Monday August 15, 2011

To wrap up the end of the trip, Sunday morning Renee, Portia and I hiked to a waterfall! It’s the dry season so the river and waterfall itself were low. It was still really pretty and we were able to swim some. We got there early so by the time we made our way back, a ton of people were making their way to the waterfall.

So glad we got up early to do the hike because then we were able to get into Tena a little early. We walked down to the Parque Amazonico. Unfortunetly the bridge that was washed out 2 years ago by the flood still hasn’t been re-built. I'm not really sure what this means for the park but I asked someone about it and they said it would be re-done but who knows when… We ate, got ice cream and then made our way to the bus to meet up with the rest of the group. I really wanted to walk over to my house but Portia and Rene were with me and I didn’t want to drag them all over town. Before the bus left, I walked up to the hospital, pretty deserted on a Sunday and doesn’t look like it’s changed much.

We arrived in Tumbaco around 6 PM. The family arrived shortly after me. Apparently they were in Quito at the doctor because mama Teresa had some problem where part of her face became numb/paralyzed. I guess it wasn’t a stroke but rather her body was super stressed and that’s how her body reacted to the stress. She has to take it easy and do these different injections but should be better within the next couple weeks.

Today was a rather blah day at the center. It’s clear everyone is ready to be done. Some people from the Embassy came to talk to us about US/Ecuador relations and different info on Ecuador. We got out early for lunch so Portia Rebekah, Tom, Katie and I went to Tumbaco to eat. When we got back there was a presentation on the library/resources PC is developing, lots of books on all sorts of things, it’s pretty awesome!

The rest of the afternoon TEFL gave us presentations on different “quick-tips” for teaching. They did classroom management, curriculum planning and some games. I thought it was really informative and interesting. We then had our last health overview session.

Today a bunch of people brought external hard drives to exchange music/movies. I gave mine to Tom so I hope he gives me some good stuff! After training we went to Cumbaya. I left early so I could come home and eat with the family but mama Teresa was the only one home because the rest were looking at suits for the wedding. Alright starting the 4th season of Dexter, life is so much better with him in it, lol

Night