Queridos Glimpsers:

This is Ana and Jerry, your soon-to-be coordinators! We are very excited about having the opportunity to show you Ecuador and its amazing people. We have been working our best to provide you all with the best experiences and we are eager to get to meet you finally. We are going to have TONS OF FUN!

Before you guys arrive to Riobamba, we would like to share a little bit about ourselves:

My name is Ana Villagómez. I was born and raised in Riobamba! I know the city pretty well and I am beyond excited to share my culture with other young people. I did my undergraduate studies in Texas and after I finished my studies I moved to New York City to work for a Media Consulting company. Since I was a little kid I had the opportunity to volunteer for different social projects. I became an advocate for children’s rights and democracy and at the age of sixteen I had the chance to travel to the United States representing Ecuador as a “Youth Ambassador”. Since then I have had the opportunity to travel to many different countries including Malaysia and Ireland. I remember clearly the first time I traveled abroad, and I know how it feels to be exposed to a different culture for the first time. I am convinced that these types of experiences are life-changing, and it moves me to witness it one more time through Global Glimpse!

I’m Jerry!  I was born in Nicaragua and recently finished my English Major. Since I was 12 years old I had the chance to interact with foreigners because my parents had many American and European friends. I always found it fascinating to be able to know people from different cultures, especially because every encounter exposed me to different ideas and opinions about life. I chose to work with Global Glimpse because I feel inspired by its vision of giving the opportunity to young students to see what’s going on outside of their comfort zone and to encourage them to have a critical point of view.

One of the activities we are really excited about is the day we are working with Rosario Salas and the Nabuzo community in Penipe. The landscapes are so beautiful and outstanding that we got very excited the first time we visited the community. In that specific day we will be having two traditional meals with some of the community members. We will be able to interact with very interesting people and at the same time we will be working on different activities, so we get a closer perspective of the daily life of the local people. People at the community are pretty excited about hosting all of our Glimpsers. We are convinced that this will be a very fun learning experience!

We are going to visit plenty of other interesting places and we will get to meet very kind and inspiring people. Oh, the places we’ll see, the people we’ll meet!! <3

Riobamba can get pretty cold, especially at night, so don’t forget to bring warm clothes. We are also going to get relatively high (15,700ft!) when we go to the Chimborazo volcano. Gloves, hats, and scarfs are highly recommended.

Don’t hesitate to ask us any questions you want, we will be happy to answer them. We look forward to reading your introductions on the blog and meeting you all in a few days!

Abrazos,

Ana y Jerry