Tuesday, May 15

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Eric Braun and Kirsten McNally are maintaining this page of the trip travelogue.

There were several different groups of students participating in different activities, including volunteering at a school or hospital, continuing spanish classes at the Academia, and a group traveled to the Bellivista Cloud Forest.

Bellivista Cloud Forest

I, Kirsten, was a part of the group of eleven students that traveled to Bellivista on Monday. Today was our first official day at the Bellivista Lodge. Our first night was very different from what we were use to staying at. We were lodged in a very old, rustic tree house. We had to climb up very narrow ladders to reach our room. We occupied two different floors, the boys had the top of the tree house and the girls had the third floor. This place had a gorgeous view over the trees, and we were often surrounded by clouds.

Many of us were awaken by the birds in the morning, but it was a good change from the car alarms and dogs! Breakfast was served at eight. Every breakfast consisted of cereal with yogurt, fruit, bread, and eggs. Once we completed breakfast, we then went on our first adventurous hike of the trip.

This was one of the best hikes of the trip at Bellivista. We hiked up and down several trails for about an hour, until we reached a stream. We then hiked up through the stream for another twenty minutes, until we reached an amazing waterfall. Several students had the urge to jump into the water, but it was very cold, and the pressure from the waterfall was very hard! After the waterfall we then continued our hike back to the lodge.

Upon our return from the hike, we then had lunch. After lunch, many students were rather exhausted from the hike and took short naps, while others decided to explore the rainforest on their own. Dinner was served around seven, and after dinner we were free to do what we wanted. Some students just relaxed while other played several card games consisting of eucher and spoons!

School

On Tuesday, May 15, the education group, which included myself, Eric Braun, experienced their second day working at the Terra Nova School. Each student had been placed in an appropriate grade for their expertise. The Terra Nova school is a beautiful facility overlooking the valley of Cumbaya. The school day began at 8am, and It was four hours of playing futbol for me. The other Alma College students were busy as well. John Vance worked with the middle school-aged students in a classroom setting teaching English. Will Allen assisted with musical classes. The rest of the group were eached placed in different grade levels and had duties that they were responsible for. Assisting with physical education classes, as well as early childhood care was a lot of fun for me. After lunch at 1pm, we were picked up and headed back to the Academia, to get ready for our excursion to the Pichincha volcano.

The Pichincha volcano towers over the city of Quito. We took a bus to the base of the volcano where we met at a theme park called Volcano Park. It was a full fledged theme park, but our only ride would be the teleferico.