Today was the first day of our community projects so we got up and we're ready to leave by 7:30am.
For the conservation project, we walked down to the high school and met all the students that we would be working with until Thursday. It was difficult at first because of the language barrier but once we started working, we made small conversations with each other. They are 15-18 years old so it was easy to make friends with them and we played a few ice-breaker games like Splat and Ninja (they were so much better than we were though).
Before we started working, Rosemary (the leader of our project), showed us around the high school garden. It was left unkept and there were cacti literally everywhere and I have never got so many cactus splinters in the space of 10 minutes. We began by clearing the lava rock and piling it up to make a pathway through their garden. We also found smaller rocks to make into a micro ecosystem for the lizards (which, no matter how cool they are to us, all the students seem to be totally unfazed by; they are like the ants of the Galapagos). We finished at 12pm and looked forward to seeing all the students the next day to continue our progress on the project.
The Book Bus group arrived at the primary school to a whole load of children peering out of classroom Windows. We began by gathering the whole school into the playground and doing the Hokey Cokey. There were so many children that we formed one circle inside another circle which was very scary when little kids kept falling over and kept almost being trampled on. Arturo, our Book Bus leader, then sang "if you're happy and you know it" in Spanish with the children. There are eight Ranger Guides and two leaders working with the book bus, alongside the book bus coordinators. For the first class we all did it together so we learned what it was we were expected to do. We started with independent free reading, each child chose a book and read it to us. It was hard because the children are learning Spanish at school so it felt as if we couldn't be very helpful. Herkiran, or Irena as the children say, sung a repeat after me song which the children all loved and found very funny. Arturo then led a whole class reading a book (Cha Cha Cha in the jungle) and we all helped do actions and get the children excited about it. After we made paper snakes and animal masks with the children - which was related to the book the class had just read. At break time we were able to play with the children. They all loved playing football with us and we started a mini tournament. Katie scored our winning goal against the girls which to her annoyance Kathy failed to catch on camera! (after several minutes wasted of filming the rest of the match!) The children also enjoyed touching our hair and they would also come up and hug you a lot. After break we split our team up and we helped out in two separate classes. We repeated the same activities with these classes. The children got really excited about the animal masks and as soon as they put the masks on they would become that animal and run around the classroom.
In the afternoon, the two teams came together and walked down to the Charles Darwin Foundation. It was really cool and we even got to climb in a giant tortoise shell! Next to the Charles Darwin Foundation was a giant tortoise breeding area so we got to see saddleback tortoises and giant tortoises. It may be obvious but giant tortoises were absolutely ginormous! We learned a lot about all the different species of tortoises and the work that goes on at the centre.
It was so hot and we were all buzzing to get to the beach and jump in the water. Once we got there we were all a bit apprehensive because the water was actually freezing. It was a good laugh all being together and swimming in the sea. There was a sea lion resting on the beach and at one point it woke up and started chasing little children around.
For dinner we went back to the same street as the night before. We all enjoyed experimenting with different street food. Very disappointingly the cake of the day at Pirate Grill was the same as the day before and was also not chocolate brownie as the waiter had said. Can't wait to find out if a new cake will be served tomorrow!
Ella and Jane
For the conservation project, we walked down to the high school and met all the students that we would be working with until Thursday. It was difficult at first because of the language barrier but once we started working, we made small conversations with each other. They are 15-18 years old so it was easy to make friends with them and we played a few ice-breaker games like Splat and Ninja (they were so much better than we were though).
Before we started working, Rosemary (the leader of our project), showed us around the high school garden. It was left unkept and there were cacti literally everywhere and I have never got so many cactus splinters in the space of 10 minutes. We began by clearing the lava rock and piling it up to make a pathway through their garden. We also found smaller rocks to make into a micro ecosystem for the lizards (which, no matter how cool they are to us, all the students seem to be totally unfazed by; they are like the ants of the Galapagos). We finished at 12pm and looked forward to seeing all the students the next day to continue our progress on the project.
The Book Bus group arrived at the primary school to a whole load of children peering out of classroom Windows. We began by gathering the whole school into the playground and doing the Hokey Cokey. There were so many children that we formed one circle inside another circle which was very scary when little kids kept falling over and kept almost being trampled on. Arturo, our Book Bus leader, then sang "if you're happy and you know it" in Spanish with the children. There are eight Ranger Guides and two leaders working with the book bus, alongside the book bus coordinators. For the first class we all did it together so we learned what it was we were expected to do. We started with independent free reading, each child chose a book and read it to us. It was hard because the children are learning Spanish at school so it felt as if we couldn't be very helpful. Herkiran, or Irena as the children say, sung a repeat after me song which the children all loved and found very funny. Arturo then led a whole class reading a book (Cha Cha Cha in the jungle) and we all helped do actions and get the children excited about it. After we made paper snakes and animal masks with the children - which was related to the book the class had just read. At break time we were able to play with the children. They all loved playing football with us and we started a mini tournament. Katie scored our winning goal against the girls which to her annoyance Kathy failed to catch on camera! (after several minutes wasted of filming the rest of the match!) The children also enjoyed touching our hair and they would also come up and hug you a lot. After break we split our team up and we helped out in two separate classes. We repeated the same activities with these classes. The children got really excited about the animal masks and as soon as they put the masks on they would become that animal and run around the classroom.
In the afternoon, the two teams came together and walked down to the Charles Darwin Foundation. It was really cool and we even got to climb in a giant tortoise shell! Next to the Charles Darwin Foundation was a giant tortoise breeding area so we got to see saddleback tortoises and giant tortoises. It may be obvious but giant tortoises were absolutely ginormous! We learned a lot about all the different species of tortoises and the work that goes on at the centre.
It was so hot and we were all buzzing to get to the beach and jump in the water. Once we got there we were all a bit apprehensive because the water was actually freezing. It was a good laugh all being together and swimming in the sea. There was a sea lion resting on the beach and at one point it woke up and started chasing little children around.
For dinner we went back to the same street as the night before. We all enjoyed experimenting with different street food. Very disappointingly the cake of the day at Pirate Grill was the same as the day before and was also not chocolate brownie as the waiter had said. Can't wait to find out if a new cake will be served tomorrow!
Ella and Jane
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