This last week, half of the TEFL group went to Santa Elena for our very first tech trip. They put all girls in one trip, and put all of the guys in the other, so we aptly titled them the Sorority Trip and the Bro Trip. At first, I was miffed at being with the bros. I am not a bro, or a bro´s girl. My closest friends were all on the sorority trip. I didn´t know how the week of testosterone would pan out.
To get to Santa Elena, we took what felt like 60 buses to get from Tumbaco to Quito, and then from Quito to the right terminal, and then from Quito to Guayaquil, and then from Guayaquil to Santa Elena. We left at 6am. Oso, again, followed me on the bus and had to be shooed off and restrained by Marissa. We spent two harrowing hours traveling through the Andes in the Sierra. The bus made many 180 degree turns and the driver didn´t seem to slow down too much when sashaying through the mountains. That, and the flimsy barriers that separated the bus from thousand foot mountainous drops did little to soothe my nerves. Luckily, the bus attendant distracted us by putting on what may be the most bro like movie ever, a Steven Segal flick called Driven to Kill which was full of Russians, guns, blood, and half naked women. We finally got out of the Sierra and into the coast. The first thing I noticed about the coast was the muggy heat, and the colorful houses that people live in. Unlike the Sierra, the Costenos are not afraid of the rainbow. We passed houses of every color in Guayaquil. After hours, and hours, and HOURS of traveling, we finally got to Santa Elena at around 10 pm, and passed out in our hostel afterwards.
The week itself was awesome. The nice thing about the bro trip was there was very little drama. In lieu of drama, we made a game of inserting ¨bro¨ into every word. The Jacuzzi was the BroCuzzi, Luis the facilitator was Brois, and Jamito was Bromito, which is fitting because he loves bromas, or jokes. Our hostel, which had hammocks and hot water, was a block from the beach, so for two afternoons, we got to go to the beach. My first time in the Pacific! The water was warm and the waves were really small, so we stayed in the water while the sun was setting and swam around. I raced a facilitor and another Trainee, and conveniently forgot to mention to them that I used to be a swimmer. Being back in the ocean and swimming again made me feel strangely closer to home, even though I was in a different ocean on a different continent. I miss swimming deep down in my bones.
The very best part of the week were the kids we worked with, though. We went to a public high school where many of the kids didn´t have money to buy textbooks, so the teachers had to write out the lessons on the board. The classrooms didn´t have AC or glass windows, so the noises and screams from outside came right into the classroom. Many of our classes had fifty kids. The first few days, we observed the classes. Many of the English teachers had an extremely basic understanding of the language, and many were sort of thrust into the role of English teacher without any training in the language. There were a few times when we were supposed to be observing the classes and ended up giving charlas instead. The funniest one was our impromtu sex ed charla. There were four of us, three guys and me, and we tried to explain to the kids in basic English the different ways you could avoid being pregnant. Jacob asked them ¨Tell me why having a baby is always bad¨ and our facilitator starts waving her hands at him. There were many awkward silences but we got our points across, I think. My kids loved us. My favorite moment was when Jasmine and I ended up singing songs with a big group of Ecuadorian girls. They sang us some Mana and we sang them Beyonce and Lady Gaga. A girl came up to me the next day and told me how happy she was that we came to their school and how much fun we made the English classes. It almost made me cry. After teaching this week, I´m really pumped to get to site and start teaching. I know now that I can do it, and that teenagers will be hard but rewarding to work with.
Yesterday was one of the best days I´ve had here so far. We went to the Gay Pride parade in Quito, and somehow ended up marching in it with some other PCVs. Luckily, we were right behind the trolley that blasted music and had gyrating drag queens dancing on the sides. The parade started out really small. There were a few rainbow balloons and flags and one float. But as the day wore on, more and more people joined, until we were this giant, dancing, rainbow flag waving swell that filled up the streets of the Mariscal. There were so many wonderful drag queens, including this one who literally looked like a giant, with seven inch platform shoes and a long black wig. My favorite was this one wearing giant wire angel wings and and angel outfit, who kissed me when I told him that he was bonita. Afterwards, we went dancing and the one Ecuadorian I danced with told me that everything about my friends screaming ¨gringa¨. It probably didnt help that we were swaying around the dance floor and do si doing. Oh well. There are two years to shed the gringa ness.
Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, and then the week after, we get our sites!! I wonder where I will be. In two weeks, I´ll tell yall. I dont even know what to hope for right now. I did love the coast, but really hate the moscas. Loja would be beautiful, and the Amazon would be sick also. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
