Another Day, Another Market.

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February 6, 2013

It’s Wednesday evening, and we’re back at our host family’s place after another day of volunteering. We’ve started to get into a routine here, which is to be with the kids in the markets every morning, lunch back at Marlena’s, (our host “mom”), then back to the UBECI office for Spanish lessons from 2 until 5pm. Upon returning “home”, we have time to relax and have tea. Supper is served between 7 and 8 pm, depending on what the family is doing. It’s a full day, with little extra time to do other things. It’s understandable that the volunteers get Mondays off! This also allows them to travel for a few days to see more of this fascinating country. Ecuador is about the size of New England, but it has such a variety of things to offer: mountains, rainforest, beaches, markets, scenery, cool weather and hot, humid weather.

The children, as usual, are really sweet. We gathered inside yesterday because it was the fourth day of rain. One of the volunteers, Tammy, led some of the kids and volunteers in a Karate lesson! Generally, we follow the basic format that I described earlier: playtime, singing together, movement, smaller group lessons, clean up, and then we return the kids to their families. Occasionally there’s something special, like the Karate lesson.

February 7, 2013

Last night, Emma and I experienced something special ourselves: we went to a local dance class with our host daughter, Anita. Because I’m not cooking dinner here, I decided to go out and give it a try . The hour-long class is mostly Salsa and Samba, and there were about 20 students, including many men. Our lack of Spanish didn’t matter because we just followed the instructor (or rather, tried to). I must admit that Emma and I were dripping in sweat afterwards. Anita, not so much! Mind you, she has been dancing Salsa all her life, and she breezed through the class no problem. It was really fun, and some of the other volunteers will join us next week!

Today was sunny (sorry, Boston!), and we went to another market one hour away by bus. It’s in a smaller town but the market was jam-packed with people selling everything from mini kiddy pools to roasted pig’s heads. Many vendors were literally wearing their wares, with strings of limes tied together around their necks, or bags of candies on big rings around their wrists. Every other person yelled “un dólar” as we pushed our way through the crowded streets and dodged slow-moving cars attempting to pass through. And of course there were children selling things alongside their parents, or children playing with whatever was to hand. This is the reality for so many kids here. 

In total, we gathered up 50 kids today and brought them back to our make-shift classroom outside, behind a church. 

I held three babies throughout the morning, which I absolutely love doing. They were so sweet and calm while watching the other children play and sing. By the time I held the third one, however, it was close to noon and past his nap-time. He couldn’t help but cry at that point, so I mined my bag of tricks and sang him the songs that used to work on Emma. After a few minutes he was out like a light. Baby Bliss!