What an adventurous weekend!

On Saturday, we went for a 3 hour long horseback ride through the mountain farms of Otavalo. The views were gorgeous and the ride was fun...and long. Since I have had some riding experience, I was given a horse named Diablo - that translates to Devil in English. Needless to say, he took off on me several times throughout the ride. My legs and back are very sore. 

My "devil" horse.

In addition to the ride, we also hiking Fuya Fuya - a local volcano - on Sunday. The entire trip took about 6 hours (40 minute drive each way to/from the hiking base, 2 hours up, and 2 hours down). It was a very rewarding experience but VERY exhausting! Due to the altitude, we needed to stop about every 10-15 minutes for a breather, and we drank lots of water. When we reached the peak, we were around 12,000 feet above sea level. It was very cold up there! From the top, we were able to see into Columbia when the clouds cleared.We all ended up sliding on our butts most of the way down due to the mud and steepness. However, I was the only person to rip a hole in my pants.

We were eye-level with a cloud at the top! 

Me, at the top of Fuya Fuya! (Pre- ripped pants) 

The University of Otavalo also had a welcoming party for us this Friday. The local people performed some traditional dances, and we had a taste of traditional Ecuadorian foods. We also learned how to Salsa, Mambo, and Samba! I was not very good. 

Traditional dance performed by locals.

After our fun-filled weekend, we have a lot of work to do this week! This is our first week of teaching completely on our own, while being observed by our mentor teacher. We have many lesson plans to write and activities to invent! Today was our first day. It went better than planned and I was not as nervous as I anticipated. However, we did overestime our timing a bit, so we finished our lesson plan about 15 minutes too early! I had a small panic attack, but then we ended up playing a body part game for our students to practice labeling body parts and using First Aid sentences (ie: "Ouch, my arm!" "I know First Aid. Can I help you?") Overall, the lesson went over smoothly and we have several reserve activities and lesson planned for tomorrow!!