Reminder - Flight Information

American Airlines 966 departing 9:25 am from Quito. Arriving in Miami 2:20 pm

American Airlines 1382 departing 8:50 pm from Miami. Arriving in Newark 11:50 pm 

The Last Day

We woke up around 7 and ate at 7:15. We went to the top floor for breakfast, and ate eggs and babaco juice, which was very sweet. Many of us accidentally got coffee, instead of milk and decided to make mochas out of it. We packed up and drove about an hour to the airport, watching slaughtered pigs in meat stores as we drove by. We boarded the plane to Quito, and the ride took about 45 minutes. We grabbed our bags and headed back to el Jardin del Sol hostel from the first night. We chose rooms and drove into downtown Quito and ate a delicious lunch at Hasta la Vuelta Senor, which was on the top floor of an intricately designed building.When we walked outside, it was pouring so our plans for going in the cable car were canceled. We ran across the street to get away from the rain, and Julia realized she had been pick-pocketed. She realized the thief had dropped her wallet and she got it back. Julian watched the whole thing and did not say a word,  but she got it back so it was fine. We all ran back to the bus, very paranoid about losing our things. We drove to the local food market to have a scavenger hunt, for different Ecuadorian foods, and the winner was the person who spent the least amount of money and bargained for their food. After comparing the sizes of our huge plantains and who had the most exotic fruit, we headed over to the local artisan's market. We had 45 minutes to shop, and bargain with all the vendors in the stalls. We returned back to the hostel to relax for a bit and compare gifts before leaving for dinner. We walked for ten minutes to a nearby restaurant called Columbia, and we met Santiago's family, saw a cultural performance from one of the best dance groups in Ecuador, and had a fabulous dinner. We took pictures with the dancers and walked back to the hostel. Santiago had a surprise waiting for us when we arrived. It was what we had wanted for a couple of days, cuy or guinea pig. Everyone grabbed a piece, and enjoyed. Julian did not, because he had a pet guinea pig as a child, he felt bad. Matt grabbed the head and ate the eyeball. We had a heartfelt ceremony where we exchanged gifts and thankyous and good-byes. Headed to bed for a 6 am breakfast...

Blogged by Stephanie and Natalie!!
Adios, hasta luego

In the Amazon!

I think we wore them out.

Thursday March 17, 2011

There was an optional bird watching walk at 6, but most  people woke up at 7 and had breakfast by the pool at 7 30.  We had to dress comfortably to hike through the forest. Lots of bug spray!  The hike was at the National Podocarpus Park.  It was a secondary forest so there was a path to walk on. We stopped at a building to sign in and learn about the park.  Then we kept hiking and reached a beautiful waterfall.  It was so big and the Liceo students even jumped in.  We hiked back to the bus quickly because we were running late to see a wildlife animal preserve.  There were parrots, turtles, snakes, monkeys, sloths, and other animals.  Matt, Julia, and Stephanie held the turtles.  We learned that male turtles have curved stomachs and females have flat stomachs.  There was a huge boa constrictor.  She was pregnant and shedding a lot of skin.  We learned that  she only eats three times a month.  There were 2 types of monkeys; carnivores and herbivores.  The carnivores were very feisty.  They tried to yank Matt's finger through the cage!  At the end of the tour we saw a wiesel.  He was 4 months old and very adventurous.  He got many tours on the backs of Stephanie, Julia, and Mr. Garcia.  After the wildlife animal refuge we drove back to the hostel for a quick lunch of frog legs and full talapia with eyes and all! We had to skin it and pull the bones out too. This wasn't everyone's cup of tea.  We packed up and went for a 2 and 1/2 hour car ride back to Loja.  We had a few stops on the road to make calls to another hotel because our original one gave our rooms away accidentally!  We had about 2 hours to freshen up and get ready for our big farewell dinner with the Liceo families.  There were many thoughtful and heartfelt presentations about this whole experience.Some Liceo students even sang songs! They all gave us gifts about Ecuador to help us remember our experiences.  We saw a slide show of a few pictures from the whole trip.  We were given many gifts about friendship and how the trip will always be in our hearts.  One Liceo student, Maksim,  made homemade jello with an edible Liceo logo on it! We had rice and chicken with vegetables and potatoes.  Some sauce didn't go down too well with Matt and left early to go to the hotel and get medicine; but he is all right now.  Then it was time for the students to teach us how to dance!  We learned to salsa and move our feet.  This was a great bonding experience for all of us and we really got to know the kids better.  After that, it was so hard to say goodbye; it felt like we just met.  There were many tears back at the hotel but we realized how far we had come from the beginning of the trip.

Here are 3 thinks of the Liceo school website and 2 articles about the Pingry students visit.

http://liceodeloja.org/content/

http://liceodeloja.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17:12-alumnos-estadounidenses-comparten-experiencias&catid=5:noticias&Itemid=5

http://www.lahora.com.ec/index.php/noticias/show/1101109917/-1/12+alumnos+estadounidenses+comparten+experiencias.html

Blogged by Jonathan and Julia :D

The Indigenous Experience

This post is about Tuesday, March 15th.

