Hi Glimpser Families,

Today was another full day! We began our day with a seminar about culture and safety in Ecuador and then created our group agreement. As a group, we created a list of things we expect from one another for the rest of the trip such as respect, exploring our Spanish, the 3 C’s (compassion, commitment, courage), and being on time as well as others! Some students played soccer and others played a really intense game of Uno!

After lunch, we departed for the Riobamba city tour. Students explored the city with our Program Coordinators as guides, Nacho and Paco were incredible! They offered such a wealth of knowledge and experience. Paco grew up here in Riobamba and was able to share so much information that we otherwise wouldn’t have known, we even passed the high school he attended.

Even though it was raining when we began our tour, the sun quickly came out and we were able to take most of our walking tour in sunny beautiful conditions. We passed through La Plaza Roja, where Indigenous people sell the traditional clothing of the region such as ponchos, hats, satchels, and other things. We also got some cholas, a bread pastry filled with sugar cane. We learned about the history of Riobamba, which is also nicknamed the City of First Fruits. It is named such because of it being the location where the first constitution was written, where the first women’s political movement of Ecuador began, and the first train system in the country, and the birthplace of the country’s irrigation system. After all that learning, we finally returned home to La Primavera.

When we got back we had our first self-reflection to take some time to journal and discuss our observations about the rich history and culture that we’ve been immersed in the last few days. Tomorrow we are visiting an Indigenous community!

Big Love,

RB1D