Manabi

Last Wedenesday (17) all 145 exchange students in Ecuador went to Crucita, a providence off of Manabi for 5 days. For the most part we had great weather for the trip, and it was so much fun to meet even more exchange students from other countries, like Australia, Mexico, Iceland, Bahamas, and pretty much any other country you can think of. The best part of having all these different nationalities in the same place is when we take picture. Everybody gets so excited to represent their host country they all take their flags and group up by country. All the Guayaquil kids met at the airport again to board a really nice premier bus, which is meant for over 60 people, and we only had 12, including our Rotarians. The drive was about 3-4 hours, but I love driving around Ecuador, and seeing the different towns and landscape, its all so beautiful to me.
The first day, myself and a few other girls were very unlucky and had some items stolen from us. I was checking into the front of the hotel (which wasn't really a hotel, more like a diner room, and when you walk behind it, it opens up into a big area with a pool and over 40 cabanas to sleep in) and I set my bag and phone down to sign a paper and receive my room key. When I went to collect my belongs and go to my room, my phone was gone. I learned the hard way that I need to be way more cautious with my valuables. The same night someone went into my friends's room while they were sleeping and stole a backpack, 3 cameras, and a phone. Not the best surprise to wake up to the next morning.
The next day we all boarded the bus and drove 20 minutes to Portoviejo, were over 30 exchange students are living, to march in a parade, proudly wearing our blazers and waving our flags. After that we got to spend the day on the beach. It was a little cloudy, so nobody thought to wear sunscreen, but seeing as we are on the equator and the sun is at it's strongest here, almost everyone (but the kids from Brazil) got badly sunburnt, which only got worse the rest of the trip cause we went to the beach everyday. After the parade we got to go to a typical Ecuadorian market and by bracelets, scarves, hats, bags, for dirt cheap! That night we were not allowed to do much but sit at diner for a few hours back at the "hotel" because we had 2 police men to search every room to look for the items that were stolen the first night. Unfortunantly, they didn't find anything.

The following day we spent at the beach being pulled behind fishing boats with motors on inflatable bananas and other giant tubes, which was awesome! Later in the night we walked to the top of Crucita to take pictures with our flag and look at the view of the town. After we had a talent show, which unfortunately I was sleeping during because the water we had been drinking made me sick, seeing as it was stored in plastic bags.
On our last night we went to Portoviejo again for diner and dancing, but first we got to ride on party buses! they are giant buses with no sides, so you can stand out of the sides, and a platform on top to dance on and for a band to play their music. This was so much fun! we drove around the town waving to everyone we passed by for almost an hour! We finally returned to the hotel at around 3 in the morning, and almost nobody slept that night, because we had to leave the next morning, so we wanted to spend as much time with each other before we went our separate ways! We won't be seeing each other until the end of the year for the around Ecuador trip, because the Galapagos and Amazon trip will only be with 25 students at a time.

Everyone was sad to leave on Sunday, but excited to be back in their home towns with their families again and get a good night sleep.

Familia

The other day I was at a friends house who is in Rotary, and their parents were talking about when all of the inbounds in Guayaquil are going to change families for the first time. This came as a huge shock to me because my mom, grandpa, and club counselor have been telling me that I will be with my current family the entire year. My family has welcomed me in so much and I feel so content and comfortable with them, that hearing that I may have to leave them soon definitely shocked me a little. I understand that changing families is usually part of the exchange experience, in order to see more of the city and see how other families live, but thinking about how I will have to leave them really makes me appreciate them that much more and everything they have done for me.

Rotary Proyectos

This Saturday, My grandpa and I went to a Rotary event at a hotel here in Guayaquil. Every year, every Rotary club has a "Proyecto" (project), where they raise money for a problem that is happening in Ecuador. My club has 2 proyectos this year. The first one is to supply 40 computers to a poor school who can't afford them in a town a few hours away, and the second proyecto is build storage units for clean water in the poorest part of Ecuador where their closest water source is miles away that they must walk to. There were about 9 different clubs there all presenting their proyectos, and over 20 Rotarians from all over America ,none from Vermont :(, to learn about the proyectos and share the projects they are working on back in the US. Everyone at the event was over 60 years, except for 2 other girls and myself. This sounds like it could be a very boring event for a 17 year to have to sit through for hours on a beautiful saturday, but it was actually a lot of fun! I got to talking to a lot of the Americans there and sharing with them about my experience as an exchange student in Ecuador, and even met someone from Canada who visits Burlington, VT every month! I also talked to some Rotarians from other parts of Ecuador, and found that it wasn't too hard for me to carry out a conversation in only spanish for a long period of time. I'm getting better! One couple I talked to for about 30 seconds, but they invited me on a trip to Banos. The direct translation in english is bathrooms, but it is a place in the mountains to go rafting, swim in waterfalls, and go bungy jumping! One of the things I love most about Ecuador is how after talking to someone for less than a minute, they are inviting you to their home just to show you more of the country they love.

I also met a 23 year old girl from Ecuador, who is in Rotaract, which is basically being a Rotarian, just for people ages 18-30, so it is a little less intense, but Rotaracts have events like the Proyects, and get to go to conferences all over the world. After talking to her for a while I realize that Rotaract would be a perfect idea for my Grad Challenge when I come back for senior year!

Viva Guayaquil (Independence Day)

Last Friday was the Independence Day of Guayaquil and all schools in Guayaquil had the day off from school, so 3 of my exchange student friends and I went to Parque Historico in Samborodon. Parque Historico is a park with old buildings and churches you can walk in, giant gardens with banana trees, and different types of beautiful flowers. The park also has a zoo with monkeys, alligators, parrots, fish, turtles, ect. The zoo is in the woods, and to walk through you have to walk on wooden bridge surrounded by trees, which makes you feel like you are in the rainforest. My favorite park of Parque Historico though was the festival they were having in the main area. They had banners everywhere reading: "Viva Guayaquil", vendors selling Ecuadorian sweets or popcorn, and women dressed in typical attire from Ecuador. A band was playing live latin style music, and of course, dancing. I'm an awful dancer, but I love dancing to the music here! My friends and I when right into the middle of crowd and started dancing. One of the women dressed in the typical attire came up and taught us some dance moves and grab our hands and brought us all over the dance floor. Everyone there thought it was hilarious to see Americans dancing, so we had a lot of pictures being taken of us, and even a camera man from a local tv station was filming us! After dancing we walked around some more and got some typical food, empanadas of course.