HELLO GU1D!!
This is Margarita and Marco from Team Guaranda One and we are so excited to meet you!! We are getting the hotel ready for you and getting everything ready so that you all feel at home during your stay here! We include here some helpful information about the trip and what you need to pack, but first, we would like to tell you a bit about ourselves =)
Marco:
I am a 25-year-old Ecuadorian with a big interest in other countries and cultures, and lots of love for my own, which is why I´m so excited about showing Ecuador to all of you. A few years ago I had the chance to go as an exchange student to Finland for a year and also I have had the luck to travel to a few other places so I always look forward to knowing a little more about people with a different background than my own. This is my first year with Global Glimpse so I hope it will be an unforgettable experience for all of us!
Margarita:
Hello team! My name is Margarita and I was born in Nashville, Tennessee. I worked with Global Glimpse in Estelí Nicaragua in 2016. For the past two years, I have worked as a fourth-grade teacher in Granada, Nicaragua. I first moved to Nicaragua with an exchange program to study abroad in college and have been living there ever since. I took this opportunity to work in Ecuador with Global Glimpse to see and learn from a different part of the world. It has been an amazing experience and I am excited for you all to get here. Marco and I have been working hard to make your itinerary as fun and interactive as possible. Fun facts about me– I have 2 cats and a dog back in Nicaragua and I am a yoga instructor!
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One of the activities that has us really excited is in our Indigenous Worldview day, as there is a strong indigenous tradition in the country and the city we will be in. We are going to meet a real “curandero” (healer) and he will perform an authentic ritual with us!
Another one is our really fun Global Business day. We will visit the community of Salinas, which has overcome the extreme poverty they once lived in by means of entrepreneurship and hard work, so we will get to know the process behind some of those businesses and even take part in one of them.
In addition to the packing list that you have already received, we also wanted to highlight a few OPTIONAL, but highly ENCOURAGED recommendations for you to bring:
- The weather can change suddenly so you may experience strong sunlight and heat at one point of the day, and cold winds and even rain in the same day, so bring layers of clothes you can put them on or take them off easily.
- We cannot emphasize enough that you bring lots of sunscreen as the geographic location and altitude makes the sunburn with more intensity here! We will be working a lot outdoors with our CAP project and most of our field trips so we will need to apply sunscreen every day. Also, sunscreen is more expensive in the country.
- On the same note as the last one bring a hat to protect your face from the sun and take it everywhere you go.
- Bring allergy medicines. Lots of animals and dust in some places we will go!
- Bring tennis shoes or hiking boots for lots of walking and hiking!
- A color copy of your passport.
- In your backpack, bring everything you need to spend one night in Quito (a change of clothes, hygiene products, etc.), so you don’t have to unpack since we will leave all the big bags in hotel storage for efficiency.
- If you wish, materials that you think will help you prepare and give your English Tutoring lessons, i.e.: paper, markers, etc.
- Bring your curiosity, flexibility and an open mind (perhaps filled with some background knowledge on Ecuador).
Sincerely,
Marco and Margarita