Hey Everyone!
Today we learned about the rules and regulations of the city and how to stay safe while traveling. We now know that street food is not the safest to eat and that tap water is not to drink! Around 10 a.m we took the bus to the city center to start our scavenger hunt. We split up into groups and made sure we had at least one Spanish speaker with us and a GGL. It was a great experience to bond with each other and the local people in Riobamba were really welcoming and friendly. Some of us were able to practice our Spanish, too. During the hunt, we learned about the important history, dates, and people of Ecuador. After the scavenger hunt, we all met in Plaza Roja where we had a trivia game about the history of Riobamba (shout out to the winners Rashad, Debbie, Val, Shivani, Nickole, and Kate!). [Jared] I really loved how everyone really took care of me and looked out for me today. It was nice to feel the support and love from my fellow Glimpsers. I really appreciate the care.
While we were eating our Chola pastries, we were approached by a local newspaper photographer who took our group picture for the local news so keep your eyes peeled parents, we might be famous!
We also all want to give a warm welcome to brave Kiyomi who joined us today after catching a later flight than the rest of the group and traveling on her own! She came with a great attitude and a lot of positivity and we are so excited to have her with us.
We had a delicious lunch of broccoli soup, rice, chicken, coleslaw, and cinnamon apple dessert. After lunch, we had an English tutoring seminar about what to expect for the upcoming classes we will be leading next week. Even though it was very informational, we are excited to be working with the indigenous students and using our teaching skills with the kids.
We went to the local restaurant Nativa to learn how to make empanadas. We all encouraged each other to do our best and give each other constructive tips about proper prepping instructions. While we were waiting for the empanadas to cook we (leaders of the day) played a really fun energizer game called pterodactyl, where everyone had to withstand laughing, it was challenging and hilarious!
Cesar, the restaurant owner, then showed us a plethora of native fruit that we got to try including; pitahaya, pepina dulce, star fruit, grenadilla, uvillas, and taxo. For dinner we ate ceviche with popcorn, corn nuts, plantain chips, and rice. It was delicious! Chef Cesar made us feel very welcome. [Rashad] I really liked how Cesar (from Nativa restaurant) exposed us all to the traditional plates of Ecuador. He was really excited to share his recipes with us and teach the entire group how to make empanadas.
Day 2 Group Photo in front of Nativa
Finally, we ate our homemade empanadas (cheese, chicken, beef, and mixed! After dinner, we had the pleasure of singing Happy Birthday to Emily on her special day, we even had some cake!
Our nightly meeting was really insightful because we were able to reflect on our day about the history of Riobamba and the connections to our own history in the United States. Our group discussion were awesome, we were really impressed by what our peers had to say. We set the bar suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper high for the next leaders of the day. We look forward to tomorrow’s adventure!
It’s already really fun and we feel like it’s going to be uphill from here! J
Big Love to everyone here,
Jared & Rashad.
From Jared: Hey Mom and Dad, How are you doing? Are you still obsessed with the Kiki challenge?
From Rashad: Mel, I miss you so much. Highkey always on my mind. See you soon. Mama, I miss you so much. Thank you for existing. Love you so much.
DEBORAH!! I miss you so much dude but am a very proud sister! We were really excited to see you won the trivia game, definitely made Dad proud haha. Just wanna let your fellow glimpsers know that Deb is also obsessed with the Kiki challenge as well. I read the first post last night and it really made me miss my trip, so I read my old blog post and remembered how much Mom, Dad and Justin embarrassed me so I’m so excited to do the same for you. Glad to see you’re making friends, I knew you would! Love you brodie<3
你好我的弟弟 Alam！
C’est ta sœur Sabrina. Ta famille etre très heureux que tu etre amusée dans Riobamba. La comida se ve deliciosa y me interesaria saber que tan differente es a comparacion de las empanadas Méxicanas. I forgot to mention how happy I am to see that you embark on an adventure similar to the one I had in the Dominican Republic two summers ago. I hope you gain as much from this as I did. FYI, I really enjoyed the Global Business day which actually helped influence what I am currently studying. Same goes for all the other glimpsers, don’t be afraid to try new things and go into experiences with an open mind! Love you and have fun!
