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Published: September 25th 2006
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My House Brother and Sisters
Friedrike, Ivan, Linda & Me at 4am Last Friday was Ivan (my 'house brother')'s 22nd birthday. What better way to celebrate than by introducing some gringas to the Quiteno scene? So it was that Linda, Friedrike and I ended up on the town dancing the night away til 5am. I had thought that the nightlife here might be quite different (and in some salsa bars I´ve been to, it definitely has been!) but this was a huge nightclub and, apart from the choice of music, much like any in England. There were even girls crying and throwing-up in the toilets, so just like England really...
That night obviously impacted on the rest of the weekend and Saturday was a bit of a wasted day. My earplugs saved me from having to join the Bolivian boy downstairs' 6th birthday party but poor Linda wasn't quite so lucky. We then went to a shopping mall with prices comparable to England where I tried to buy a pair of jeans. Which is easier than it sounds in a country where most people are under 5'6". On Sunday Linda and I were determined not to waste another day so we went to Pululahua which is a huge crater about an hour
from Quito. This one doesn't contain a lake and the fertile floor is perfect for cultivation so a whole community lives down there. It also has its own microsystem as clouds form inside it. It was interesting to walk round it with a guide who told us all about the community and the plants that grow there.
I got a huge shock when I turned up at school on Monday. My class weren't in the classroom so I spent a while looking for them. Eventually, having exhausted all the places I could think of, I enquired in the other class, to be informed that they were in the computer suite. Pardon? Yes, that's right, they have a computer suite with ten top-notch computers with really decent software and everything. I couldn't believe it; all those times when I've been racking my brains for an activity to lift the children out of abject boredom and there's ten computers sitting there unused. I asked some of my friends who'd worked there in the weeks before me and not one of them knew of the suite's existence. Crazy. Just as crazy is the idea of having an outdoor play-area that doubles as
Cake & Swings..
..does life get any better than this? a carpark; the stupidity of this was fully exposed this week as one of the children got hit by a car and ended up in hospital requiring a skingraft. Noone seemed unduly phased. Such is life here apparently.
That aside, things were much much better this week. I got into a little routine: in the morning when I felt lessons were completely inappropriate for some children (which was most of the time) I would take out Carlitos and Nathaly individually and work with them, mainly on maths. Success by the end of the week as Carlitos was adding one to numbers to 30. In the afternoon I would continue with my bag of activities or help with homework. This worked out much better and I felt much happier just getting on with it. The children were as good fun as ever and it really was quite a wrench to say goodbye on Friday. At least Friday afternoon couldn't have worked out better if I'd have planned it. I have no idea where everyone else was but it was just me and all my little favourites for the whole afternoon. So we had lots of fun and lots of sugar
and things generally got a bit hyperactive! When I tried to leave they were all hanging off me and barring the door and asking endless questions "Where are you going? Why are you going? Why do you have to go? Why can't we come? etc etc" I was left feeling quite emotional as I managed to wrestle my way through them and the door to the outside world. I am sure that in years to come I will wonder whatever happened to these children....One piece of very good news though is that Carlitos was due to start in a special school on Monday 😊
The highlight of the week however was an early morning hike up Guagua Pichincha (4800m)on Thursday. After having trounced everyone at a pub quiz (trust me to find one even here), we left at 3.30 a.m and drove in a 4x4 up to the refugio. The lights of Quito below us were almost as beautiful as the stars above us. We then walked for the final hour or so to the summit as the sun rose to reveal the whole Avenue of Volcanoes. It really was absolutely stunning (I seem to be running out of
different superlatives to describe all of this, must get a thesaurus). We were so lucky to have a completely clear night and morning and it was thoroughly worth the early start. Just beautiful. I went with a group of people including Joe and Nosi who are a very fun British couple that I met through this very site (so I have to be complimentary just in case they read this 😉 ) We were also accompanied by a geology professor/volcano expert who seemed to get a kick out of telling everyone how dangerous Ecuador is due to the fault line that runs right through it and how the volanoes are all particularly unstable. Which is always heartening to hear when you're standing right on top of one!
The condensed version: Trying to focus on Ecuador's amazing scenery rather than its terrible social problems.
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