Shoppig in Otavalo y Cuichoca

We did my favorite thing alllll day. SHOPPINNNNGGG!! We all met early in the morning and drove two hours to Otavalo, Ecuador.

Abby and I were buddies that morning. She cuddled on my lap half way to Otavalo.

Vero, Abby and Daniel. The interesting thing about Ecuador is that the children don't sit in safety seats. The kids sat on our laps and in the back of the SUV for the whole trip.

Otavalo is the home of a giant Mercado Artesanía, Indigenous artisan market. They sell jewelry, hammocks, blankets, ceramics, clothing... on and on and on handmade goods. It was a beautiful drive! We drove through the mountains and had a beautiful view of the mountain Imbabura.

I bought all of my Christmas presents. It was the best and most enjoyable Christmas shopping I've ever done!



Afterward we ate dinner in an inactive volcano. The crater had filled water and is now a beautiful lake in the town of Cuicocha

After our long day, I went home and spread out all my beautiful things and looked at them again. Soooo excited!

That night, Vero, Maggie and I went to a play at Vero's school Alliance Academy. The play was fantastic! It was called Fools and the students did an amazing job. Some of the students were performing in their 2nd and 3rd languages.

Les extraño todos!

Katy




“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” Maya Angelou

Bowling in Quito

After school we met the other teachers and went bowling at Las Molinas. Turned out to be a very scary bowling alley! Maggie and I took a taxi to the bowling alley. We were chatting and joking until the taxi turned into a dark scary alley. We both went silent and I started thinking what I could use to protect us! Turns out it was the darkest scariest bowling alley parking lot ever. We have heard too many scary stories this week! We had a great time although the shoes were disgusting and in the end our hands were black from dirt... gross! My score was pretty terrible but we had a great time!

Con amor!
Katy

Fútbol: Ecuador vs Peru

I have soooo much to update everyone on! On Tuesday the 15th many teachers as well as us student teachers went to a fútbol game! It was amazing. I learned a lot about Ecuadorian fútbol. We bought tickets for 40 dollars and jerseys for 5 dollars. We sat in the Preferential section, the view was good but you still had to fight through the crowd for a random seat. We sat with some very nice gentlemen who helped explain the game to us. When Ecuador won 2-0 we were treated to a nice cold beer shower! haha. The game was amazing and well worth it!

Ps all pictures are stolen from Meghan Key :)

A few more pictures of my class

On Mondays we have a "civic moment" We meet out on the patio and the students sing the national anthem, the school anthem, and the US anthem. They listen to announcements. I figured it was a good chance to show off our kids and their uniforms...

My students ran a mile in gym class. I thought they were going to die in the heat and their UNIFORMS! That's right. They have sweatsuits as uniforms... how comfortable is that?! However we had 1 kid throw up several times and another girl broke down crying and had to go to the nurse. No one likes the mile... especially not in Ecuador. Note the sweat.

Everyday Maggie and I ride the bus to school together. We ride with the secondary school for free. We are the first ones on and the last ones off. It is like a 45 minute ride in the morning and afternoon :( At least we have each other. Lately Maggie and I have taken to sleeping on the bus, that's dangerous when you have a camera lover like me around :)

Con amor!
Katy

“A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”

Teleférico de Quito

On Saturday November 12 we went to Teleférico de Quito. This is a giant cart on a cable that takes you up the side of the mountain. You can see the changes in vegetation as you go up. Unfortunately it was a little cloudy. We saw beautiful sights half way up the mountain and then all of the sudden we were in the clouds. When we reached the top it was very hard to breathe! They even offer oxygen when you get to the top because many people can't handle the altitude.

On Sunday we went to dinner with the family. I met Vero's father and we ate until we were going to explode. (A good preview for Thanksgiving)As you can see many people fell asleep... It's a lot like the United States

Gigi, Vero y Abby

The roof of Carol's building (Vero's daughter) shows all of Quito and you can see the mountains of Cayambe and Cumbayá.

Con amor,
Katy

First week of school

Well I have started school and my kids are real people! 4th and 5th is sooooo much different than Kinder! The school is amazing and strange. The rooms are disconnected and everything is outside. You walk out the door of your room and you walk through little patios and outside hallways to get to where you are going. I still need a guide becuase I get soooooo lost! haha during recess the kids have free run of the entire campus and they can do whatever they want. There are several different bells so each group knows which is theirs. Our bell is bongos. Strange. Also, we don't teach every period. Today we had 3 free periods, we taught 1 period of language arts, had lunch, had 2 more periods of language arts and then had 2 free periods before we went home. Amazing! So much planning time I don't know what I'm going to do when I go back to the States.

Also, the food is amazing! There is a salad bar with everything you could imagine, a snack bar, a sandwich bar with like fresh roast beef and all different types of meats and additives, and an Ecuadorian food section. It is so cheap too. I am spending tops three dollars for every lunch. My teacher is so sweet and very helpful. I'm really enjoying this placement although it is different!

Con amor! Katy

Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.

Frank Herbert

Mindo and my birthday!

Wow I'm getting lazy already!


On November 1st we went to Mindo, Ecuador. After a lot of taxi trouble had by the group we made it onto a bus and arrived at the Dragon Fly Inn 2 hours later. The greyhound bus was mostly empty so to make up for it they stopped all throughout the country and picked up random people and let them off later along the line.

When we got to the tiny town of Mindo we went to do zip lines. We did 10 zip lines in the canopy of the cloud forest. It was crazy amazing! We had a nice dinner and enjoyed the quiet of the town.

Video of me zip-lining in the canopy of the Cloud forest. Please ignore my terrible face in the middle of the video!

The next day was full! We got up and hiked the forest for 3 hours and saw several gorgeous waterfalls! We got home in time to change and go to El Quetzal. These american people came to Ecuador and decided to stay and make chocolate! We toured how they make chocolate and i bought chocolate bbq sauce. Should be interesting. Finally we went to Mindo Lago restaurant for a frog concert. First we had dinner. I had Lomo a la piedra, steak on a hot stone. it was cheap and the best steak i have ever had! The frog concert consisted of us going into the dark forest with a guide and observing frogs, scorpions and supposedly snakes. No snakes were found in the dark thankfully!

On Nov 3rd we got up and saw the Mariposario, the butterfly farm. We learned about the life cycle of butterflies and got to feed them and just hang out. We wandered the town until our bus left and headed for home.



November 4th we went to the mall and did some good old fashioned shopping at El jardin. Later we made a chocolate cake for my birthday and had some wine. We took a taxi out and went to La Mariscal to the bars. It was alot of fun. After all of that fun I took the day off today and just relaxed!

I start school on Monday and i am really excited! Fourth and fifth grade is a little out of my norm so I'm a bit nervous too!

with love,
Katy

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson