Hello!

One week in and the January Ecuador Team (Will, Gemma, Briony, Chris, Flora, Sam and Yvonne) are doing well. They all arrived without any hitches on the Monday flight, on the Tuesday they had a Spanish class followed by a yummy Ecuadorian lunch and then I gave them the health, safety and cultural presentation and a presentation about the communities. We went out for the welcome dinner that night and then the group stayed out with Sofie for a few more drinks and a bit of team bonding!

On day 2 they had another Spanish class and went on a tour of Old Town with Vinicio and Sofie to practice their lingo. On Thursday, we left for Chilcapamba the Andes phase of the project at 10am.

All aboard the bus to Chilcamamba!

All aboard the bus to Chilcamamba!

Home sweet home in the Andes!

Home sweet home in the Andes!

Today they went to get wellies and have a tour of the town and the project site with Alfonso. They will start the hard work on Monday. They’re planning on doing a hike and visiting Otovalo town (famed for it’s amazing markets) this weekend.

There’s been a bit of a change of plan here and the work for the next few weeks has changed. When we got there yesterday, Alfonso the community Leader advised us that there has been a small emergency and the toilets at the school have actually collapsed (not the ones that the previous volunteers built at the nursery but the old ones at the school)! The school have asked if the volunteers would instead like to help them rebuild the new toilets. He gave the volunteers the option of doing the previously agreed projects or this new one but the group readily accepted the new task as it appeared to be of the most pressing need (and it means they will get to spend their time in the schoolyard with the kids so it should be more interesting).

Sofie the team leader said they are working really hard (they spent their first day digging a hole which is already 2 metres deep)!

Keep tuned for more news soon!