Four Things Most North Americans Don’t Know About Ecuador

1.    The Mountains

Although some people probably know that Ecuador is quite mountainous, it is impossible to image or visualize the incredible landscape of this country. Unfortunately pictures cannot do the mountains of Ecuador justice but it seems like everywhere we look could be a post card.

2. The Fruit

Born and raised in the USA, I’m used to organic, fresh fruit being expensive and hard to find, especially when what you’re looking for is out of season. It’s the opposite here in Ecuador. While a box of brand name Cornflakes can be almost four dollars, a huge selection of fresh fruit can be bought almost anywhere. 

3. The Seasons (or lack of?)

Instead of Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring, Ecuador’s seasons seemed to be distinguished as the rainy season and the non-rainy season. And while we’re all missing Autumn, the rainy season will hopefully still provide an excuse to wear large sweaters and drink coffee. 

4. Architecture

An orange house, a pink house, a bright teal house...this is the common view during our daily commute. The beautiful architecture, historical styles and brilliant colors of Ecuadorian towns still amaze me daily.  

The First Week of English Class

Yesterday marked our first day of English classes! We began children's classes at 4:00 pm yesterday evening and tonight will be the first class for all five levels of adult English. I think all the program directors can agree that planning time and content accordingly for our first classes was nerve-racking, but the first day was a definite success!

This year's inscription day for English classes was packed, with a line of more than twenty people waiting before the library doors opened. Our English classes are definitely the most successful program we have in Ecuador. It's incredible how many people the seven of us have the chance to impact with our classes. Our classes offer an incredible opportunity; to be taught by native English speakers at a very low cost. The opportunity is so enticing that we not only serve local community members of Rumiloma but people from all over the region. I didn't expect to enjoy teaching English, but knowing how much the classes mean to the students who are willing to come from near and far makes every class a rewarding experience.

Exploring Ecuador: Mindo is Lindo!

After camp came to an end this past week, we finally had the opportunity to explore more of the natural beauty Ecuador has to offer. We traveled a scenic, two hour bus ride to the beautiful town of Mindo. Although only two hours away, entering Mindo is like traveling into another world. Mindo is located in the cloud forest section of Ecuador. It's not the jungle, but it's definitely close! The flora and fauna of this little town is incredible! While in Mindo, we were able to zip-line through the jungle-like forest, go tubing down a rushing river, relax in the hammocks at our hostel, and even go horseback riding! Although I'm terrified of heights, I managed to conquer my fear and I have to say that zip-lining over a cloud forest was a truly amazing experience. Our trail-ride on horseback also offered some awesome views of the forest. This was my personal favorite activity because it reminded me of my childhood horseback riding days as well! The locals in Mindo were genuine, kind and happy people. I feel as though we made friends with every person, worker and guide we met. I hope to return to Mindo soon and enjoy the cloud forest all over again.

Summer Camp has come to an End

A very fun and successful three weeks of summer camp came to an end this past Saturday. The last day of camp the program directors hosted a small fiesta for the parents to come view and collect the art projects and English lessons the kids have been working on for the past three weeks. Seeing the pride in the childrens' faces as they showed their parents their art projects and accomplishments was one of the most rewarding feelings I have had thus far. Hosting summer camp was at times stressful and definitely exhausting; but being able to see how much camp has impacted the children and the happiness the parents had at their childrens' success made every second worth it! Summer camp not only gave the kids an incredible feeling of pride, but us program directors as well. Every time a child was excited about a project or stayed in class while the other kids went out to play, just to perfect their work, I became overwhelmed with pride and joy. I was proud that I had created projects that the kids enjoyed and I was overjoyed to see the delight the kids had to express their creativity. I'm so excited to further encourage the kids creative expression in art class every Friday and I can't wait to see familiar faces from camp in the library and in our programs!

Some First Impressions

Just over a month into our Manna journey and we are still overwhelmed by the number of new experiences and countless cultural differences Ecuador has to offer.  Here are some thoughts on our first weeks as MPIE's  Program Directors: 

It's been a long but exciting transition into working with Manna, and I am excited to begin getting my hands dirty running programs and working behind the scenes to make Manna function at its best. In the past month I've been an English teacher, plumber, chef, expert at playing Uno, librarian, and so much more that I never thought I would experience, all of which have grown me and shown me that I am capable of more than I imagined. I am so excited to see what surprises and adventures the rest of my time at Manna with hold.

      - Carley Clement  

People from home constantly ask, "So, how's Ecuador?" I guess i could jokingly say, "Come for the mountains, stay for the fruit juice," as there is way too much to say in attempts to explain my experience so far. After learning multiple "Ecuadorian remedies", repeatedly ordering the wrong thing in restaurants and being put to shame in several salsa clubs, I've definitely enjoyed my first encounters with Ecuadorian culture.  Not only have I  fallen in love with the country, but our transition into Manna life has definitely kept us busy.  After two weeks of summer camp, it's been great getting to know the kids and I can't wait to become more invested in my long-term programs.  Additionally, I'm extremely excited for our group to start traveling and get some second impressions of this country! 

    - Sydney McKenney 

After almost five weeks in Ecuador, I am struck by the beauty of this country and its people!  It has been an exhausting but incredible transition.  After a week in Quito and then a week in the Valley, both with host families, we are finally settled into the Manna house.  It was so wonderful to have the old PDs show us the ropes and it was sad to see them go!  However, I'm definitely ready to begin.  Unpacking and moving into my new room was a surprisingly enjoyable task after living out of my suitcase for a month!  I am absolutely loving the abundance of avocados and other fruits and am excited to try my hand at making some traditional Ecuadorean meals very soon!  Luna, our house dog, is also making the move here a little easier by providing some puppy love.  With only five of us volunteers we are all pretty busy.  Summer camp began this week and is in the mornings and then we all are working in the Manna Library almost every afternoon.  But the kids are great and so far camp has been organized chaos full of English lessons, art projects and dancing- overall a great success!  I am so excited to begin my selected programs next month and continue getting to know the community members and Ecuador!   

       - Amelia Hulbert