A day in the life of a volunteer at UBECI Quito

Me and Lady at the Thursday market - she shared her sticker with me!

The day starts with breakfast provided by my host family - Mayra and Wilson. This usually contains hot water for tea and hot milk for coffee, some fruit, yoghurt and bread. Lots of the volunteers stay with families in their homes - this has let me practise my Spanish with the family, including the children Alison and Josue, as well as becoming immersed in Ecuadorian culture. I share a room with Felicia and there are two other girls staying in our flat with the family at the moment.

Set up for the day, my house mates and I head off to the Volunteer Connection Ecuador (VCE) office for Spanish lessons in the morning. My teacher Laura usually works me hard! We go through lots of vocab and learn new verbs, with some games to test me and keep me on my toes! After some confusion on my part I think I've learnt a lot more to be able to talk to the staff in Spanish (well for basic things!)

VCE office - Volunteers can use the computers for Internet and those working with the admin team for the projects they are working on.

A break for lunch allows us time to grab either a complete meal for $2.5 from Mayra's restaurant Los Seccos under the flat, which includes soup, main course with rice, desert and juice, or a snack of tamales or humitas for around a dollar for two from a local stall around the corner from the VCE office.

All of the above for just $2.5!

Then for the part timers like me it's off to the UBECI - United to Benefit Ecuadorian Children International - office around the corner. I am living within 5 minutes walk of both offices in the barrio of Villa Flora in South Quito.

Map of the area around the offices in Villa Flora

UBECI staff run a weekly meeting every Tuesday to explain to the volunteers the activities for the children for that week - different depending on the age group. Danny heads up the 1-3 year olds, Lule keeps the 4-6 years occupied and Christine helps out the 6+ children with homework as well, with some help from Oriana - a full time long term volunteer. Director Alicia holds down the fort in the office when the staff head to the markets every day and it's her that ensures us volunteers get on the right bus for the afternoon sessions!

The street & working children program schedule

We turn up at 1pm and get directed to the correct bus - then it's off to one of the markets (they go to different ones every day). On arrival the full timers that have been there in the mornings are usually playing with any children that have turned up early. If they moved to a new location for the afternoon then we set up a washing station - for the kids to wash their hands and faces before they start playing - this is important to help instil some hygiene awareness and so the kids hopefully go home a little cleaner than they came (not always possible if we do painting!)

Then the play mates are set up - it's important to have somewhere to put the toys out and let the kids sit down and play that's relatively clean. Working in the markets means the floor can be dirty. The various toys and books are put out and if there is space a pelota or ball is also kicked about. The kids have some free play time with the volunteers whilst the small ones are picked up from their parents by the staff. 

Helping with puzzles (this is really like play time for the volunteers too!)

When everyone is ready and has had a chance to work off some excitement with the toys and puzzles the staff get the children involved in some group activities. This can be playing physical games to help with their coordination, or singing songs with actions involved. Unfortunately I only know the words to some of the songs like Mi Cuerpo and the rest I try and join in with the actions and the few words I do know!

Then the children are split into their age groups and go to do their different activities. I've been helping Danny with the 1-3 year olds and the activities over the last 2 weeks have included playing doctor and reinforcing that the kids need to tell their parents when they are sick and that they need to see a doctor, to fine coordination skills ripping up paper or making and throwing balls out of magazine pages.

We also did some colouring in of niño and niña pictures - after talking about who is a boy or girl and what makes them different. When we are finished with the age focused activities the kids line up to receive stickers - those not lining up forfeit this right and they all want stickers! Then we sing the goodbye song - in Spanish and English - and the staff and volunteers take the smaller children back to their parents.

Lining up for stickers and goodbyes!

Then it's up to the volunteers to pack up and make our way back to the UBECI office with the toys and mats etc.

The objectives of the street & working children market program - even in a few weeks you can see the children benefitting from their time in the program. Eventually when they are old enough the parents commit to the children attending school, so far this has been really successful.

My host family then provides dinner - usually local Ecuadorian fare of rice and some meat with a salad or plantains and drinks. There is no smoking or alcoholic drinks allowed at the homestays out of respect to the families. This doesn't stop the volunteers venturing out into the Mariscal area of Quito (aka Gringolandia) for a drink and a dance every so often!

