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Published: September 13th 2006
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Jonathan & Luis, Pleased to be Painting
Luis greets me every day with an expectant "Masa?" (playdough) So no prizes for all the clever-clogs who guessed that classes would not in fact begin this week. I actually believed it when I should have known better. I arrived on Monday morning to the usual chaos of children wildly running around and trying to tag me whilst I tried to work out whether anything else was supposed to be happening....and so it continued for most of the week really. Some days there would be the 'usual' children, somedays children I'd never seen before and, on Wednesday, no children at all, which you'd have thought someone might have bothered to mention to me the day before.
There does appear to be some kind of timetable after all, it's just that it changes completely from day to day and seems to be communicated telepathically to everyone except me. Never mind, I decided to carry on doing my own thing rounding up a few children each time to interest in an activity. Even though I was only with small groups it can be quite tough as they are not very interested in sharing either my attention or the resources. A lot of them also seem to have quite short concentration spans especially
Caketime
Carlitos is the one at the front when it comes to anything resembling schoolwork! So I was really pleased to find out that some of them are pretty good at reading, writing and maths. Inevitably however there are some who are really struggling so I have been dredging my memory for my Year 1 repertoire and concentrating on these children. I started to really like it there and enjoy the time spent with the children. By Thursday I finally managed to keep the attention of more than a handful of children long enough to teach them a few playground games (to replace tag - I had to do something, running at this altitude is completely knackering for us gringos!)
The one thing that does happen like clockwork is afternoon break. Every day so far there has been a gigantic cake (seemingly a donation from a local bakers) which gets shared out between however many children are there on that day. And, as on some days its not that many, sometimes the children end up with a slice that's almost as big as them! This is obviously the children's favourite part of the day and they devour the huge pieces with gusto. When I turned down a
slice saying that I wasn't hungry, Carlitos looked at me incredulously and said emphatically, "I'm always hungry. In my house we don't eat anything." Its just a shame they can't find an equally kind local business that could donate pens, resources, toys etc. as there is absolutely nothing there. Things might be different when classes start? These are allegedly starting (you guessed it) next week now...watch this space.
At the weekend we decided to splash out on an organised day trip to Oyacachi as it was several people's last weekend. It turned out to be a big disappointment as the 'guide' had never actually been there before, told us the ruins were discovered 500 years after the Spanish arrived (eh?) and then refused to take us on the walk we wanted. The hot springs were nicer than at BaƱos but I really think we should have learnt our lesson there as sharing bath water (mineral or not) with locals and their bars of soap is not really my idea of a good time....
Sunday was much better as Sarah and I 'bagged our first peak'. Even if it was a small one by Ecuadorean standards. We climbed Pasochoa
which is 4199m and we were relieved to find that it was pretty easy apart from the steep 40 mins at the end. We had great views of Antisana, Cotopaxi and many others along the 'Avenue of Volcanoes' until the weather deteriorated at the top. This was my little tester to see how fit I am and how I cope with the altitude but I really enjoyed it so onwards and upwards...
We also did a night walk around old Quito. Now, all the guide books warn you off going anywhere near old Quito after dark and the tours are escorted by the police so I was fully expecting to be accompanied by a crack commando squad. Imagine my disappointment (and mild anxiety) then when our escort turned out to be a single, very petite and, more importantly, unarmed lady officer. I was half hoping that we would be held up just to see what happened and whether she actually turned out to be a robo-cop or black-belt in karate. No such drama however, we just admired a lot of pretty lit up churches.
Random event of the week has to be our invitation to our Bolivian neighbour's
At the top of Pasochoa
No, I'm not just sitting on the ground - look I'm almost as high as Cotopaxi in the background! birthday party accompanied by Guadelupe and Ivan. We were introduced to a Bolivian drink of rum, beer and blackberry juice (as unappetising as it sounds) and as dinner turned out to be two slices of birthday cake (there had been a badly timed problem with the oven) the party was soon going with a swing. My Footprints guideboook is hilarious on the subject of parties. It basically warns that large amounts of alcohol are involved and "the resulting disinhibition is seldom pleasant. Its best to enjoy the beginning of the celebrations, then politely depart before things get totally out of control" (actual quote) However prim that sounds, on this occasion the book was right and the resulting karoake was seldom pleasant. I eventually managed to make polite excuses but not before the worst rendition of 'Red, Red Wine' imaginable!
The condensed version: The centre continues to completely chaotic but am enjoying being with the children. Climbed a small volcano.
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Karen (Batesy)
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Yup, that looks pretty high.......
....Impressive. So, the hiking boots weren't just for show? Safe travels x