Hola from Ecuador!

Today is our second day at Colegio Menor.  We’ve had some jam packed couple of days and this is the first time I’ve gotten to sit at the computer when I haven’t been either busy or crashed out from exhaustion.

Saturday morning I left Boston on a 5:45 am flight.  I had an initial layover at the Dulles airport, then a second 7.5 hour layover in Panama City.  I purposely gave myself a long layover in Panama so I could leave the airport and visit the Panama Canal.  I was unsure if I would have trouble leaving the airport for such a small amount of time, but there was no line at the immigration or customs desks and I flew through with no issues.  I even got a new stamp in my passport!  I haggled with the taxi drivers regarding driving me the 40 minutes to the Miraflores Locks, waiting for me to tour the museum and watch the boats come through, then drive me back to the airport.  I probably paid more than I should have, but I was able to bring them down from their original price.  My taxi driver didn’t speak any English and my Spanish is beginner at best, but we were able to use sign language and get our points across.  He was very nice and went in to the museum with me and explained the history of the canal, how it was built, and the struggles the workers had. (Taxi drivers get free access to the locks; I’m guessing it’s a common thing for them to wait on customers)  It was a fascinating engineering feat!  On the fourth floor of the museum is an observation deck where visitors can watch the boats come through the locks.  There is a narration over the speakers as they describe what’s happening.  Roughly 40 ships pass through the canal each day.  It takes 8-10 hours for the ships to travel through the entire canal and they must have a reservation to get through.  Without the canal ships must spend an additional 22 days sailing around the bottom of South America.  For ships to cross the canal a toll must be paid. This toll is based on the ship’s cargo space. If it is a military ship the toll is based on the weight.  For those on a cruise, passengers pay a fee, which can range from $138 to $148 per bed (berth).  The captain has to actually turn over the bridge to a Panamanian lock pilot for the transit and there are robotic guides with cables leading the ships through tight spaces.

Miraflores Locks

Video of ships passing through the canal.

I watched for about 30 minutes as several ships came through, then had a Frappuccino from the café to cool off.  We headed back to the airport and I relaxed as I waited for my flight to Quito.  I was exhausted at this point, having been up since 2 am.  It was a struggle to stay awake and as soon as I was in my seat on the plane I passed out.  Arriving in Quito around 11:40 pm, I checked in to Ecuador with no issues.  The immigration agent was familiar of the student teaching program at Colegio Menor and welcomed me with a smile.  I grabbed my bags, scanned them through the customs x-ray machine and was herded to the waiting crowd outside.  I found my host mother quickly, as she was holding a sign up with my name on it.  She was waiting at the airport with her daughter, as she does not speak English, but her daughter does.  We drove home and the daughter asked me questions about myself and where I’m from and translated to her mom.  When we arrived to the house it was close to 1 am.  I was shown my room, made a couple pleasantries, and went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, having been up for 24 hours at this point.

The next morning I met my roommate, Jackie.  She’s an elementary education student, so we hadn’t met before as I’m in the secondary education program.  She woke up early and went for a run, which might have been a bad idea due to the altitude of Quito, 9,350 feet from sea level.  We had breakfast and unpacked out suitcases.  In the afternoon we met an acquaintance of mine, who is an Ex-Pat that has been living in Ecuador for two years.  He took us for lunch at a sushi restaurant, then we drove an hour north to Mitad del Mundo, or Middle of the World.  This is a tourist attraction where the equator sits.  First, we went to the Intinan Museum, or “the real equator”, that was founded by the local indigenous people.  We learned about their history, customs, shrunken heads, and burial practices.  We took pictures straddling the line of the equator and the guide showed us a few “equator tricks”, which I suggest you take with a grain of salt.  He showed us how when a water basin sits on the equator line the water drains straight down.  Then moving to the northern or southern hemisphere, the water will change directions as it spins down the drain.  We also had the challenge of balancing an egg on the head of a nail.  I was a little impatient with this and only gave it a minute before giving up.  After this we drove a few minutes down the street to where the well-known monument sits.  We took our touristy pictures around the monument.  Inside the monument there is a science museum that also has equator challenges.  We bypassed this part and walked up the stairs to the top, where is opens up to a balcony and you can overlook the area.  Next, we stopped in a couple of the souvenir shops and a chocolatier.  They had a chocolate lava cake that looked very tempting, but as we came in we saw ladies selling ice cream and decided against the chocolate.  We grabbed what we thought was an ice cream cone as we left for 50 cents.  Taking a bite we quickly realized it was NOT ice cream.  It was a type of blackberry flavored meringue.  We tried to be polite and took a couple more bites, then bee-lined it to a trash can.  After arriving back at the house we had dinner and went to bed early.  We were both still tired from traveling the previous day.

