After hearing our alarm clocks and having a wake-up call at 7am, we had our usual Breakfast at Nativa (bowl of fruit, eggs, and toast). We then boarded the bus to San Pablo Alto to begin our day working as a local. We learned how to put a saddle on a horse. We had so much fun watching the guinea pigs (cuy) especially the baby ones, who were only 2 DAYS OLD! We then worked together to fill about 20 bags of fertilizer and then threw them on a truck to transport it to a field. At the field we unloaded the bags from the truck and spread the fertilizer throughout the field. This whole process took approximately an hour and a half, which would usually take the farmer (Señor Jaime) a week or 2. By the end of this the group was exhausted, but we went back to Nativa for Lunch and then the hotel to shower and prepare for our CAP Seminar.

At the CAP Seminar, we finalized what we were going to do for our project by presenting ideas to the President of the school’s PTA. After the seminar a group went out to buy the materials for the project and the others had free-time. Those who went out to buy materials, bought paint, paint brushes, and etc. Places that some went during free-time were Cafe Paris, a local churro shop, internet cafe (to call home), and small grocery stores to buy snacks. After free-time and shopping, we prepped for our last day of English tutoring 🙁

All week we were split up into 3 groups for English tutoring with our own classes, so it was bitter-sweet having our last class. At the end of our classes, the students ran up to take a million and one pictures with us, and they were sad that we were leaving. We all had a great time teaching them English and got close to some of them. Some Glimpsers who do not speak much Spanish had a difficult time teaching/interacting with the students, but still managed to have a great time and learned many new Spanish words while teaching them many new English words 🙂

Overall, the group learned so much today about how people in Ecuador work to make a living.

Hi Mom, Granny, and Grandpa, I miss you so much- Makayla

Hola Ma and Pa and Tito, I love you guys- Felipe