Today was very interesting. We had a lot of ups and downs, literally and figuratively. Ali and I woke up at 6, but everyone else woke up at 6:30. At 7:30, we were on the road to Chimborazo, the highest you can get to the sun on Earth.

When I found out that I was going to be leader on this day, I was so freaked out. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt while I was leader, so I was scared. But most of the day went smoothly. Some students got sick, but all are ok and resting now.

The first stop we made was the first entrance to Chimborazo and we saw a wonderful view of the mountain. As we moved up higher in elevation, more and more of us started to feel sick from the altitude. I even got cramps and a headache. Then we got back on the bus for another 8km. When we got to the first shelter of Chimborazo, we only walked 200 meters. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but the mountain was very steep. We stopped at the monument dedicated to people that died climbing the mountain. After a bit of a break, we walked, slowly, back down the mountain to the bus. Our next stop was the Polyepis Forest for a hike. We weren’t able to walk through the forest however, because it was too windy for us to walk. It would have been very unsafe. This all happened before noon… Whew…

We went to lunch at Nativa and had steak with rice and plantains. After lunch, everyone else had free time at the hotel, while Joel, Ramiya, and I went with Evelyn to have time to shop since we didn’t get to yesterday. When everyone was together, we had a project seminar about writing letters to the people that helped fund Global Glimpse and help us go on this trip. After we finished writing, a bunch of us went out to the deli and bakery to get snacks.

Dinner was interesting… We had (pause) Guinea Pig… It was pretty good. Tasted like chicken… Overall, we had a great day and everyone that wasn’t feeling well is resting and feeling better.

Being a leader, especially today was very nerving, but awesome. I was able to show myself the side of myself that wanted me to be a teacher. Taking care of the sick students was very caring. I loved helping everyone.

In addition, I, Ali, was also the leader for the day. I was a bit nervous knowing that some of us have asthma and we’ll be climbing a mountain where we will be high in the altitude. In the morning, Brianna and I woke up the rest of the group and reminded them that they should have multiple layers of clothes since it will be very windy and cold. As we got on the bus most of us were tired so we slept on the bus until we reached Chimborazo. We got out and started to take some pictures. As we started to climb up, some of us didn’t feel well so we had to take break and help each other out. Thankful, our Global Glimpse leaders had Coco tea (doesn’t taste as great as it sounds) but it was really effective for the people that were not feeling so great. As Brianna mentioned before, we went to Polyepis forest but it was really windy and it wasn’t safe for us to hike. Some of us were curious to go out so a small group went out to take some pictures. Overall it was a fantastic day and I personally loved every bit of it.

~Love and Hugs, Brianna & Ali