¡We are definitely in the rainy season! It rains in Quito at least once a day and not just a light drizzle, but a torrential, soaking, street-to-rivers downpour. Everything is greening up after the dry first part of "the rainy season". They had power outages in Quito before we arrived because it hadn´t rained enough. Not sure if they have some sort of hydro electric power. . . I do know that in Mindo the power went out because they had too much rain. Go figure. There is a reason I never went into engineering.
We are finishing up our teaching/schooling stint at Colegio Letort in Quito. We will teach/attend school trhough the end of Aprili. While neither Max nor Jane are sad bout this, we can tell their espagnol has improved vastly as well as unexpected bonuses like Jane's beautiful cursive which is stressed here much more than her MN school. Max loves playing soccer at recess and is enoying being challenged by some difficult math. Bruce and I also are enjoying our classes and experiencin g a school in another culture/country. It is amazing how similar things are between our schools and the Quito school rather than diffferent. Students are pretty much students everywhere. Teachers too feel overworked and underpaid. A difference in the students here that surprised me was the lack of orderliness at lunchtime (no lines, just pushing to the food) and the sometimes complete dismissal of teacher redirecting. I think much of this is cultural as there is a general lack of lines in Ecuador and an impulsiveness that makes our American students seem fairly disciplined. A difference I do like is teachers and students both wear uniforms. I think it would be nice not to have to think about your clothes for the day.
We hear spring has been gorgeous in the heartland. Enjoy. We miss you all
Beth
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How was Banos?
ReplyDeleteSpring has indeed been gorgeous, even the six inches of snow one day about a week ago.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a monsoon downpore. Never experienced one of those in Ecuador. More water for las cascadas. Keep clear of the mud slides (water and the volcanic ash).
El Viejo
Banos was wonderful. a nice change of pace from Quito. It is very peaceful and safe. I even wore earrings. We sent the kids to the park by themselves. Tons of expats and backpackers = tons of good gringo food and lots of cheap lodging. We hiked and went up to a volcano (Tunguraua)viewing - it was cloudy, did the baths at night (crowded) and rented dune buggies which Max drove for a bit on the streets of Banos.
ReplyDeleteyes mudslides dad, the teacher´s went on a 2 day trip to the beach and rented a bus. on the way back to quito they were trapped by mudslides on the road in front of and behind them. They had to stay on the bus for 19 hours. People were banging on the doors to be let in from the outside, but they were afraid of being mugged so did not let them in. They said it was very scary and many had their children on board with them. Happily Banos was mostly dry when we were there.
ReplyDeleteWow. Freaky about the teachers trapped on the bus. That sounds horrible. I'm glad you enjoyed Banos. Sounds beautiful. You will have to take lots of pictures.
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