Great job on winning the trivia Deb, Rashad, Val, Shivani, Nickole and Kate. All your photos look great and what a beautiful place, Riobamba.
Deb, i hope you bring the recipe home for the empanada and i can’t wait for you to make me some, i prefer chicken, ok.
Let us know the name of the local newspaper. If they have a website we will keep watch, otherwise you all have to buy a local newspaper to bring home.
Work hard to teach well and bring the best memories home.
Love you Debbie. Hope you are having a really great time. We are missing you especially tonight at our weekly Friday dinner.
Mom
I’m so happy to hear all the fun all of you are having. Along with learning a new culture, trying new food, and so on. Enjoy it! Good job Val
Hello Travelers,
Wow, Day 2 was so busy and exciting. We can’t believe how much you all were able to accomplish. The Scavenger hunt sounds like it was lots of fun. I think we were most impressed with the great bakers you have all become. Empanadas are usually known to be sweet so to hear that Ecuador puts other fillings in the empanada than jams and fruits is pretty neat. Brave Kiyomi is trully a brave soul for traveling into the unknown alone. We are happy she made it safely! This experience will be unforgettable for all you travelers and us parents enjoying it through the wonderfully pictures and informative blogs.
Thank you, take care and can’t wait for the next leaders to post the next blog.
PS. Bryanna now you can help with dinner 1 day of the week and make us delicious empanadas!
– Mr. & Mrs. Arias
Hello everybody! I am Nickole Barron dad, I’m glad that you guys are having a great moment and thank you for keeping us informed about everything you are doing, We miss our daughter but we are happy that she is having a great experience there. See you soon!
It’s so great to see all of you happy faces and some brave ones wearing short sleeve shirts for the weather there. Hope you are all ready to work hard, tutor English and have more fun!!!
Hi Jared! We got your replacement phone today. Dad will take it to Verizon to have it activated, hopefully you saved your data somewhere because we’re sending back the old one. Also, Kuya replaced the RAM in your computer and played on it for 4 hrs and it did not crash.
We are all so happy to see you having fun out there. Take care and always remember that we love you so much. Don’t forget to pray everynight…
Awesome pictures! Looks like a lot of fun. We all are missing you a lot Shivani !
Hi Kate,
It is wonderful to see you having so much fun. I hope every one having an amazing experience in Riobamba. We miss you so much especially mumbles!!
Love from all of us here at home.
Hello!
It’s great to see everyones having fun and learning new things. Thanks to ggl for sharing all the details of each day, we are living this experience through you! Thanks to the coordinators, and have fun and try your best! Happy birthday to Emily! And to Julio, we miss you alot! Much love your family!
This is very good that kids learned empanadas. Shivani can also make some for us after return so that we can also enjoy some Riobamba. We now know you can make it!!!! Have fun
Wow!!!that is so amazing, what experience all you guys are having, enjoy and continue learning. Thanks GG leaders for all you are doing for our teenagers.
I hope there is enough to eat for vegetarians!! 🙂 I hope some of those cheese empanadas will be recreated back in California! Sounds like a lot of fun…
Sounds like you are all having an amazing time and learning so many things so far!!! Thanks for all the updates and pictures. Keep them coming we look forward to reading them everyday.Bailey we can’t wait for you to teach us how to make empanadas. I miss you much! Love you and have fun!
Way to dive right into the culture and embrace all things Ecuador. Can’t wait to try your rendition of empanadas Bailey!
HI E…we survived camping! Very fun! Please try not to be taking photos behind someones head! LOL! Have fun!
How fun!!! I am expecting to eat some of those wonderful empanadas when Angelina comes home!!! Keep learning and enjoying!!!
i hope you’re having fun maria mos!!!!!