When I was a freshman in high school my grade took an adventure trip to Ecuador. The trip was about 2 weeks. We first started off going to the capital which is Quito along with other cities. This part of the trip was fun site seeing and beginning to immerse ourselves in the culture by eating foods they ate and staying in family run hotels. It blew my mind that the hotels we stayed at some of which were very nice were no more than 20 dollars a night. After site seeing we went to a small town called Nanegal where we stayed with local families. I was paired up with one other girl who came and she spoke no Spanish at all. I had taken Spanish at school but i only knew basic vocabulary. For the majority of our stay with our homestay family we managed to communicate by pointing at things and using google translate. It was very weird at first to be sleeping in someone else’s bed and having a family we had never met cook meals for us and show us around their town. Our homestay family lived above their small restaurant/ convenience store; they taught us how to cook native meals. Not only did we live with the families in their homes we interacted with them throughout the day. We played soccer with the local kids, attended a fundraiser for a local who needed money for surgery. We also helped teach some of the kids at the local elementary school some english and helped rebuild their playground. Although this was meant to be a service trip it felt way more than that because the locals really included us in and made us feel like family. Although my Spanish speaking skills are still very limited I feel that I gained a better understanding of other cultures which expanded my view on the world and my beliefs. This was by far the best trip I have ever been on.
- My stress of visiting a new country without my friends, even though I was with my school for a service trip
- We visited the Capital and saw many famous sites.
- We began learning about the culture in Ecuador, eating new foods, staying in new places.
- We saw so many beautiful views and the community took such good care of the land.
- Then we drove to a small town called Nanegal.
- For 5 days we stayed with a local family who spoke no English and my buddy and I barely spoke Spanish.
- We used google translate and pointing at things to understand what our family was saying.
- They town organized a huge fundraiser to raise money for a local who needed surgery and people from all over Ecuador came.
- that is the best example of our interactions with the locals, they were always extra generous, very curious, kind, welcoming, motivated.
- Our homestay family lived in small rooms above their small restaurant/ convenience store.
- We stayed up late played soccer with the kids and learning about how they life and telling them about how we live.
- We helped rebuild an elementary school playground and taught students a little english and played with them.
- Although my Spanish speaking skills are still very limited I feel that I gained a better understanding of other cultures which expanded my view on the world and my beliefs.
