Gap year & Travel News

News just in from Steffie Bartlett, one of our 9 intrepid Ecuador Summer Leapers:-

Steffie models the classic 'boiled egg balancing on the equator'!

When we arrived in Ecuador we spent our first few days in Quito going to to the old town and the church and just generally doing touristy bits, with a couple of Spanish lessons as well.  In the evenings we had a classic team bonding sesh through the means of alcohol and got to experience some of the amazing nightlife in Quito!

Quito

The team getting to know each other over some delicious Andean cuisine!

By the time we travelled to Bua, i think everyone was pretty enthusiastic to really begin our time here and get going with our first placement.  The coach journey wasn´t too bad, and our first ride on the back of a pick-up truck seemed pretty novel at the time! As soon as we arrived the head of the Tsachilas, Alfonzo gave us a little introductary talk and showed us around … including our first look at the eco toilet build by past Leapers! Not as bad as expected =)

Arriving into Bua in the Western Andean lowlands

Home for the first 3 weeks!

Me, Aimae, Ollie and Rosie got the ´hut´ by the river, which we thought was a good move until we inspected our beds and found ants under the matresses, which Alfonzo and his crew managed to remove! It was fun to get to work on the first day, seeing what we were really doing to help the tribe and get going collecting leaves. . . we were all pretty enthusiastic on the first day and got loads done. Breakfast at 6.30 everyday was a bit of a push, and we managed to miss the 7.10 bus a couple of times making us a bit late for work =/

Irene doing leaf collection to make thatch for the cultural centre roof

Aimie and Irene helping with the roof construction

I loved bathing in the river! even though you never actually get clean, and it is pretty freezing … but its one of those things that i´ll prbably never get to experience again!

Bath time!

The second week we didnt need to get a bus to work because we were more directly doing the museum roof.  It was nice to have a more hands on approach and actually see our efforts pay off.  The tsachilas are such hard workers and they often got double the amount we got done in the same amount of time! It was amazing to see the new roof go up, and to learn about their traditional methods and techniques.

Aimie gets the traditional Tsachila treatment

It was nice in the afternoons having cultural activites because it gave us the chance to have a break from work and also learn about the tribe and their culture.  We saw the cacao farm and also had one afternoon where richard gave us stories.  unfortunately, it was the afternoon emily had to go to town with alex to get medicine, so i was left to translate the story for everyone!  It was such an odd story i was sure i was completely misunderstanding him, so everyone just sort of had to nod and smile along … it turns out the story was that surreal after all!

Surreal tales and even more surreal games in Bua!

Going to mindo for the weekend was fun because we got to go zipwiring over the rainforest canope and tubing on the rapids.  We also had another night out on the town … which resulted in me and Amaie trying to help Jaimie into his locked room by climbing through the window and somehow breaking their bathroom sink – luckily we only had to pay $20 which was a lucky escape! but we did come outside to see alex sittin in the hostal completely naked after running home as a dare – really odd night!! but still fun =D
We also went to atacames for the weekend which was equally as fun, and most of the girls managed to receive some informal salsa lessons, so we reckon we´re going to be pro´s this evening for our actual lessons.

Splashing around in Atacames

Can´t wait to go to the coast, will let you know how that went when I’m back home i guess, and send in all my photo´s and videos as soon as I can. Sorry for the essay, but in a nutshell everyone’s having a great time and a once in a lifetime experience … its all going too quickly!!
Steff x