Quote of the Day:
“Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar”
“Wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking”
– Antonio Machada

Dear family and friends,

Today we woke up at at 7am to head to breakfast at Criss. We then got on the bus to travel to Taita (father) Chimborazo, an inactive volcano of major cultural and national significance to both the local indigenous communities and the country’s history. Although the drive was extremely long, getting so close to the volcano was a very memorable moment. For a lot of us this was our first time being this close to an actual volcano. Chimborazo is seen as a god by the indigenous communities, and there are rituals done before visiting the volcano. We met up with two local guides, Carlos (who guided us on our nature walk a few days ago!) and Olga, who led us in a traditional ceremony asking for permission and safe travels from the Taita Chimborazo. We all very much enjoyed and cherished this experience. We learned that tourism surrounding Chimborazo is an example of how the indigenous communities of Ecuador preserve their culture while simultaneously profiting from it. After our short hike to the monument honoring Simón Bolívar (the political leader best known for liberating six South American countries, including Ecuador, from Spain), we returned to the bus to enjoy the PB&Js we made during a sandwich-making party yesterday for the ride back to Guaranda.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for some English tutoring prep before our final 4pm English class. After two hours of teaching, which we Glimpsers are getting good at, we headed to dinner where we enjoyed a traditional meal, llapingacho, a plate where we get to mix veggies with potatoes and either chorizo or eggs. After dinner we had our nightly meeting where we reviewed what we did throughout the day, specifically our hike to Taita Chimborazo. We also enjoyed some talent from Quinn, Amie T. and Amy C. as we passed the torch to them to be tomorrow’s líderes del día!

P.S. “Hi fam, it’s Chloe. I am having a great time here and I am excited to come home and tell everyone all about it. Hope everything is well! See you at the airport on Wednesday, and also can you bring Oliver so Jason can meet him? Love you <3”

P.P.S. “Hi guys, today was pretty tiring because I was at an elevation of almost 15,000 ft above sea level. So far on this trip I’m having a lot of fun and meeting a lot of new people everyday, so don’t worry about me to much 🙂 See you soon!”