In the past two weeks, the sun has been out in full force in Ibarra; the beginning of January was rather cloudy with cooler than normal temperatures. Now, it’s been 75 degrees and sunny every day, so we’ve had a lot of opportunity to enjoy the rays. Last week, we attempted our first go at salsa dancing at a place in town called Gong; it’s very popular with foreign travelers, and it offers lessons for beginners, intermediate, and advanced levels. We skipped the lessons thinking we could hop right in, but it was so so difficult. Us gringas (an endearing term here) have no rhythm and seriously struggled, but it was still fun none the less. I used to think I could perhaps get the swing of things, but I will never be a salsa dancer! Alas, no photos were taken of us actually dancing.
Last weekend, Hannah, Corri and I went with our Ecuadorian friends camping in a town around 1 hour away, and we camped at some natural hot springs- we were Ecua-napped. In my mind, these pools were in the middle of the forest, and we could be plopping a tent anywhere we could find. In reality, it was a touristy hot spring location with some areas at the bottom of the pools for tents. We put up our tents, cooked some hot dogs, and treated Hannah and the Ecuadorians to some S’mores. They were a good taste of home 🙂 The Ecuadorians wanted to go home at 3am, and this made no sense to us because we had brought all of our camping supplies. Turns out, they did not. Apparently, setting up tents, leaving them empty, and tearing them down in the middle of the night to return home is normal- so not actual camping. We insisted on staying and were up way too late until 5am. Hannah, Corri, and I split a 2 person maximum tent and snuggled close for the remainder of the night. At least we were cozy and had pillows and blankets- they had nothing… Upon leaving at 8:30 am, us 3 spent the day lounging at home on the patio and enjoying the laziness of a Saturday filled without activities. For some reason I could not take a nap that day, and I ended up paying for it on Sunday/Monday/early next week because I got cold sick again. That was our first Ecuadorian camping experience, but next time we said we will be doing some more traditional camping in a rural area!!
The weekdays once again flew by too fast. I got sent home from CRECER on Monday for being sick, but after a 5 hour catnap that afternoon, I was feeling much better. Tuesday, Hannah and I went to Urcuqui for an in-service, but it was not a pleasant time as our past visits had been. The older adult center is in management transition, so the staff were not interested in hearing my in-service on safe swallowing and feeding for at-risk populations. Nevertheless, each time I give an in-service, it’s a learning experience, whether that be good or bad. After Spanish class on Tuesday evening, we walked through the park on the way home and found our meat stick guy! Corri has been craving one for a while now, and she was so satisfied that the guy was out that night. They are delicious. Wednesday was a normal day at CRECER, and Thursday we had the afternoon off to enjoy the sunshine on the roof. Corri got completely burnt within an hour up on the roof a few days ago, so she is still recovering from that. (My legs below is from this weekend, written below). We made 3 avocados worth of guacamole and ate on the roof with fresh fruit smoothies we blended- then proceeded to do it again on Friday. You can purchase 4 avocados for $1, and 3 smoothie’s worth of strawberries for $1. I imagined how much that would cost at a smoothie shop in the States, probably at least $10!!! Thursday night we headed out to Mistic Tacos with the whole student group + Gina’s husband who is visiting + Elaine. We got 2×1 margaritas and enjoyed some quality Mexican food which was a nice change of pace from the typical meal food here. You should have seen all 7 of us attempting to pay at the counter with cash for exact amount- disastrous.
On Friday morning, Hannah and I headed back to the older adult center in Esperanza for an in-service on range of motion and importance of maintaining exercise levels in the context of occupational therapy. We lead our group first, then participated in a dance therapy group afterwards. These older adults were wiped! We were dancing around in a circle and the shortest woman at the center, who has to be max 4 feet tall, ran into my butt at one point because that’s where her head level is on my body. I didn’t know the word for butt at the moment, so I turned around and said “Permiso! Mi ‘boot’!” I just changed the way you pronounce butt to boot and somehow thought she would understand what I said. She didn’t, but it was a good laugh for us anyways. After leaving Esperanza, Hannah was tired of waiting for the local bus back into town after 5 minutes, so we started heading down on our own. Walking down the hill home, you could see the city of Ibarra in a panoramic view. It took us 1.5 hours, but it was worth it for the mountain scenery, the company, satisfying Hannah’s love for walking, and fresh watermelon/pineapple.
Saturday we experienced a rafting adventure on Rio Chota, about an hour northwest of Ibarra. It was all us students, Gina’s husband, Elaine, and Marcela, a municipal physical therapist that works in the CRECER building. When we attempted to come 2 weeks ago, the water levels were really high and it was deemed too dangerous for us. Yesterday, the water levels were very low since it hasn’t rained in a while. Because of this, we hit innumerable rocks, and had to dislodge ourselves from being stuck in the river many times. What should have taken 2.5 hours took us almost 3.5, but it was worth it for the extra time. Halfway, we got out in a calm area and played games of tipping the raft and throwing each other overboard. Later down the river, I fell out in a “rapid” rocky area, and Gina had the muscles to pull me back in somehow! Probably her history working in the fire service. Â Corri then fell out 20 minutes later, and she landed right on her hip bone. I’ve been rafting in class 3-4 rapids, but this time with class 2 we actually fell out solely because so many rocks were poking out! When we finished the rafting, we were all really burnt. We lathered on 50+ SPF sunscreen all over beforehand, but the length of time and the added 7000 ft in altitude did not help. We are paying for it today! Dehydrated, in pain, and with a million bug bites from putting in and taking out. Any way, how amazing it is that we can say we went rafting in the Andes on a gorgeous sunny day??
This week we’ve also been listening to the Latin hip-hop tunes. Enjoy this hilarious one:Â Scooby Do PaPa