After settling into the community for the week, the students are already off on a weekend excursion to Quilotoa!
The group spent the week settling into the town of Mono Loma. The small, very rustic, community welcomed the students with open arms. Days have been spent getting to know the host families, the land, and working on the sugarcane processing center among other projects. The group’s pace of life slowed down a bit as the community is quiet and quite rural. In free time the group plays a lot of soccer, getting know each other, and some students have been learning about raising animals with their host families.
The group was already able to make significant repairs to the community playground in addition to good program on the sugarcane processing center. They pressure washed the whole playground, filled cracks in the pavement with concrete and painted and repaired the backboards on the basketball nets. They are also working on painting a large world map on the side of the school. The sugarcane processing center is happening in stages, currently the group is putting up walls on the inside to help define the different parts of the process.
Kim and Kelsey report that this group is the “constantly excited, exuberant, and cohesive”. They love spending time together and are learning as the experience new things daily in Mono Loma. One of the host families even celebrated the group with a dance party for everyone a few nights ago!
We are excited to learn more about the groups adventures in the beautiful area of Quilotoa.