Advertisement
Published: September 26th 2007
Hola All!!
Chris and I wanted to write and give everyone a BIG hello and let you know we are thinking about you all todos los dias!
Today was the last day of Orientation. It felt good to be done, but we will miss all of the other volunteers. Yesterday we finished our community English class in Quito and all of our students threw us fiestas and bought us presents it was really cute! They took pics, gave us phone numbers and addresses. It was soo soo sweet. Tonight all of the volunteers are going out for a final dinner and then Salsa dancing and tomorrow, Chris and I are taking the bus up North to an area called Esmeraldas. It has such a fascinating history there! Apparently, a few hundred years ago a slave ship wrecked on the Northern Coast of Ecuador. The slaves then all got out and started a community right where they wrecked. So Esmeraldas in pretty much the only Afro-Ecuadorian community in Ecuador and has diffrent music, foods, reputation and everything. For a long time the Ecuadorian governement refused to accept them as part of the country and refused them water, gas, electricity, etc. Now, it is more politcally sound and has the amenities. The specific area we are going to is Atacames and it has beautiful beaches, and thatch bars on the playa and cabanas with hammocks as hotels. We will be there until Monday and then we go back to Quito then leave for the ten hour trip to Cuenca. The following week we start our professorships!
This whole experience has stretched us and challenged us and excited and annoyed us...we are having an amazing time. Our spanish is slowly but surely improving and I look forward to starting private lessons.
Chris and I are looking forward to starting our lives in Cuenca, but will miss the community of our fellow volunteers here. So many of the volunteers have been a part of such a wide variety of non-prof and human services work and Everyone here has such a big, ambitious heart, they are a real great group to work with (even though tonight"s our last night with everyone).
Thank you again for all of your support and for keeping in touch, it means everything to us while we are out here.
Much Love,
K + C
Advertisement
Tot: 0.072s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0486s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Caitlin
non-member comment
missing you already!
You guys are such an awesome team! I feel blessed to have shared this month with you. I need much more C and K time, though! I cannot wait to visit you in Cuenca. OH! And please let me know how Esmereldas is, because I am also hoping to go there very soon myself. xoxo