June 23, 2008

2008 Itinerary

We awoke early so we could have the bus loaded by 5:45 am and make it to the airport in time for a short and pleasant flight from Quito to the coast, going from 9000 plus feet above sea level to about 50 feet. From the plane we had a great view of the Andes and Cotapaxi, the snow capped volcano that rises above Quito. Flying on an Ecuadoran airline was an interesting cultural shift — no long delays nor intensive security searches.

From the airport we drove to El Cerrito where we were scheduled to visit the school that serves El Cerrito’s children, from four- to twelve-year-olds. As we approached El Cerrito, we came to appreciate how it got its name (Cerrito means “a little hill”) as it is the only hill on an otherwise flat, vast plain.

The school visit began with a typical breakfast served to us in the school lunchroom. "Typical" does not do justice to the amazing homemade meal we had! We were served lovely buns made from yucca and filled with a local cheese, delicious sweet bread, lemongrass tea and fried plantains, which we dipped into crushed peanuts before eating. The mothers of the children manned the cafeteria and were already at work on lunch as we enjoyed our breakfast. A chart on the wall showed whose responsibility it was for the coming weeks to cook the meals for the school. Parental presence and support was clearly crucial to the operation of the school.

Following breakfast we toured the school whose classrooms were organized around a central courtyard and were open to the outdoors. We then enjoyed a presentation by the students. The girls, wearing hand-painted costumes that represented the counties of Ecuador, danced for us. The boys also performed a dance, but their dance was about the Panama hat, a famous import of the coastal plain. After the students' presentations, we met with the school's four teachers and planned our lessons for the day. The lessons we presented were designed and assembled by last year’s Institute participants.

One of the activities involved taking fifth and sixth grade students on a stream exploration. To get to the nearby rivier, everyone piled into the beds of two pick-up trucks — a very unusual experience for those of us accustomed to riding in school buses! The students were given containers for sampling river water and catching aquatic life, as well as equipment for measuring water depth and temperature. The children taught us many things as well — the translated names for the equipment we were using and the plants and animals we discovered during the activity. The curiosity, intelligence and enthusiasm of the students made for a very rewarding experience and everyone, teachers and students alike, had a great time.

We concluded our school visit with an incredible lunch: soup that contained peanuts, plantains, yucca, corn on the cob and freshwater crayfish that looked like small lobsters; mustard-coated fried swordfish; and fava beans served with hard boiled eggs. For dessert there was an assortment of homemade candies.

After lunch, we climbed the cerrito to look for Burrowing Owls, which are known to live on "the little hill." We saw one right away, as well as two Pacific Paralets, which look a lot like parakeets. Soon after we watched as two Burrowing Owls landed on a tree limb. At the top of the cerrito we visited a church and a Heifer Project. The Heifer Project is multi-faceted and includes aquaculture of a local fish, chickens being raised for egg production, fruit tree plantings and a few pigs.

On our way to our hotel we stopped in a village to buy jewelry made from seed pods and “vegetable ivory”, a popular handicraft in Ecuador.

Q & A for June 23

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