Surfing, Museums, and Bomberos

South America » Ecuador » West » Canoa
December 1st 2011

Published: December 3rd 2011

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A nice Church in Quito

It has been a wonderful two weeks. After leaving Quito, I headed west to the coast. My destination was Canoa, Ecuador to reunite with some good friends who are teaching English here. A 10 hour bus ride dropped me square in the middle of town, where there was not only a carnival going on (sketchy ferris wheel and all!) but also an incredible number of people in town to party for the weekend. Canoa is a small beach town which is also a gringo surf destination. After making incredibly tentative plans to meet my friend Ryan (who lives in Canoa) at a hostel, I was sure he would not be there. But, as I rolled up to the hostel, he and his girlfriend Garrett were at the bar! I was so relieved to see them I threw up. And then buried it in the sand. Ok, that' not true, but i was really glad to see them

Ryan is a good friend of mine who I taught with at the Eagle Rock School. He and Garrett moved to Ecuador in July to teach English at a small alternative school in Canoa. They are well established members of the community and

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The hostel i stayed at in Quito, named Casa Bambu.

the kids they work with love them.

I helped Ryan and Garrett run a few trips to a Museum this past week. It was absolutely hilarious. We took a bus 30 minutes south of Canoa to the town of Bahia de Caraquez. The kids got a tour of the small (but really nice) museum. The guide showed them all around the museum and told them about the native peoples of Eastern Ecuador. They liked it, and it was the first time that many of them had even been to Bahia, let alone a museum, which was paid for by Ryan and Garrett. Poverty is a reality here. Bahia is only 20 minutes away. Below is a link to the school that Ryan and Garret work at:

http://www.jamesdeanbyrdfoundation.org/our-school/

Ryan taught me how to surf as well. It has been incredibly addictive and i would liken it to powder skiing in terms of how awesome it feels. Most mornings have been spent on a board in the waves.

As is common agricultural practice here, many farmers burn their land to prep it for growing. Three days ago, Ryan's neighbors were prepping their land by burning the living hell

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out of it. The flames kept creeping closer and closer to the house. It didn't reach their house, thank god. However, the flames did get extremely close to their neighbor's house, which she had finished building one week prior to this. In a mad dash, we grabbed machetes and began cutting things back from her house to try and create a barrier. For about 20 minutes, it was questionable whether or not this woman's house would burn to the ground or be spared. Fortunately, the flames died down and we were able to avoid disaster. It was scary.

Other than that, life has been chill. I am reading a very interesting book called Pedagogy of the Oppressed, in which a Brasilian author outlines how best to educate and serve oppressed populations, cycles of oppression, etc. I am getting fired up about education!

My friend Kristen came back to visit again for a week and stayed with Garrett, and Ryan and I.

Food has been both phenomenal and cheap. Mangos are 20 cents. Avocados run about the same. Ceviche, Coconut sauced shrimp, and Pizza have all been on the menu.

I am thinking of heading

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Ryan got a sunburn!

south to the town of Montanita this week to try my hand at surfing some more before heading back east into the mountains, and the town of Cuenca, a UNESCO world Heritage site.

How are things back in the USA?

I hope you all are well and appreciate having you in my life!!!

Write back!

Matt

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