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Today our Glimpsers got to experience the history of Guaranda with a city tour led by our Program Coordinators. At the open-air market, we learned about: crop justice, saw how all the parts of meat are utilized, and discovered tropical fruit we had never seen before! The caseros (homies, companions, fellow locals) at the market then gave us yapa on our way out – that extra little something vendors will sometimes give customers at no charge in addition to your purchase. In the main plaza, named for el libertador Simón Bolívar, we learned about both the historical and modern effe

cts of the Incan empire, Spanish colonialism, and Catholic influence. Various sites also brought us back in time to locations connected to mestizos’ fight for civil rights, which we learned are not too different than how the indigenous p

opulation has to advocate today to the Ecuadorian government for their rights.

We had a few energizers today to bring us closer as a group since some of us are still getting to know each other, including one another’s names! One activity allowed us to help one another create a portrait. We rotated partners to draw our eyes, nose, mouth, etc. until a full face was made! In the end we each had 7 artists to help make our “self-portraits”!

Today’s seminar dived into getting ready to tutor our English language-learners! Each Glimpser sat in their partner groups to create a lesson plan based on whether their students will be at beginner, intermediate, or advanced English levels.

Last, today was the first of our reflection groups. These student groups will meet several times during the trip to provide the Glimpsers an opportunity to decompress and analyze what each has experienced in a close-knit in-depth setting. We are all looking forward to how we well take our knowledge of local history and culture into developing our indigenous worldview tomorrow.