\u00a1Hola everyone! Our first week in Ecuador was grueling yet rewarding\u00a0and full of new experiences. We were all complete strangers in the\u00a0beginning but now we are a dysfunctional yet perfect family. We\u00b4ve\u00a0been through countless sicknesses but everything that has happened has\u00a0only made our little group closer and happier. From Spencer planking\u00a0on the equator to all of us chasing llamas, our first day was\u00a0spectacular. Then, our hike at Cuicoicha turned out to be one of the\u00a0best experiences so far. Even after IMMENSE difficulties, the view was\u00a0so phenomenal that it was akin to Neverland. Perhaps the most fun\u00a0activity so far was playing with the local school children. The second\u00a0we arrived little girls and boys were launching themselves at us,\u00a0eager to play \u00a0and learn more about us. After spending hours playing\u00a0with the kids at our stations (Simon Dice, Luz Rojo y Luz Verde,\u00a0Cuatro Cuadros, Pulseras de Amistad, Futbol, y Futbol Americano) and\u00a0events, we were truly inspired and did not want to leave them. The\u00a0kids were fantastic with their endless smiles and energy! That same\u00a0day, we learned and experienced hands on how to weave Ecuadorian\u00a0tapestries. \u00a0While worth the energy, it took much longer than our\u00a0instructors expected. On our fourth and nearly final day at Otavalo,\u00a0we had the experience of shopping at the local artisan market (a place\u00a0full of color and culture), buying fruits at the local fruit market,\u00a0and taking a detour to check out an injured foot… Our last day in\u00a0Otavalo involved either a hike up Mt. Fuya Fuya or a day of nature\u00a0observation. Overall, the week was one of friendship, sickness,\u00a0family, and fun! \u00a0Tomorrow we will be heading off to our homestays in\u00a0San Luis de las Mercedes, eager to meet our new Ecuadorian families\u00a0and form new bonds!<\/p>\n
Until our next blog…\u00a1Hasta Pronto!<\/p>\n
– Leah, Olivia, Emma, Kirti, Nicole, Alex, Hilary, and Caitie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a1Hola everyone! Our first week in Ecuador was grueling yet rewarding\u00a0and full of new experiences. We were all complete strangers in the\u00a0beginning but now we are a dysfunctional yet perfect family. We\u00b4ve\u00a0been through countless sicknesses but everything that has happened has\u00a0only made our little group closer and happier. From Spencer planking\u00a0on the equator to all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecuador-galapagos"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}