NOT ice cream!

Equator

Mitad del Mundo

Jackie & Allison sitting on the equator

Monday morning we woke up early and had breakfast prepared by our host mother.  She walked us to the bus stop at the entrance to the gated community where she lives.  She waited with us and made sure we made it on the correct bus, as there were several buses that drove by taking kids to school.  Our bus is more like an upscale van that picks up teachers and staff for the school.  Arriving at the school, we met with the director and he told us about the school, its history, the kids, and what to expect.  We then took a tour of the campus.  I say campus, because the school consists of several buildings separated into grade levels, upper school, lower school, preschool, etc.  There is an abundance of green space with playground and fields for the students to play.  They get two 15 minute breaks and 35 minutes for lunch.  Colegio Menor is a liberal arts school; the students are very talented in the arts, music, and sports.  On the walls across campus and in the offices is artwork created by the students, it’s all very impressive!  In the cafeteria there are several options for lunch: a hot “lunch of the day”, salad bar, sandwich station, and a café with pastries and desserts.  For lunch I had roasted chicken, rice, salad, quinoa soup, fresh fruit juice, and a pastry for under $4.  My cooperating teacher is great!  She is from the US and lived in Utah and Missouri.  This is her first year at Colegio Menor, but she’s been teaching for several years.  The first day was a little crazy as we were in and out of meetings.  The school day is a little longer here – school ends at 2:45, but teachers don’t leave until 4 pm each day.  After we got home we relaxed a bit from the long day, then took a taxi to the local grocery and hardware store.  My room is a little hot at night and I wanted to buy a fan to help circulate the air.  Jackie and I had fun going up and down the aisles at the grocery store, but had sticker shock at some of the prices for the American products.  I bought a jar of peanut butter for $6.50!  We had another early night as we get accustomed to the altitude, traveling, and school days.  Friday the kids don’t have school, but it’s a PD day for the teachers.  Then next week is Holy Week and we are all on vacation.  My mom is flying down on Friday and we’re flying to the Galapagos Islands for the week.  Very excited!

Today, Tuesday, was my first whole day in the classroom with the students.  My cooperating teacher introduced me and I showed some pictures of myself and my boyfriend, our home, garden, and pictures of snow.  The students are all amazed that we miss school due to snow and wish they had that in Ecuador.  The day before I left I had my US students write pen pal letters to the Ecuadorian students.  After I introduced myself I told the students about the pen pal letters and passed them out to write letters back.  Some of the US students tried writing in Spanish and the Ecuadorian students got a kick out of the grammar and misspellings.  They had a great time writing the letters back and I’m excited when I come back in May to visit my old class and give them the letters.

My New Classroom

~ Allison

5 thoughts on “Hola from Ecuador!

  1. Allison …. today I’m having lunch at the Ale House in Bridgewater and I got a text from Dean Battaglino asking if you were student teaching in Panama. Ha! I copied what you wrote on the blog and sent it to her –
    Enjoy Ecuador …. sounds like you are off to a fast start. Great to hear that your mom is coming down to see you.
    RM

    • Thanks for sending it along to Dean Battaglino! The first two weeks have been go-go-go, hopefully things will settle down now and I’ll get in to a routine. 🙂

  2. Those pictures look awesome! So, you guys are staying with host families? In Shanghai, we are staying at a hotel for international students on a university campus. It definitely has its pros and cons.

    • Yes, the four of us were split up into two host families who live close to the school. Our host mother doesn’t speak any English, so we are conversing via Google Translate, which has been a life saver. She makes us breakfast and dinner each day. The other students have it a little better because their host has a housekeeper that cleans their room and does their laundry 🙂 AND they have a pet llama.

      • A PET LLAMA?! Llamas are one of my favorite animals, so now I’m super jealous.

        I have also been using a lot of translation apps considering I know next to no Chinese…sometimes the language barrier is challenging, but it forces me to be creative!

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