The beauty that is the city of Riobamba will never cease to amaze me. It isn’t just the fact the we are up so high in the mountains we are practically touching the clouds, or the fact that all kinds of shades of green and brown stretch out for as far as the eye can see, and it’s not even the fact that the open blue sky, peppered with fluffy white clouds, reaches out into the horizon goes into what makes the city so beautiful. What made Riobamba even more beautiful in our eyes was the city itself.

Learning about it’s history gave us glimpsers a deeper understanding of how and why Ecuador is the way it is. History is what shaped the country; however, it isn’t what defined Ecuador. There is so much more to Ecuador, specifically Riobamba, than simple facts anyone can learn from a basic history book or even the internet. What makes Riobamba so special is that through its history, Riobamba was able to grow and become the beautiful city it is today.

 

 

On a tour throughout the city, we stopped by a cathedral in front of La Plaza Mayor. It was there that we learned that Riobamba was actually first located somewhere else. Where Riobamba is located today is it’s second location because the “first” Riobamba was destroyed in an earthquake. The cathedral that was in the first Riobamba was destroyed, but it was  those very same stones from the first cathedral that were used in the one that is located in front of La Plaza Mayor. Learning about the cathedral really opened up our eyes to how the people of Ecuador really have persevered. Not only have they moved on from the destruction of their first city, but they’ve also used pieces of their past as a foundation for their future. As young adults filled to the brim with teem angst, building up from the past is something we should learn how to do and incorporate that into our own life.

Along with learning about the history of the city and Ecuador, we as a group grew closer together. From ice breakers like “Prince of Paris” and the “Human Knot” to jamming and singing along to Queen on the bus, we bad fun as a group and it’s because of that  we are able to have such a great day learning about history and even starting to plan our first English classes for tomorrow. We all look forward to teaching tomorrow and learning more about Ecuador’s education system!

Montanas