Adventure and Cultural Travel with a Sustainable Twist
I’ll always remember my last few days in Quito (this time round) for my first hostel experiences and bed bug scares. Who would’ve thought that this milestone would be marred by (apparent) bed bugs in a Quito hostel? But here’s what happened prior to that: after an exciting (and tiring) Continue Reading
Following my horseback riding day trip to the Pululahua volcano crater, I had an entire weekend to kill in Quito and spent most of it hanging out with my friend Linda and some of her other friends. It’s amazing how I’ve spent almost 2 weeks in Quito (in total) since Continue Reading
One of the great loves of my life is horseback riding, but I don’t get to do it nearly as often as I like. As you can imagine, it costs the earth in a land-scarce country like Singapore and so I try to fit in some rides whenever I travel. So Continue Reading
Shortly after the Day of the Dead celebrations, I packed my bags for Quito. My 3-month tourist visa was almost up and I was heading to the immigration office in Quito to renew it for another 6 months (the Visa 12:IX). Of course, it was also the perfect excuse to take some time Continue Reading
Birthday party in Otavalo Barely 2 weeks after leaving Otavalo at the end of the school vacation, I was back in Otavalo again – this time for the birthday party of one of Rosa’s nieces. It was pretty similar to a typical birthday party for kids back in Singapore: lots of Continue Reading
Teaching After the one-week school vacation, I went back to teaching. It’s great that I have a lot of support from Profesora Blanca, the regular teacher. She wants the kids to take English classes more seriously and stop treating it like a vacation, so she told me to give them Continue Reading
Most of the fellow travellers I meet tend to spend a couple of days, at the most, in Otavalo: visiting the Saturday market and Cuicocha Lake seem to be the most popular activities. I’d already spent a week in Otavalo prior to Intag, but my host family has relatives there Continue Reading
Although my host family lives in Rosario, the mother (Rosa) isn’t actually from this area. She grew up in another parish, Apuela, which is about 1 hour away by bus, and her parents and many siblings still live there. As a result, I’ve visited them with the family a couple of Continue Reading
As I mentioned previously, I’ve been helping out with some farming in addition to teaching at the local primary school. I use “helping out” very loosely, though, because I’m really slow and ineffective compared to the people here. I think they derive a fair amount of amusement from city folks Continue Reading
With roughly 3 weeks of teaching here under my belt, friends have been asking how it’s going. It’s hard to answer in a few lines over Whatsapp (and I really prefer typing with an actual keyboard), so I hope this (1000+ words) post adds some flavour! The primary school has 27 kids Continue Reading