Blogs from Cayambe, North, Ecuador, South America - page 2

After almost 2 months in Cayambe it was very hard to say goodbye, both to the children in the schools and to the wonderful family I had been staying with. The final days in the schools were all a bit frantic, due to a mixture of English exams and unpredictable but frequent rehearsals for important processions the following week. The evenings were frantic too, with a stack of corrections - why did I make those exams so long??? However, on my last day in Escuela San Luis de Guachalá, the seventh graders surprised me with a farewell party, for which they had prepared a dance to a song with lyrics in English. In my other school (Escuela Antonio de Alcedo) the second graders, after an almost perfect rendition of “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes”, treated ... read more

Who´d have thought it, snow on the equator. But yes, it exists - you just have one hell of a long slog to reach it! The day started very very early (for me at least - I had only just got used to being at the schools for 7.30!). We had to collect the bikes and be at the bus stop in Cayambe by 6am for the one and only bus that goes to Piemonte (a good chunk of the way to the base of Volcan Cayambe). However, we got there to find that the 6 am bus had in fact come and gone at 5.30! Luckily for my poor wee legs, Oswaldo (my Ecuadorian "father") knew the score and we were able to hitch a lift on the milk van (which drives up through the ... read more