Hola from the coast of Ecuador!

We arrived at our new project base, Estero de Platano on a rainy Sunday but got right to work the following morning building a classroom for their small brightly colored primary school perched right on the beach. The first week of construction has invovled a lot of dirt and concrete. We dug holes and built wooden shells which we filled with concrete and rocks to make secure vertical and hortizontal columns. We spent almost two full days moving dirt, one bucket full at a time (eek!) from an unused hillside to the worksite to fill out the floor, which was then covered with concrete.

Everyday we worked for four hours in the morning and had the afternoons free. Most days we cooled off with a swim in the ocean or relaxed in the town center. Each of us lives with a host family here, unlike the last project where we were all together in one big house, and are getting to know their children, habits and incredible food.

One afternoon, one of the host families took us on a hike to a near by waterfall. On the way back we passed through a family friends farm who let us eat ripe passion fruit and cacao off the vine. When friday came around, everyone was happy to have a break from the hard work and we travelled into the closest city, Atacame; an exciting, if not a little overwhelming vacation spot on the coast!

Overall it´s been a  challenging week, adjusting to Spanish speaking host families, humidity, and very basic living conditions, but Estero de Platano is charming, welcoming, and never dull.

From Brenna (Team project Leader!)