Hey Guys,

Ty here. It was our very first joint ELDD and Habeeb and I had the opportunity to be the first ones. Starting off with a 5:30 AM wake-up, we had to be ready to leave the hostel at 6:15 AM taking our breakfast on the go to on our Reality Challenge: Working Like a Local day.

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Habeeb here. At first it was very challenging to wake up and to wake up everyone else and still be on time for the project. Today, during the Working Like a Local Day, we had the opportunity to visit a local community called Pusuca (where we will develop our Community Action Project – CAP). We were able to interact with people from the community and plant trees on the side of a mountain. Scary, right? On the way down the mountain some people actually slipped, but were able to catch themselves. Everyone was very scared to do the task at hand, but it was a great experience to feel what people from the community had to do on a daily basis. After planting the trees, we split up into groups to spend time with a host parent. Each Glimpser had a different experience. My experience was touching the pigs and getting to talk to an owner who’s land got destroyed from a volcanic eruption, along with everyone else in the community.

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Ty here again. Whether it was being a cow herder, or sorting out seeds, each Glimpser had a different job to do with his or her host parent. Each parent had a specific job the contributed to the community’s uprising since the eruption. After being with our host parent, we all sat down and ate lunch with members from the community. After a gut-filling lunch provided to us by Rayuela, some Glimpsers, including Habeeb and myself, went into the farm where there were some pigs, chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs. I also got to hold a baby skunk for the first time ever. Luckily, it wasn’t pissed and I didn’t get sprayed. There was a pig bigger than me and I’m a 17-year old who weighs 250 standing at a tall 6’2″. So you can only imagine the type of fear I was in. Later, the Glimpsers and I decided to pack up and head back to the hostel.

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Hey, Habeeb here once more. After a long day we returned back to the hostel and relaxed. Today we decided to have a barbeque, but the hostel was hosting a wedding and we had to wait a bit longer to eat, which wasn’t a problem. We did our normal routine and connected as a group and talked about our local experience. Ty and I came up with a discussion on how we were going to help the community that we visited today, which was really helpful and interesting. We all agreed to put in a ceratin amount of money towards the CAP and help the community the best way we could with the requirements and wishes we received from them.

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Ty here for the final time. Habeeb and I both agree that being Leader of the Day was a great experience  especially because we got to do it together.  It was an amazing day and we’re both looking forward to the rest of our time here in Ecuador. Hasta Luego !

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Shoutout to my mom and dad, Gail-ann and Brian Soleyn, I love and miss you guys dearly, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be who I am today. – Habeeb

Shoutout to my mom Aliyah and my dad Bernard and my babygirl Jade. I miss and love you guys so much. I can’t wait to get back to you guys. – Love Ty

Shoutout to my mom. I love and miss you . – Danny

Goodnight from all the Glimpsers in Riobamba, stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog.

– Habeeb and Ty