Misahualli Paseo with My Students!

Made it out of the cave!

Last Sunday I went deep into the Jungle with one of my classes for a field trip. The first week of class they asked me, "teacher, can we have un ratito (complete with hand motion) to talk about a field trip?" What the heck? why not? I thought to myself. Little did I know that a couple of minutes would turn into half an hour of class. I have learned from this past two modules that if you ever run out of activities or games and you have a decent amount of time left, give your students time to talk about a field trip. The discussion quickly turned a debate of where to go. The beach? The jungle? What beach? Where in the jungle? What are we going to do? How are we getting there? How much does it costs? etc. etc. We FINALLY decided that we were going to Misahualli and settled on a date. Fast foward to last Sunday...

My class and I met at SECAP at 4:30am. There were only 7 of my students who ended up coming, but it was okay. One of my students brought her sister, cousin, and 3 year old daughter. On the upside, our tour guide was one of my students from the previous module who couldn't continue on this semester. It was great to see him and spend the time with him. He drove us to and from and knew all the cool places to go. On the way to Puyo many of us fell asleep seeing as it was very early in the morning. When I woke up and looked out the window, it was beautiful. The sun was rising and there were clouds hovering around the trees. It was breath taking. As we started going deeper and deeper into the jungle it started getting warmer. Carlos tried to put on the air conditioning but for 10 minutes it was the heat. It was getting toasty in the buseta and my students started making jokes about how we are pinchos (skewers) or asados (grilled meats). Eventually we got it figured out and cooled down. We stopped in Puyo for breakfast and got back on the road to Misahualli and Tena. 

Canoe Ride

We pulled into Misahualli around 10:00am. It is a small town that is right on the river. We changed clothes and the applied layers of oily sunscreen and smelling repellent. 2 days before I had bought the good spray on kind and my students lined up so I could spray them down. We went down my the river in a tree grove that was full of wild monkeys and tourists. They monkeys were really cool! However, if you aren't careful they will come down from the trees and run right up to you and steal whatever you have. My friend Cheryl was i the jungle several months ago and a monkey managed to steal her repellent and proceeded to drink it...Hope that monkey survived! Shortly after hanging out with the monkeys we went on a ride up a river in a giant canoe. Rest assured, there were life jackets and it was really fun. I sat next to Christian, my adorable 17 year old student who frequently confuses "good evening" and "good night" everyday when he comes into the class. Just recently he has finally gotten the hang of saying "good evening" when he walks into the class instead of "good night" and always has a look of accomplishment on his face. Christian and I started rocking the whole canoe by leaning side to side while the rest of the class squealed in delight/fear. 

Gonzalo's Speedo...

After the canoe ride we went swimming in the river. At first I was feeling shy, but soon enough I stripped down to my bathing suit and went got in the water. It was cold at first, but a nice break from the humid and hot weather and really refreshing. When we got out of the water we put our clothes back on...except my student Gonzalo. Gonzalo, my 47 year old student decided it was a pants optional sort of day and proceeded to wear his SPEEDO...ALL DAY. It was actually really funny. Several hours later I was sitting outside with Romel and Christian as Gonzalo walked by. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when they asked me what I was laughing about. "Donde están los pantalones de Gonzalo???" We all had a good laugh as they told me they didn't know either.  It was hilarious. 

Tilapia al jugo para almuerzo

We went to lunch after a long debate and cruise around town looking for a restaurant.  First a restaurant, then the market, then another restaurant that was too expensive, and finally settled into a random spot.  I was going to order the cheap yet filling almuerzo option of chicken, but my students insisted that I get the tilapia. Before I knew it my order was changed to Tilapia al jugo (not fried...steamed maybe? with vegetables) and it was pretty good. They serve it whole, scales, fins, gills, organs, the whole shebang. If I can say one thing, Ecuadorians know how to eat meat. I always feel so picky because I won't eat scales, bones, tendons, cartilage, or other mystery body parts while everyone around me is picking/licking their plates clean. I had a huge pile of random fish parts on my plate while I compared my plate to students on either side. While we were eating lunch it rained...I don't just mean a light shower, but real rain. Jungle rain! It was fantastic. 

Inside the cave with face paint and all

By this time it was around 3:00pm and we were ready to head to Las Cavernas de Jumandy (Caverns). This was my favorite part of the day, by far. We pulled into what looked like a water amusement type of park with pools, slides, and hot tubs.  I was slightly confused, but went along with it. Carlos told us to leave anything valuable behind and wear clothes we wouldn't mind getting wet. We found a guide and started walking to the back of the park to the entrance of a cave. SO COOL! We were all handed headlamps started our trek into the cave. I was surprised because as we started to walk there was a lot of water. I thought that maybe there would be puddles of water here and there, but there were pools of water and waterfalls. We had to climb up waterfalls and we were able to go swimming in the cave. It was exhilarating and a blast! We made our way through the cave swimming, climbing up waterfalls, and climbing over rocks. Inside the cave we painted our faces with mud and then posed for many pictures. There were also jokes about how the color of the mud on some faces was different colors and maybe they had smeared bat poop all over their faces. It was a good time. Lots of bending over, ducking, and climbing all while Gonzalo was STILL in his speedo.

Swimming! Check out Romel's Facial expression!

This day is another unforgettable day with my students. They are incredible and really take care of me.  The 3 year old, Adriana is incredibly cute. She has come to class before and knows who I am. She kept asking me throughout the day, "como te llamas?" and I responded, "tú sabes mi nombre...qué es?" in turn she answered, "teacher". Classic. Here in Ecuador, I am Catalina or Cata to my family, Caitlin to my American friends, and Teacher to my students and anyone they introduce me to. I have embraced the Teacher identity and really love it. I have even been called teachercita...the diminutive of Teacher which basically means my little teacher but with more affection. Ecuadorians love the diminutives. Half the time I don't know what they are saying when they add -ito or -ita to things. I have to stop and think about it, and then I get what they are trying to say. Aguita...a little water, Gordita....little fat one, ratito....a little moment. 

How adorable is she?

Another thing that I have found very amusing is when your students start imitating you or want you to do something for them. Sometimes you just have to do RIDICULOUS things to get your students excited or keep them entertained. I know I have mentioned the "vendor voice" before...the voice that vendors on the streets and buses use to sell their goods, usually food items. This voice is usually really obnoxious, very whiney, and loud. When we were doing food vocabulary I was reviewing fava beans...commonly referred to as Avas here in Ecuador. I impersonated a vendor selling Avas, "Avas, avas, avas, avitas, avitas" and my class laughed for 5 minutes straight. They asked me to do it again on the way to Misahualli and again, they were delighted and entertained to hear me embracing the "vendor voice". 

I have lots more to write about, but I will save it for subsequent blog posts. Thanks for reading everyone! I appreciate your love and support and hope you enjoy reading. Until next time!

Abrazos,

Caitlin, Catalina, Cata, Teacher, Teachercita, etc. etc.