We started the day by taking a one and a half hour bus trip to Saraguro. The bus ride was very peaceful, and it was filled with great views of the mountains, and valleys. When we arrived at Saraguro, we met the mayor who gave a very nice welcoming speech. We were able to understand the general idea of what he was saying; that he was very pleased to have us come to their town. We then went to the "hostel" which ended up being more of a nice lodge, and it had an incredible view of the valley. After settling into the hostel we headed to the school and heard a presentation from the director of the school about their philosophy and their culture in and out of school. A small group of students played a song for us, and then we gave our slide show about Pingry. After this we made a prayer circle and gave thanks for the gift of life. The school director explained to us how all different cultures and races are a part of one group. Then we went back to the hostel to have lunch. After our lunch, we went with the Saraguro community into the woods to plant trees. One group on Pingry and Liceo students planted about seventy-five trees in total while other Pingry and Liceo kids painted a mural on the wall of the Andean symbols. After this, w went to our hostel to change, wash up, and get ready for our dinner with the Saraguro people. Similar to almost every other meal, we had a soup to start off along with a delicious fruit drink. The main course was a fried chicken cutlet, with lettuce, potatoes, and tomatoes on the side. When we finished dinner, a group of Saraguran musicians played a traditional song that we danced to. We had a really fun but hard day, and we really enjoyed experiencing a new and very different culture.
Blogged by Matt and Jamie

5th Day Adventure (Wednesday March 16th)

We woke up at our nice and fun hostal, to a delicious plate of eggs and bread rolls. Then we took a 15 minute bus ride with the Liceo students, to the Incan Baths. The royalty used to bath to cleanse themselves spiritually. We took an hour long hike up to see the waterfalls and baths. It was very beautiful. The local Saraguros gave us an informative lesson about the year round culture. After we hiked down the mountain, we got on the Chivas, local buses, and went to a sustanance farm. Here we used pickaxes and other tools to help seperate the soil in order to prepare it for farming. We took a short break, conversing with the Saraguro children whom were around our age. The oxen were brought to the farming ground. We were given the oppurtunity to help plow the field with them. We got back on the Chivas and drove to a small craft shop were most of us purchased pretty hand made souvenires. After, we went to present our supplies that were purchased from our dress down day to a man who works with a school for disabled children. We donated 3 boxes full of supplies. Following the donations, we returned to the hostal and ate lunch with the Liceo and the Saraguro children. We took a four hour bus ride to a small resort in Zamora. We took a quick dip in the pool followed by a pleasent dinner with the Liceo students. We had a barbeque and the hotel was very gracious with the food. There are many large bugs, but they just add to the excitement! Tomorrow we are going to hike the Amazon, and later have a fairwell dinner with the Liceo families.
Blogged by Jenny and Ruthie

bad internet connection. Kids are all safe. Will write more tomorrow.

Going to School

This morning, we all went to El Liceo de Loja, the private school that the Ecuadorian students attend. They gave a formal welcoming ceremony to us, and then the rest of the school went to class. We played an icebreaker game with the Liceo students, and then began our long trek up the mountain to place our flag. It was extremely steep, and fortunately everyone was fine, although Caroline's backpack rolled down the mountain and Santiago had to go get it. We placed the flag at the top of the mountain and started down. Along the way, we bonded with the Liceo students, and when we got to the bottom of the mountain, we had to cross a river. A bunch of people took off their shoes and walked through it, and the Liceo kids got in the water and started splashing each other. Caroline got in first, and everyone else followed, even though we were all wearing jeans. Everyone got splashed, dunked, and completely soaked. After that, we got out of the water and went back to El Liceo for lunch. Then some of the girls played soccer with the Liceo boys. We were sitting outside for their break, so a lot of the students came up to us and asked us questions. When the break ended, we gave our presentation to the buddies and headed back to the hotel to change out of our sopping wet clothes. Then we went back on the bus with the Liceo kids and drove to La Cera.  La Cera is a community where the women support their families by selling pottery.  The men are either construction workers or farmers.  Many of us bought pottery from the store.  After La Cera, we went to dinner with the families.  We were in groups of two pairs. Matt and Julian were together at the beginning of the night, but they separated and went with their own buddies' family. Sarah and Caroline, and their Liceo families, met up with Stephanie and Jenny, and their buddies, at the food court and stayed together for the rest of the night. Natalie and Kathleen went to both of their buddies' houses and then went to the food court. Kathleen had a really bad sunburn, so the buddy's mom suggested that they put tomatoes on her face, which actually helped. Julia and Ruthie were separated, and came together with their Liceo families at a nice restaurant for dinner. Jonathan and Jamie went to both of their buddies' houses as well. At the end, Sarah, Caroline, Stephanie, Jenny, Natalie, Kathleen, Jonathan, and Jamie went to Caroline's buddy's house with their buddies for an informal party. After an extremely interesting and fun car ride back to the hotel, we reconvened for our meeting and headed back to bed.
Blogged by Kathleen and Sarah

Our First Day...

Running on a whopping three hours of sleep, we got up at 4:30 a.m. and headed out to the airport. Our flight landed safely in Loja, which was one of the most beautiful sights anyone had ever seen. We then headed to the hotel, and after changing out of our comfy airplane clothes, we dressed up and left the hotel to meet the mayor of Loja. There, we met the welcoming adults and students we will be traveling with.After taking a walk in the park in the center of Loja, the Pingry and Loja students went to a resort, owned by the parents of one of the Loja students, to have lunch and spend some time swimming and getting to know each other. We then headed back to the hotel for some time to relax, and catch up on the sleep that we missed. Dinner at the hotel was great, and after we spent some time evaluating our day. Overall, our first impressions of Ecuador and Loja was fabulous, and we cannot wait for the days to come.
Blogged by Julian and Caroline.

We have arrived!

We arrived safe and sound late last night in Quito. After a quick, pizza midnight snack it was off to bed. We got up at 4:30 am for our flight from Quito to Loja. Representatives from El Liceo de Loja (the school) were there to greet us. We are now at the Hotel Libertador getting ready to meet the mayor of Loja! The kids will post later tonight to give you more information.

Almost there!

We are almost there! Please check the blog starting Sunday night for regular updates on the trip!