This post features student writing.

Hola desde Ecuador!

We departed Quito in the morning and got on the bus. We drove through the lush mountains and plunging ravines to stop at not only one, but three Equators. The first two were misidentified when French settlers believed they had found the point 0´0´0´. Years later it was discovered that this point was 200m off of the real Equator. After seeing our fair share of Equators, we made another stop at the town of Cayambe, which was in the middle of their celebratory festival called Inti Raymi. We arrived in our village just in time for an outdoor lunch of soup, local cheese, potatoes, salad, and juice. We had time to explore the place and get to know some of the community members that we will share our time with like Don Luis who is our construction chief and Marcia and Marisol who are our cooks. We also had a surprise birthday celebration with cake for Neil’s birthday. After lunch, we finished up orientation and had a relaxing siesta (nap). We ate dinner and had a well deserved sleep in our new sleeping arrangements. Lots of snuggles to prevent being cold were had by all the girls who were sleeping in one room! We rested up for our next day’s adventures! 

— Lucy M. & Caroline