Lunes 6 - Viernes 10 de abril - Salasaka
Another week in the school, and a full week working with Group 1. This week I begin working one to one with a new boy to the school, Isaias, during maths in the morning. He is struggles to recognise numbers, and understanding the difference in values. During the second part of the morning I then worked with both Isaias and Saya either together or separate, with their reading skills. I create resources for a vowel and constants recognition game, and number flash cards with dots matching each number to try and help Isaias develop his understanding of the numbers.
In the evening I continue working with Micaela for English classes each day. On Wednesday we have a film night in the library, aimed at exposing our students to as much English as possible. We are unable to watch our first planned movie, The Great Gatsby, after being unable to transfer the movie from CD to pen drive.. so we watch Shutter Island instead, but without subtitles.. Micaela has seen the film before in Spanish which helps towards her understanding..
On Thursday we begin finalising plans for our next weekend trip.. this time to Cotopaxi. Secret Garden is a highly rated hostel located closeby to Cotopaxi, in the middle of the countryside.. but costs $40 per night.. this puts off many of the others in the house.
On Friday however we have managed to convince everyone to come.. the price includes a lunch, dinner and breakfast, plus snacks in the afternoon, free tea and coffee, and a free waterfall walk. The other alternative had been tenting it elsewhere.. the weather here at night is freezing.. no thank you! Plus it is nice to have some semi luxury away from our usual living standards in the volunteers home!! A big group of us book ourselves into the hostel for Saturday night.. me, Virginie, Iris, Eliane, Raphael, Kelly and Liz will be going.
On Friday afternoon me and Arne have planned a football game with a few of our Ecuadorian students from the library, plus their friends. First its haircut time.. nice and cheap $2 cut.. and then we head down to the football pitch nearby to our accommodation. A group of volunteers head down.. we arrive however to a pitch covered with many piles of dirt!! But with only 6 a side we find space to play our match. Despite the rock solid ball, we have a lot of fun but with the sun setting around 6.30pm, darkness is soon bringing the game to an end.. We head back to the volunteers house, Micaela also heads over, and begin drinking.. beer.. is followed by rum.. which having not eaten anything is not the best choice I've made this year.. Too much consumed.. I find myself in a bad state of affairs on route to Baños.. not making it out, I am straight away returning to Salasaka with Virginie as a support!
Another week in the school, and a full week working with Group 1. This week I begin working one to one with a new boy to the school, Isaias, during maths in the morning. He is struggles to recognise numbers, and understanding the difference in values. During the second part of the morning I then worked with both Isaias and Saya either together or separate, with their reading skills. I create resources for a vowel and constants recognition game, and number flash cards with dots matching each number to try and help Isaias develop his understanding of the numbers.
In the evening I continue working with Micaela for English classes each day. On Wednesday we have a film night in the library, aimed at exposing our students to as much English as possible. We are unable to watch our first planned movie, The Great Gatsby, after being unable to transfer the movie from CD to pen drive.. so we watch Shutter Island instead, but without subtitles.. Micaela has seen the film before in Spanish which helps towards her understanding..
On Thursday we begin finalising plans for our next weekend trip.. this time to Cotopaxi. Secret Garden is a highly rated hostel located closeby to Cotopaxi, in the middle of the countryside.. but costs $40 per night.. this puts off many of the others in the house.
On Friday however we have managed to convince everyone to come.. the price includes a lunch, dinner and breakfast, plus snacks in the afternoon, free tea and coffee, and a free waterfall walk. The other alternative had been tenting it elsewhere.. the weather here at night is freezing.. no thank you! Plus it is nice to have some semi luxury away from our usual living standards in the volunteers home!! A big group of us book ourselves into the hostel for Saturday night.. me, Virginie, Iris, Eliane, Raphael, Kelly and Liz will be going.
On Friday afternoon me and Arne have planned a football game with a few of our Ecuadorian students from the library, plus their friends. First its haircut time.. nice and cheap $2 cut.. and then we head down to the football pitch nearby to our accommodation. A group of volunteers head down.. we arrive however to a pitch covered with many piles of dirt!! But with only 6 a side we find space to play our match. Despite the rock solid ball, we have a lot of fun but with the sun setting around 6.30pm, darkness is soon bringing the game to an end.. We head back to the volunteers house, Micaela also heads over, and begin drinking.. beer.. is followed by rum.. which having not eaten anything is not the best choice I've made this year.. Too much consumed.. I find myself in a bad state of affairs on route to Baños.. not making it out, I am straight away returning to Salasaka with Virginie as a support!
Sabado 11 de abril - Cotopaxi
The day after the night before... eventually I get up and everyone begins getting themselves ready for our trip to Cotopaxi.. slightly later than originally planned we are heading off around 11am.. First we take a bus to Ambato and then to Machachi.. a few hours journey from Salasaka.. In Machachi, we have lunch and then find a caminetta to take us to the remote location of Secret Garden... (I am just about recovering..)
Secret Garden is located in the middle of nowhere.. fields and wildlife surround the hostel and there is a great view of Cotopaxi. After checking in, and being introduced to the hostel by an English guy called Jamie, we nap before snack time.. and then relax in the jacuzzi!
The meal is delicious in the evening.. and the clear star filled sky is breathtaking.. soon we are heading off to bed ready for our different activities on Sunday.
Domingo 12 de abril
I have set my alarm early in order to get up and see the sunrise, but it is a cloudy morning when I look out the window at 5.30am and instead fall back asleep. After breakfast we all head off on our different trips.. me and Raphael are heading to Cotopaxi to climb up to the glacier, Iris, Virgnie and Elaine are going horseriding, whilst Kelly and Liz are on an alternative hiking trip.
