The Gringo Gang in Ecuador

COUNTRY: Ecuador
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Claire Baxter

Hola amigos from the Gringo Gang. It’s been 12 days since we arrived in Quito and we’re settling in well. It’s taken nine months plus 35 hours in transit to get to where we are now. We’re pretty sane people but we can be gringos, sometimes.


Hola!

I’m writing from a nail salon in the new town where a group of us are mid-mani. Not quite what we were imagining when we signed up for volunteering in a developing country, but a welcome surprise nonetheless. Then again, a lot of things have surprised us since arriving.

Apart from the Assange Saga, Ecuador is not really a well-known country back home and we weren’t really sure what to expect. The sheer size of the city overwhelmed us as we flew over late at night, a 100km river of lights running between the darkness of the Andes. During the daytime, spot fires around the city are in contrast with the chandeliers hanging in every room of our host family’s house.

These families represent the upper-middle class of Ecuadorian society and have offered their homes to us in return for our helping the children of Quito. 17.4% of Ecuadorians live below the poverty line, and it is with these children that we’re volunteering. We start our volunteering placements on Wednesday, so more information on that to come.

So what has the Gringo Gang been up to the past couple of weeks? Exploring the Old Town and salsa dancing in clubs in La Mariscal; climbing incredibly steep hills and blaming all breathlessness on the altitude; spending our mornings studying Spanish in the ‘’Academia Latinoamerica de Espanol’’ and the evenings on the party bus (chiva) touring the city and listening to Spanish dance hits. We’ve caught the public bus to Otavalo markets and spent … more than too much. But family and friends of the Gringo Gang rejoice! We bought you many gifties.

For those who know us personally, we’ve written ourselves a bucket list with three things we want to do here each. These vary from eating guinea pigs (Emily L and me), to seeing pink dolphins in the Amazon (Alex), to ‘’immersing myself in the life and culture of the llamas’’ (Ben, of course). During the weekend in Otavalo we ticked one off though; Michala conquered her fear of birds when we visited the Condor Park and watched a bald-eagle soar against the backdrop of the Andes.

Everywhere we go we attract stares; our gang of twelve continually-laughing gringos. We’re pumped to start our placements and travel more around Ecuador. Stay tuned for more adventures, our manis are almost done so it’s time to sign off.

Hasta Luego,
Clarita.