Maquipicuana

HOLA!

So we were picked up on Monday morning and taken by taxi, bus, bus and then a random truck to where we are now volunteering. The truck that gave us a lift from where the bus stops actually went to a completely different place because they did not know where to go but we got here fine in the end! We are staying in a house a bit away from where the guests of the lodge stay. Lizzy and I are sharing a room and there are tiolets and showers nearby. We also have a shared balcony. We were the only two voluunteers to begin with but then another person came back and is living in the same area as us. He is Dutch and is doing a project here for university.

We are teaching english at the primary school on Tuesdays and Thursdays but on Wednesdays we are painting the school playground. I am really looking forward to painting the playgorund, so far we have just done the designs, such as the days of the week in a flower and numbers in a snake etc. We have to walk to and from the school, it takes a good hour! We are there until about 12ish and then come back here for lunch. The kids are really cute and it is fun to play with them as well as teach them. We are teaching 3 different classes. The youngest ones are 5-8 and basically don´t know any yet. The class in the middle know he very basics and the eldedst class (up to 12) know a fair bit. The youngest ones are hard to teach because they do not tend to focus on one thing for very long but they are sooo cute! At break they also like to play games with us and generally run around!

On Mondays and Fridays we are staying here at the lodge and teaching the staff english or helping to maintain the trails around here. We are also doing a few other projects such as making a bird list for the reserve and creating a document about the lodge to go in the rooms for the guests. This is also fun although the staff are hard to teach because they already know a lot of english. I would not really be able to do this wothout Lizzy because even though they said spanish was not essential, it certainly helps!

This weekend we have been doing some walks around the reserve. It is really beautiful. There are lots of insects to see and birds. Lizzy did just fall 4m from an observation place but seems to be OK (phew!).

I am glad that here at the lodge people seem to be used to blondes so that I do not get as many strange looks or anyone trying to take pictures of me, which is very awkward!

Adios! xxxxxxxxxxxxxx