We are driven into Cotopaxi National Park and then up the volcano to a car park where we depart and begin our trek up to the refugio. We are already around 4000m altitude... it is therefore a tiring walk.. we take plenty of stops as we ascend, although we only walk for around 45 minutes to get to the refugio.. it is freezing. Unfortunately clouds surround us and our views are therefore blocked. When we reach the refugio, we stop for a break.. including tea and banana bread.
We then continue on up to the starting point of the glacier, still far from the summit, we reach an altitude of 5000m! The snow and hail begins to pour down, along with an icy wind. Despite the disappointing views away from the volcano, it is an impressive sight to see the glacier and be at such a high altitude.
On the drive back, me and Raphael fall alseep, after the tiring climb and descent back to the car park. Once back at the hostel, we have a lunch which warms us up and catch up with the girls who have returned from their horse riding activity. The last to return are Kelly and Liz, who have had the most strenuous hike.. they are knackered and crash on the sofas.. where they remain for the rest of the afternoon!
Later the rest of us, along with others from the hostel, head off on the free walking tour to a couple of waterfalls nearby. Jamie leads us there, and on route whilst chatting with Iris find out that his best mate at university went to primary school with Iris.. its a small world after all..
It is a casual walk for the most part, with a few trickier parts around the side of the river on the rocks to get to the main waterfall.. It is here that Jamie tells us that we will be given a free beer if we jump in.. we have our swimwear, but no towel.. an English girl however does, and soon me, Iris, Virgnie and the English girl are climbing up and preparing ourselves to jump one at time into the freezing water... We are told where we must aim to land.. due to the rocks..! I'm in first.. I can hardly breath after surfacing due to the freezing water and hurry straight to the side to get out! The others follow after!
Once back at the hostel we claim our free beer, enjoy the afternoon 5pm snacks and then are off on a minibus to Machachi again in order to flag down a bus back to Ambato or Baños.
Another great weekend, in a very secret location at certainly one of my favourite hostels.
Lunes 13 - Viernes 17 de abril
I continue working with Isaias during maths this week, and he starts.. slowly.. making progress. Whilst both Isaias and Saya are improving with their reading, and gaining a lot of confidence.
On Wednesday we hold another film night in the library, this time we again plan to watch The Great Gatsby.. but the CD is too scratched causing it to jump between scenes. We end up watching Harvey Milk, and have a good turn out of students.
My time in Salasaka will soon be coming to an end, in total I will have been here for 8 weeks by the time I leave at the end of next week. Virginie has similar plans to me.. she too will be heading to Colombia, we have therefore made plans to travel together.. putting me at ease about my continuation of my travels in South America. I also now plan to move my last booked flight from Colombia to Costa Rica in order to meet up with Iris again and travel the Caribbean Coast of Colombia with her.
Sabado 18 de abril - Baños
Today a group of us head to Baños for a day of biking, whilst Iris meets up with a friend there who she will be travelling with in Ecuador when she finishes volunteering at Katitawa.
After travelling to Baños on the back of a caminetta.. my first journey to Baños in the day.. the views are fantastic.. we have lunch at the market. We then rent out our bikes and head off on a days adventure.. Virginie however has to change her bike after not even making it down the first road.. and then soon after, having biked for around 5 mins down the steep hill out of Baños, Elaine has a flat tire!! Aline heads back pulling the dodgy bike next to her.. maybe we shouldn't have chosen the cheapest option..!!
Eventually we are all off again, without any more setbacks.. The bike ride is mainly downhill.. only a few times we have uphill sections.. which prove difficult especially on these bikes.. I don't have many options to change gear without it sounding like the chain might be in danger..! We stop often on route to enjoy the views, and take pictures.. and after a few hours we make a longer stop in order to cross the canyon via a rickety cable car, and see a waterfall up close. At the end of my bike ride we arrive at another route to a larger waterfall.. this time we walk a steep 20min downhill path.. leading us to an impressive waterfall! We climb through the rocky tunnel route to get closer. The uphill walk back to the car park is a killer!! We then board the back of a truck with our bikes to get back to Baños. A tiring but fun afternoons adventure!
It is early evening by the time we return to Baños and return the dodgy bikes. We then meet up with Iris, Isa and her friends Harriet and Gabriel, whilst Kelly, Renato and Juliette arrive in town by bus. After a search around we are eating at a restaurant recommended by Renato (the music teacher at Katitawa). Me, Iris, Isa, Harriet and Gabriel will be staying in Baños over night. After eating we head to our usual venue to party.. free shots on arrival.. the start of another good night.. Me, Iris and Virginie have been talking about getting a tattoo whilst in Ecuador and Renato suggests the Chakana (the Inca Cross).. he also knows a place he can take us to in Ambato next week.. after the others return to Salasaka we end up at a jazz bar where there is an open mic type evening taking place.. we get involved on the percussion and dance.
Domingo 19 de abril - Baños
In the morning we enjoy breakfast on the rooftop terrace, where we have great views of the surrounding area. We then get packed up and head off to Casa del Arbol. We say our goodbyes to Harriet who is taking a bus in the afternoon back to her volunteering destination.. a longer journey. Casa del Arbol is situated high, up above Baños, we take a taxi there and then chill out on the grass hill with beautiful views across the valley. I am happy to nap after the biking yesterday! Gabriel has his guitar and plays songs whilst we chill out.. perfect!
Later in Baños we enjoy a tasty ice cream and then take a bus back to Salasaka. Just one more week to go now..
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