Wrapping up the summer

The past few weeks have been full of teaching, visiting with new and old friends, digging in the dirt, navigating the health care bureaucracy, and saying goodbyes.

Summer English classes were a hit and I really enjoyed giving them. There was enough interest to keep going a week longer than we had planned, although by the end it was one hour of English and one our of basketball.

The last week I only had 15 students, a class size that lent itself to fun activities and good learning (I hope).

The squirrely boys sat in the back but I always made them participate.

Steven (pronounced Eh-steven) is an angel in class but wild and rambunctious once you let him outside.

One recess the dog got ahold of Michelle's notebook and had a ball making the kids chase her around to get it back. She ate half of the front cover before letting it go.

More post-class antics: trying to pick the neighbor's well-fortified blackberries.

For our final Friday excursion, the math teacher and I took 30 kids up to Laguna Cuicocha to walk around the crater. Half of the kids ran ahead while some of the others struggled to finsh the 4-hour route, but we all had a good time.

Michelle, Monica, Thalia, and Steven all perky at the beginning of the walk.

Taking a rest break about a quarter of the way in. The first kids start to complain about being tired.

Monica and Michelle were two of the sweetest girls in the class.

Alfredo, the math teacher, was completely in his element, picking blueberries and teaching us all about the plants we saw.

My new friend Fanny with her kids Steven and Michelle, after they invited me for lunch at their house and a tour of the neighborhood.

On Sunday I climbed the hill to a minga (community work party) to put in a potable water pipeline for parts of the community. Every family has to send a representative, and I spent most fo the time digging with my awesome cousin Mariana.

We had a nice day and the view stretched north toward Colombia.

The following Monday, we had a big mural-painting and goodbye party for the group of American students from Putney.

More gorgeous weather inspired me to capture Imbabura from our backyard, where my host dad grows beans, corn, and currently peas.

Elsa and cousin Jefferson, one of my former Panecillo students.
I'm still chipping away at my sewing project, an embroidered shirt that I'm planning to give to my host mom.
Alberto and wife Luzmila dress 4 month-old Wayta up as a mini-tia (auntie).

Que bonita! Even sticking out her tongue.

A few weeks ago, Kelly and I went to Mindo to relax in tropical paradise. It reminds me so much of Hawaii, with its rain, birdsong and vistas. Ahh, home.

We walked up a dirt road to the famous waterfall, which morphed from a 2km (according to the sign at the bottom) to what must have been 8km walk.

The river was cold and clear. Kel crossing the bridge.

We got lots of offers to go "canopying" (zip line) but partly based on this photo decided it wasn't for us.

Instead we ventured down the slide into cool, refreshing water. It was an excellent weekend adventure.

Climbing Imbabura Volcano

On my second attempt at the 15,157 ft Imbabura volcano overlooking Otavalo, I made it!

I referred some of the high school volunteers (the same group helping me with English classes) to my host brother Vinicio, who regularly guides tourists up the volcano. I decided it was a great opportunity for me to go, having gotten lost and not made it the time Kent and I tried to go a different route. The others welcomed me along, and at 5am this morning we all piled in to their pickup truck and headed to Ibarra. It took about an hour to reach the trailhead. We had bread and hot tea that Vinicio had brought for all of us before snapping a few photos and starting up the trail.

The morning light slowly revealed the Andean landscape above Ibarra.

By about 7am, the sun had turned the fields a deep golden color.

Vinicio, Shereef, Ben and Hyde (stretching) were my hiking companions.

Eucalyptus trees lined the path for the first few hundred yards.

The patchwork of fields are typical of the Ecuadorian sierra.

The path was very steep most of the way, passing through the “pajonal” or grasslands.

We got some gorgeous views of neighboring Cayambe volcano, which according to Vinicio is almost always covered by clouds.

As we continued gaining altitude, the inside of the half-crater that forms the summit came into view.

Ben rests and looks over the valley floor.

Resting at the midway point, we could see Cotacachi and Otavalo.

It was really windy up on the ridge.

Some of the views during our ascent made me dizzy.

We were really tired when we reached the summit at about 10:30am…

…but happy!

It was the highest mountain I’ve ever summitted, and I loved it.

To top it off, there was a gorgeous sunset when I got home to rest and wash my socks. Just another day in Ecuador.

Cuicocha, Castillo and Caminata

A few weekends ago I hiked with Jaime, Ida, and my Colombian friend Ricardo around Laguna Cuicocha, a gorgeous crater lake about 45 minutes from Otavalo.

It took us 4 hours to make the full circuit. The weather was as nice as I’ve ever seen it up there, and we got some great views of the lake and the surrounding countryside.

Ricardo lives in Pasto with his German girlfriend. We became friends 3 years ago when I was studying in Quito and he was a squash trainer.

Last time I tried to hike around with Paul and Kent, it was completely socked in so we turned around a third of the way in. This time it only sprinkled a bit then broke into patches of intense sun. Some teenage Ecuadorian boys were mountain biking the trail with a jug of Cola in tow, which looked pretty formidable to me.

Meanwhile back at the ranch preparations were already underway for the "entrega de castillo", or turning in the castle. As best I could understand, this is done to promote sharing between communities and to celebrate the bounty of the harvest. Once we got back from hiking, Ricardo and I helped tie dozens of bananas, oranges, grape bunches, homemade rolls, and boxes of wine to large wooden lattices, making the castillo. We made two since we had been given one last year--I guess tradition demands a double return.

The garland of "uchu", or red chili peppers was put on the castillo as the finishing touch.

My little niece Ayriway only cracked a smile after extensive tickling.

Cousin Rolando is a national level track runner.

We entered a big field dancing in circles with the castillo to the beat of our very own band--my host dad and uncles playing the guitar, harmonica and flute.

After what seemed like an hour of dancing, we turned in our castillo and watched other groups arrive dancing.


My aunt and baby Kindi, with some of the wildest, most inquisitive eyes I've ever seen. He's kind of afraid of me but I think we're becoming friends.

Summer English classes have been going well, with over 80 kids showing up each day. Luckily I have some high-school volunteers from the US to help me out. I teach the advanced level, and nine of them teach the other three sections.

Last Friday we took the kids on an adventure to the sacred Lechero tree, picked up trash, and hiked down to the Peguche waterfall for a picnic lunch. We had a blast and all the kids made it, despite the long hike uphill.

It’s amazing how far the temptation of cola and empanadas will carry kids…

...even the tired ones.

Some of the boys were very squirrely, running ahead or climbing the sacred tree.


Over 90 of us were there, but some were messing around or refused to be in the picture. All in all it was an awesome "caminata", or walk.


On a sad note, my dog Mingari was run over on Monday morning. I'm especially sad because she was so happy and full of life, and took care of the little puppies like they were her own. At least she enjoyed the short life that she had.

Fortunately, aside from a few sad things that have happened recently, I'm enjoying work and my host family a lot. Through the castillo and other cultural events I partipate in because of them, I'm learning a lot about indigenous culture. My good friend Kelly is working in Quito for a few weeks, so I went to visit her on Sunday. It was great to catch up after so long, and we'll be hanging out the next few weekends. Hasta pronto,
Lorena