Over the next few months we’ll be sharing the personal diaries of Amigos 2 Niños … (Friends 2 Children)
Two friends, Amanda and Anne-Marie, women approaching a ‘certain age’ embark on an adventure of a life time…you could say this is their middle-age gap year!
We’ll be following the highs and lows of these two intrepid teachers from Wigton (Home Town of Melvin Bragg no less) in Cumbria, as they wind their way through South America on a quest to fulfil a lifetime’s ambition to experience other cultures and share their teaching skills with disadvantaged children.
This will take us inside the homes of the many families our brave lasses will be living with along the way and share the trails and tribulations of living in an unfamiliar territory.
After months of intense fund raising, (to assist schools and local projects) and planning, which involved the whole community they eventually reached their target and the dream was finally becoming reality…
In preparation for their teaching abroad they enrolled into Spanish classes and then of course there were the many inoculation jabs, and then emptied the shelves in “Boots”. ( Oouch… you never know what you need, until you haven’t got it!)
Join us on their journey of a life time that commences in Ecuador then onto the Galapagos Islands and winds its way through South America
LOCATION: DATE: 14th MARCH 2008
WIGTON/NEWCASTLE/AMSTERDAM/QUITO
“Only a couple of days of mayhem before flying out on the trip. (Apparently once we’re sat on the plane all this madness will soon be forgotten, yeah right!) All I’ll need to do now is find a shoe horn so I can squeeze all my stuff into my rucksack! Just praying we won’t get searched as we’ve packed so many potions, lotions and pills I’m sure they’ll think we’re drug smugglers!
DATE: 16th MARCH 2008
Our first leg in this journey was a short flight from Newcastle to Amsterdam, or so we thought! Goodbyes said we made our way to check- in… that was until someone in their best Geordie accent announced that our flight was cancelled! Retrieving our many heavy bags, we came back through to arrivals having made it no further than the gate, we certainly had nothing to declare!
( but a few choice expletives!)
ECUADOR – facts and figures
Languages: Spanish (official), numerous indigenous tongues. Quichua, the language of the Incas, is the most widely spoken indigenous language.
Religion: 95% Roman Catholic
Population approx. 13.5 million
Location: north western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru
Area: 256,370 sq. km.- roughly the size of the U.S. State of Colorado
Elevation extremes:
Lowest point: Pacific Ocean, 0 meters
Highest point: Chimborazo Volcano, 6,310 meters
Climate: tropical along the coast and in the Amazon region, and cooler in the highlands.
Natural resources: oil, fish, timber, and various minerals
DATE: 17th MARCH first leg- 9500kms
We flew into Quito, set high amongst the Andes within a valley, cloud covered mountains all around, with blue sky with rays of sunshine poking through. With an Ecuadorian stamp in our passport, we retrieved our still heavy bags, paid a dollar for the privilege of a trolley and were met by a ´name card holding gentleman called Palermo….
Easing our way through a myriad of cars, buses and taxis among the streets of Quito, we finally arrived at a small padlocked gated house. We were met by Kathy who showed us into her (and now, our) new home for three weeks.. ...
DATE: 18th MARCH- settling in
First morning in Quito. We ambled slowly down (but not as slow as on the return journey as it was all up hill, should have done some training in Alhaurin!) to our first lesson at Spanish school to sharpen up our language skills.
Settling in – 20th MARCH 2008
Ecuadorian houses are a just a mass of noise; dogs barking, TV’s screaming, music blaring, workmen hammering, cars screeching past at all hours, even if we wanted to, we couldn’t have slept in any longer….
MARCH 20TH 2008 - If it´s Thursday- it must be salsa!
We made a hasty retreat downhill to school, for our 12.30 lesson with our Columbian salsa dancing coach. We expected the class to be small, but as there were just the two of us, so it was pretty intense. With a count of 1,2,3 and 4 we begin to strut our stuff, South American style!
By the time the session had finished, sweat was pouring down our beetroot faces. But we had half mastered the three basic steps-( though we may need to practice, when no-one’s looking) getting into the swing of things now.
At trip to the nearest bakers shop was called for to replace the calories we’d lost and to regain our composure before facing the real world again ..After a couple of cheesy “pasties”, topped with sweet icing(?? They looked so good, never thought to ask what was inside) We decided to head to the area called ´la Mariscal’ part of Quito’s new town. A real tourist area, by Ecuadorian standards anyway, known to the locals as Gringo-landia . In this area you find many different options of entertainment like bars, discos, coffee shops, café nets, restaurants, cultural centres, live music shows and much more. The locals sell everything you could wish for,
SHOE- LACES ANYONE?
March 21st Good Friday-it´s Franesca- a meal never to be forgotton!
A new day and bright sunny skies awaited us. We headed into the old town to watch the Good Friday procession. We weren´t the only ones, thousands of people were all doing the same thing, trying to find a decent view point. At 5 foot 5, we were lucky as we could see over the majority of people’s heads, as most are less than 5 foot! It wasn’t long before we heard the sound of brass bands and there was a sudden surge as people moved nearer to the already crowded front.
After a couple of hours we headed back, to be welcomed by a bowl of the traditional Fanesca…….. tried once never forgotten…. See our version of this recipe!
22ND MARCH 2008- “MITAD DEL MUNDO”
We’re off on the local bus today to visit the centre of the world ´Mitad del Mundo´(Centre of the World), well geographically speaking I suppose…a delightful 1 ½ hours on the bus, all for 40 cents… beat that!
The Equatorial line 23 km North of Quito was determined by a French expedition in 1736. The Equatorial line monument is a focal point here, as seen in our photo below.
What a fabulous, friendly, country, wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
that even “Charles Darwin” missed it…………….
