Dear All,

Our first full day in Guaranda was an amazing experience!

After an incredibly restful night’s sleep, we woke up at 6:20 for a 7am breakfast with Global Glimpse executives, donors, and partner organizations.  Our students discussed their motivations and expectations for this journey, representing Global Glimpse (and the NYC area) in the process.  They participated actively and left everyone in the room extremely impressed. We are very proud of our delegation!

After breakfast, we went to visit Adan, an indigenous/Andean curandero (healer), who spoke about the local environment and the impact it has on his life.  Adan and his family welcomed us into their home and talked with us about native plants and the special significance they hold in spiritual rituals (Yariemy did an excellent job helping us translate!). After the tour, Adan invited us to perform a cleansing ritual with him. This included sun salutations, energy work, and a final deep spiritual cleansing. Everyone had an unforgettable experience! And we could all feel the love and positivity around us.

After our visit with Adan we went to lunch at La Guilena, a local farm. But before that we were able to witness a car race up the mountain, a local custom! At La Guilena we had a delicious lunch prepared for us by Elena and her family. During our meal, our Glimpser Noah serenaded us with an amazing rendition of “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. We then took a walking tour of the farm, where we were able to see cows, horses, chickens, and the world’s largest pig (no joke!). We then created masks for our carnaval celebration, which, unbeknownst to us, essentially consisted of dousing each other with ice cold water. The world’s most epic water fight ensued, and no one was spared (Glimpsers, GGLs, PCs, and even our in-country director). Big love to Jaden for being the wettest and most energetic in the group.

After drying off and leaving La Guilena, we returned to our hotel, showered and changed into dry/warm clothes and returned to La Estancia for dinner. We then had out nightly meeting, and our Glimpsers did a terrific job here in our discussion of indigenous culture and cultural difference.

It was an unforgettable and amazing day overall! We would like to send big love to all of our students for their positive energy and the kindness they have demonstrated one another. On to DAY 3!!

— Corlin A and Ricardo A-P (GGLs)