greeted Ismael (18 years old) and his younger brother Isaac (9, Christian (9), Bryan (11), Carla (who lives with her family here at the UBELONG volunteer center), and some other siblings and cousins. Since Isaac was much older and had previous English experience in high school, we decided to split into groups with two approaches – the first group (Lauren, Matt, Andrew, and Erik) worked with the younger kids and the second group (Justin and Ben) spent time with Isaac working on conversational English.

Matt cuddling with Chiquita before teaching the kids!

For lunch, we had rice, soup, and sausage in the common dining area. After some downtime, we decided to venture out for a day trip to the Ventura Mall in the Tumbaco area to see the “Minions” in Spanish. We had some difficulty locating the mall on our bus ride there, but we were able to figure it out after going one stop too far and walking back to the mall. “Minions” ended up being a really fun movie, and although only a few of us have studied Spanish before, the minions themselves weren’t really speaking Spanish to begin with, so it was pretty easy for us all to follow along! After the movie, we crossed the street to check out a bowling alley to satisfy some of our American activity withdrawals (Lauren, Matt, and Erik ended up beating Justin, Andrew, and Ben TWICE!), and went to a market nearby to get some items before heading home for dinner of lunch leftovers with a delicious tomato and green pepper salad.

“Para tu!”

In the evening, we joined some of the other UBELONG volunteers (Rosa from Germany and Emily from U-M) in the attic of the girls’ dorm to play “Shaniva,” a Norwegian card game that Rosa taught us. After a grueling game, only Ben and Andrew remained for the final showdown. Andrew was far and away in the lead, but Ben came back after hitting 100 points, which bumped him down to 50, but Andrew still ended up winning in a miraculous finish. Unfortunately, Lauren, Rosa, and Emily were so into the game that they accidentally broke the bed frame they were sitting on, but everyone was okay. Once the game was over, we said goodbye and briefly discussed some of our strategies for improving our English teaching on our second day before getting ready for bed.

Llegamos + Día #1

Our first day of traveling was exhausting, but we finally connected in Atlanta!

We arrived in Mariscal Sucre International Airport at 10 p.m. on Sunday night and were greeted by Patricio, who drove us to the UBELONG volunteer house in Tumbaco, a town in the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador’s capital city. We were exhausted from a day of flying, but eager to begin our volunteer work here. We briefly met Giovanna, the UBELONG representative who runs the volunteer house with her family, who all live on the property as well. We were excited to greet Matt, one of our team’s site leads, who had previously stayed in Ecuador for a month to study Spanish through a local host family exchange program. Giovanna showed us to our rooms, and we got situated before going to bed. She said that because most students are currently on vacation, she has been in contact with local families who are interested in sending their kids to practice English with us. She said that kids would most likely arrive around 9 a.m. the following day.

Our first day, we woke up for our first meal in the common dining area at 8 a.m., where we enjoyed bread with cheese and hard boiled eggs. We also met Adriana, who prepares meals for volunteers. We also learned that there are a few other volunteers at the house here, some of whom are from the University of Michigan! Over breakfast, we discussed our plans for teaching English to the students, but after a few hours of anticipating their arrival, Giovanna’s dad Luis let us know that he didn’t think the students would arrive the first day. Instead, we got to know the dogs in the volunteer house – Tomás, Elvis, Cookie, and Chiquita.

After a lunch of broccoli soup, rice, and beef, we decided to venture into Quito for the afternoon to see the Basilica. We realized we would have to take an 1.5 hour bus with one changeover to reach our destination. Our first bus from Tumbaco to Rio Coca led us through winding mountain roads – we were surprised how fast the bus was going, especially around sharp turns near cliffs! When Matt decided to sit down, an older gentleman seized the opportunity to slide into the seat next to him and immediately begin providing a full overview of his entire family’s history, which Matt politely listened and nodded to for the following 45 minutes. After arriving in Rio Coca, we switched buses to the red line (Ecovía), which took us into the center of Quito. This bus was much more crowded, and stopped for only a few seconds at each stop without announcing the names of the stops, so we relied on Matt’s previous experience in the city to give us a general sense of where we were going and make sure we got off at the right stop using his city map. Once we arrived, we needed to make sure we got to the Basilica before 4 p.m., when it closes. First, we checked out the inside of the Basilica, which is breathtaking and has intricate stained glass.

   

Earlier this summer, the Pope came to Quito and thousands of people came to mass there. Then, we went to a separate entrance, where could climb up to the top of the tower of the Basilica. From the top facing south, we could see El Panecillo, a famous hill where a “Virgen de Quito” statue looks out over the city. Apparently, the virgin stands on top of a globe and is stepping on a snake, which is reminiscent of madonna, but is one of the only statues with madonna symbology that has wings.

Once we finished our time at the basilica, we walked back through the Parque la Alameda by Plaza Simon Bolivar, where there are green fields and a small pond with paddleboats. Unfortunately, right after getting on the first bus on the way back, Ben and Justin both realized immediately after one of the first stops that someone getting off had taken both of their cell phones out of their front pockets, even after we were aware of the potential for pick-pocketing in the city. Eventually, after redefining our previous perceptions of personal space, we made it back to our area of Tumbaco (after using specific landmarks we remembered to get off, since we had a hard time understanding the bus system and no stops were announced) and walked back to the volunteer home as the sun set. Before we ate dinner, we met with Giovanna, who gave us an overview of expectations for our volunteer experiences with UBELONG. She also gave us some tips for which excursions to do during our two weekends. During dinner, we took Giovanna’s suggestion to speak only in Spanish to create a more inclusive environment in their home – although our Spanish language experiences vary, we are all improving our Spanish through trying to immerse ourselves in the language as much as possible, especially since we expect that from the students we work with. Later, we played card games with some of the other volunteers before going to bed. Overall, it was a successful first day, even with a few hiccups, and we look forward to beginning our English teaching tomorrow!

One week to go! Can you believe it?

We are excited to share with you EGL’s brand new Volunteer Abroad blog site! This coming Sunday, three groups of EGL students will leave for New Delhi, India, Quito, Ecuador, and Cusco, Peru to participate in two-week service learning trips. During their trips, they will be sharing thoughts, stories, photos, and (hopefully!) videos documenting their experiences.

Did you know that EGL has organized volunteer abroad trips each summer since 2007? Check out this throwback to our trips to India in 2014 and Peru in 2013:

“Seeing the children’s smiles and passion for learning is something that will always stay with me. You would never believe they lived in such an impoverished area by their attitudes. My favorite part was definitely working with the children and watching them learn. I think about them every day, and I really hope the best for them.” -Nicole Rojas, India 2014

“We built a large greenhouse completely in 7 days, when it typically takes 3-4 weeks to build one. It was great seeing everyone work as a team to accomplish a common goal. The project was an extremely rewarding experience. The most eye-opening aspect of the trip was that the family we were building the greenhouse for worked along side us daily. Maria and her two children were out there carrying and lifting bricks, and teaching us skills needed in order to be successful.” -Melissa Sweeney, Peru 2013