Hello from Summery Quito!

Just a quick message to let you all know that all 20 Leap volunteers arrived in Ecuador without any hitches. We’ve kept them pretty busy this week and depsite their combined jet lag all made it to the project briefing on Wednesday, went out for a delicious sample of Ecuadorian cuisine at lunch for a bit of a bonding session and then had their Spanish class in the afternoon. We had the welcome dinner in the Mariscal (an area of the city centre also called ‘Gringo Land’ because of the number of Westerners who congregate around the salsa bars, restaurants and internet cafes there!) then a few people went out but most went to bed. They were still pretty exhausted, naturally…gaining 6 hours and 2680m plays havoc with your body and mind!!

Quito's Old Town- the famous twin clock towers

The next day everyone went on a tour of Quito’s Old Town and then they had another Spanish class in the afternoon, expect to see photots soon. On the Thursday night we took them to the supermarket for their first taste of the weird and wonderful and they went back to their hostals and cooked and then went out.

On the Friday, Davis took them all to the Guayasamín musuem but when they arrived they found that as it was Good Friday, the museum was shut (typical!). We have a few spare days later on so we might try again if people want to go. The groups had the afternoon off for internet, etc. and then Davis took them all to the supermarket again so they could cook in their groups at the hostal again.

Poor Sofie, the other team leader spent all of last week sick and in bed with a nasty parasite (fairly common stuff out here), but she is on medication and getting better. She met the group on the Saturday while they had free time and went with them to Atacames. She called on the Sunday morning from Atacames to say that they had arrived ok and were having breakfast before heading out to Caimito. I should hear from her group again on the weekend when they are in Atacames as they currently have no service.

Davis called from Búa on the Sunday afternoon to say that they had arrived and that all was good and he will also be in touch with me during the week or over the weekend.

Stay tuned!

Love Fran (The Leap’s placement coordinator in Quito) x