Hey Guys,

Monique and Genesis here. Today was our first Fun Day, which was going to a waterfall that was located at the entrance to the Amazon rainforest. Our day started at 6:00 AM and we had to be ready by 6:30 in order to get on the bus and be on our way. We had breakfast on the go, and the trip to the waterfall in the town of Banos took about two and a half hours, so we got our extra sleep on the way!

We arrived at the waterfall around 9:00 AM and hiked to near the top of the falls. We could all really feel a difference in the weather/temperature because it was much warmer and humid rather than rainy and cold like it is most days in Riobamba. When we finally arrived to the waterfall, it was amazing. We saw something that most of us have never seen before and it was a great experience. As soon as we got closer to the waterfall, everyone got soaked. We split up into two different groups to take pictures down below the falls and the other group walked up to get closer to the water. The first group went up and we had to go through very narrow caves that were slippery and kind of tough to get through, but everyone made it to the top just fine. When we arrived we were behind the waterfall and our program coordinator, Hector, made us get soaking wet under the water by asking us to look down at the river. As we were looking at the water, we noticed a rainbow that kept appearing and disappearing every few minutes. After everyone got soaked, we all crossed a bridge and sat down on rocks to eat our lunch and look at our view of the beautiful waterfall. After lunch, we crossed back over and went souvenior shopping before getting back on the bus. The hike felt much longer as we were more tired from all the fun we had, but everyone took naps on the bus as we made our way back to the hostel at around 3:00 PM.

At around 4PM we all gathered and went to a local school to teach different groups of kids and adults English. We were split up into groups and taught them different levels of English which included basic, intermediate, and advanced English. My class (Monique) only had two students, a teenager and an adult. At first we started an icebreaker to get to know a little about each other and make everyone feel comfortable. Then we noticed a lot of questions that they had and they wanted to clear up, so we took their questions into consideration and created great conversations that perfectly led into the lesson we originally had planned. In my class (Genesis), two other students and I taught a class to seven girls, six of them being twelve to thirteen year olds and an adult woman who wanted to keep learning English. It was pretty fun because the girls were very interactive and listened to what we wanted them to do. They were respectful and enjoyed the lessons and games we played to get to know each other. This was our first day of tutoring for the week and we hope that the rest of the week is just as fun.

Being leaders of the day was challenging but yet incredibly fun. It felt good to be the leaders and to get everyone to listen to us. It’s a great experience and we gained more leadership skills  just from today. It’s amazing to see how everyone works together and we saw progress in everyone today, which made us happy. Our hopes for this week is that everyone keeps focused and stays on task.

Until next time … hasta luego!

Genesis & Monique

Shoutouts!

Genesis: Shoutout to my parents and boyfriend. I miss and love you guys so much and can’t wait to come home. Please expect a call from me one of these days so we can talk and you guys can let me know everything that’s going on. 🙂 (comment back but don’t be embarrasing, thanks)

Monique: Shoutout to my dog, Malina, I miss you very much and you should know that I’m okay and I’ll be back soon!

Ty: Shoutout to my mom and dad and my babygirl. I can’t wait to come back home! I love you guys.

Randy: Shoutout to my mom, I love you and miss you a lot. I hope you’re doing good.

Danny: Shoutout to my mom for holding down the set, and let me know what’s going on with the family and Lola.

Raymond: Shoutout to all my family, I love you all; if you want me to call please leave a comment with your number.