What a weekend

So it has been awhile since I have been able to make a new post. I will first tell about my experiences during my past week at school and then inform you about my weekend in Mindo, which by the was amazing!! This one could get fairly long so you have to bare with me on this post.

There are a few things that I have noticed about the school in general. First that there is no such thing as substitute teachers and if a teacher does not show up then the students are on their own for that class. They either teach themselves or work on other assignments. The second is the degree of safety and code of conduct. Here is an example of what I am talking about. The other day I was in the grade 9 class and the student needed to turn on the lights. This is not the typical process of flicking a switch, but rather it involves rubbing three live wires together until the lights turn on. This was absolutely horrifying and unbelievable that this exists. I even saw from time to time the student pulling their hand away from the wire because they had gotten shocked. There are some major differences from teaching in Canada but once again the students are great and the teachers are great. To put it into perspective of what the teachers make compared to Canada, a veteran teacher in Ecuador is looking at about 300 dollars a month which equals anywhere from 5000 - 10000 a year. In Canada a beginning teacher makes about 45 000 a year with a top end teacher making well over that. The teachers put a lot of work into what they do and really there salary does not reflect their pay.

This past weekend we went to Mindo. This was so amazing. We arrived on Friday evening and we stayed at the Dragonfly Inn. The place was wonderful and we were surrounded by the rainforest. Each morning we woke to an incredible sight. Saturday is where the fun begins. This whole trip has been about going beyond your comfort zone and pushing your boundaries. We did just that this weekend. Saturday began with a canopy tour of the rainforest. This is code for zip lining. You cannot imagine the view when you zip line between two mountains. At times we must have been about at least 500 feet in the air. It was such an amazing feeling being suspended in air and all your eye can see in rianforest upon rainforest.

After ziplining we went river rafting but what you might think. The rafting consisted of 6 large tire tubes tied together and to maneuver through the rapids our two guides would jump off of the raft and either push off of rocks or twirl the rafter around rocks. It sounds sketchy but the entire time I felt completely safe because you could tell that these guys knew the river very well and the safety precautions were taken. We were provided with life jackets and helmets.

After the rafting is where the boundaries were truly pushed. We decided to go canyoning, turns out in Ecuador canyoning means repelling down waterfalls. Three waterfalls to be exact each ranging from 15 - 25 meters. The whole situation was sketchy but turned out to be an awesome experience. We were all in the van and they were transporting us to where we had to go and all of a sudden the van stopped and we are in the middle of nowhere. They proceed to say we have to walk from the road 20 minutes into the bush. Jokingly we talk about how this was a ploy to rob us or kill us, but we keep going. After a long walk we come to a point in which we start getting our gear on. We proceed to walk to the top of a mountain. Which makes sense because you have to get to the top of the waterfalls before repelling down them. So we finally reach our destination and we see what we are dealing with. It is in fact a waterfall and it goes straight down. I have troubles with heights to begin with and this was extremely unsettling. We go through our very brief tutorial and we are ready to go. A few people go before it is my turn to begin.

Finally it is my turn. I get the rope all set up and begin my shuffle towards the ledge. When the guy was describing how to do this is sounded quite easy. Doing it was a different story though. So I begin my way to the ledge and I take a look down to the bottom. I'm not sure if this was the best idea because the ground was straight down and a long way down, but I keep going. As I am just about to go over the ledge I slip and now my but is over the ledge and I literally clenching the rope with life on the line. I realize after that there was no way I fall simply due to way the rope is weaved through the clip but at the time it was extremely terrifying. So I am able to pull myself back onto the top of the waterfall. At this point I want nothing to do with this and am seriously contemplating walking back down the mountain. Something inside me told me I had to keep going and actually do this or else I would extremely regret not going through with this. So I attempt again, and I make it over the ledge this time. I slipped a few times on the way down but became a lot more comfortable with the gear and realized that there was a lot keeping form plummeting to my death. Finally I make it to the bottom and back onto solid ground. We then proceed to the second waterfall. This one was much easier than the first and am beginning to grasp some type of understanding of repelling and third becomes even easier. I stills struggled on each one but they were definitely easier. I was happy to walk away with my life and will accept the fact that my legs are covered in cuts and bruises from slamming against the rocks. The pain is only temporary and I definitely learned a lot more about myself because of the experience. I'm saying I would go out tomorrow and do it again about I was very happy with myself in the fact that I kept going and actually repelled the waterfalls.

That night we went to the local bar and mingled with some fellow travelers. Mindo is a tourist attraction and we ran it other people from Canada, a couple of people from Germany and England. I enjoyed talking to them and to see where they are going and where they are coming from. It is neat to hear of others adventures and to share your stories.

Sunday arrives and we wake up bright and early to go on a six am bird watch in hopes to see a Toucan. Turns out we did not but we did have a very beautiful walk down a mountain. Three hours much appreciated and was really not too upset that the Toucan never appeared. After that we went to a butterfly farm. Here they bred butterflies that are native to Ecuador and you really got a close encounter with the little critters.

Our day ends with a trip back to Quito in which we prepping for our final week with the schools. So far it has been great but in a way am happy to see the end nearing. Next week we have book plane tickets to fly to Manta which is a city on the coast and next week it is off to Galapagos. I will write again some time at the end of the week to talk more about the schools and post of school pictures.

I am out, I have a lot of prepping to do for tomorrow.