Tuesday 17 February 2009

Sophie Shuttleworths, poor attempt at a group update! Villa Maria Team ! 2009



Not sure where Vicky left off but i think it was around Wednesday. So Wednesday afternoon went to the men's prison which was pretty scary. Loads of little kids visiting their dads, was pretty upsetting. We went to visit a guy called Raymond who looked like a cross between the colonel from KFC and Albert Einstein had a tour round ´machete land´etc. was really interesting although pretty terrifying (to think i thought the prison visit was a joke!) but the important thing is that no one got killed so everything was good on Wednesday.





Wednesday night was ladies night down at bungalow 6....the drinks: sex in Quito, sex on the beach, mojitos all free, what more could you ask for in life!! we manages to smuggle the boys in but the deal was they had to drink beer (not very good for 3 of them who hate beer!) was good fun! Thursday was a bit slow due to the exploits of the night previous. Lessons were good, if a little slow, spent the second part learning how to play games and the Spanish that would be needed to interact with the kids in Villa Maria.






Thursday afternoon we went to some art gallery Guacamine who depicts scenes of suffering from around the world, was pretty interesting. His art is very emotionally charged and to a degree shocking. Thursday night we just had a quiet one watching DVDs in the hostal.




Friday was cool.went to order the shirts for footy was pretty interesting but found out today that people do actually understand my Spanish which is promising. After lunch we headed up to yunguilla. we had a little tour around the Village and a ´brief´history of the place although i think the meaning of brief here alters a little from that of it at home! We then went to find out which family we were going to be staying with that night. (a few of the girls thought it was a joke until they found themselves sat at the front of a hall of yungillans ready to be aucitoned off) spent the night with our families who proved to be over generous and incredibly welcoming. There was a party for an English guy who was leaving the village so we went to that. Like the meaning of brief yunguillans clearly have another meaning of party form that of the English, but nevertheless a good time was had by those of us that stuck around for bit. great chance for me to show up my salsa skills too, being outshone by an old man isn't ideal.








Saturday was the 7 or 8km trek. was good fun, the ground was really muddy so some of us spent more time on our bums than feet but we got to Santa Lucia all in one piece. Saturday night chilled out, and we had our first opportunity to use our head torches after the solar power ran out. pretty exciting i must say!! lodge was really nice, and everyone got a good nights sleep accept for the boys who were woken by Fred having a nightmare.




Sunday was more walking, not so hardcore this time, really nice weather which made it even more enjoyable, although most were in a little pain form sunburn and walking from the weekend! A few of the group went up to a waterfall with Julio who was our guide. sounded pretty fun, i personally chickened out and sat on a rock instead. Sunday night we were forced by some to watch Twilight, possible the worst movie i have ever seen so most went to bed early to avoid the film!




Monday we all changed teachers. i think most people were a little unsure at first but the majority have warmed to them now. In the afternoon we went to the equator AND the fake one, was pretty cool. lots of photos etc etc. Laura and I managed to balance the egg on the head of the nail. we were pretty damn impressed with ourselves! Monday night we sorted out some stuff for villa maria (by stuff i mean activities) we came up with quite a few so should be good fun!


Yesterday (Tuesday) lessons were spent organising what we are going to perform for the rest of the group next Tuesday. my group is doing the Spanish version of snow white and the seven dwarfs. I was assigned the role of happy (much to Emily's amusement as she has made comments about my lack of height several times!!!) ours also involves singing in Spanish which will be VERY interesting. i think another group are doing some kind of Oscar type thing although eveyones being pretty secretive. no doubt a video will make its way to you!




Yesterday afternoon we went to the teliferico but it was closed for maintenance so we spent the afternoon in the theme park thing at the bottom instead. was really good fun apart form the ride called ´samba´ it was actually horrific!! a couple of us went on the ejector seat thing too! Last night some of us went out (as another night watching a film didn't really appeal) we went to some Irish bar and took part in the pub quiz, was pretty funny, we definitely, didn't even nearly win. but whatever.




Today lessons were pretty chilled. Alex and I went to collect the t shirts for the match tomorrow so the last half hour was spent taking team photos in the park! its all looking pretty special. i think us gringo girls have a good chance of winning, hopefully we will as i have a bet with one of the teachers. doesn't sound like much fun so cheating and aggression might have to come into play!, if you've made it this far through my e-mail.... sorry my version of brief is the same as the yungiuillans!

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