There is also plenty of opportunity for volunteers to see the sights in and around Quito (this will be a separate blog post coming soon!), here is a quick taster of some of the sights:

The Virgin at the top of El Panecillo lit up at night

Plaza Grande

La Basicila

7 Things to do in & around Quito

In Quito:

1 - Visit the Centro Historico with its colonial architecture & churches 

The typical Spanish colonial architecture abounds in Quito old town or Centro Historico. Plaza Grande where the president's house overlooks the square is typical.

View across the plaza

President's house

There are numerous squares like this - each dominated by one large church, e.g Santa Domingo, San Francisco.

Plaza Santa Domingo

Inside the church at Sunday Mass

Plaza San Francisco

Inside the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus - richly decorated all in gold!

In addition there are lots of museums - if you only have time for one I suggest the Museo Nacional de Banco Central de Ecuador - however you need about 4 hours in total to fully see this and a guided tour is worthwhile.

Cost: usually no entrance fees to enter the churches, some will suggest donations or charge a couple of dollars. Museums can be free or a few dollars e.g. $2 for entry for the Museo Nacional de Banco Central

Location: Centro Historico - take the Trole for 25c to Plaza Santa Domingo or Plaza Grande

2 - Climb to the top of La Basilica 

You can climb right above the roof of La Basilica if you have the stomach for it! As well as stairs up the main towers there is a staircase little more than a metal ladder that goes above the roof of the church - watch out its windy up there!

Stairs up the outside for the very top bit above the Basilica roof

To access you have to take this walkway over the vaulted ceiling!

You can get up close with the stained glass

View down the Nave from the balcony

You go right up inside the clocks in the towers

The Basilica has a quirk that you can see up close from the towers / roof; it's gargoyles are actually all animals from the Galapagos, from frigate birds to turtles and iguanas!

Cost: $2 to ascend, $1.5 to enter the main body of the church as a visitor

Location: Walk north of the centro Historico - you can't miss it!

View of the Basilica from Plaza Grande

3 - Look over the city from El Panecillo

El Panecilo is the hill in the middle of Quito with the Virgin statue at the top. She looks North and stands on a dragon on top of the world. According I my Spanish teacher this is meant to signify that Quito is the centre of the world (on / near the equator) and that the Virgin is protecting the city from the devil (dragon). Apparently it was built after a series of earthquakes to keep the city safe.

Close up of the Virgin lit up at night - there is a good (but pricey) restaurant up on the hill called Pims that has great views over the city

Centro Historico at night

You can see the Virgin from most points in the centre of Quito

From the top of the hill I could see where I was staying in the South in barrio Villa Flora as well as the centro Historico and the Basilica. As Quito is penned in by mountains the city's southern suburbs seemed to flow up the curve of the mountain like a glacier in reverse - a stunning view point all round!

Cost: Nothing to go up the hill, but I would advise taking a cab as the area isn't safe on foot

Location: South of the Centro Historico - you can see it from most central locations north and south

4 - Ride up the teleferico & go horse riding

The teleferico is Quito's cable car that ascends up the mountain Pichincha for panoramique views of the city (as long as the infamous clouds stay away!). The altitude at the top of Pichincha is 4,000m so this isn't recommended until you've had a few days in Quito to acclimatise at 2,800m. 

At the top there a few options - if you are feeling fit then you can hike up to the top of Pichincha at 4,800m. For those feeling out of breath there is the option of horse back riding for a half or full hour - they even dress you up in ponchos for 'traditional' photos!

Unfortunately I was ill the day everyone else went up - so no pictures of me in the poncho!

Costs: $7.5 for foreigners, plus you'll probably need a taxi there - get the driver to drop you off outside the gate to avoid additional fees for the driver (which he'll charge straight back at ya)

Not sure on the horse riding costs - but like everything in Ecuador you can bargain!

Location: North East of the centre - there are buses that go that way, but taxi is easiest

5 - Shop til you drop at the artesenal market

Now this is an activity I felt comfortable enough to indulge in twice! The artesenal market has loads of Ecuadorian things to buy making it an ideal place to go gift shopping. Without wanting to give anything away before I get home, I managed to buy an amazing alpaca blanket (with llamas on it), a table cloth (no llamas there), dolls in traditional dress, children's clothing and chocolate - yum!

The key thing is that you can bargain - so ask for a discount or start walking away until you get a price you like (but remember that quibbling over a dollar isn't worth it - the stall holders earn a lot less than you!)

Costs: as much as you want to spend, entering the market is free

Location: Mariscal aka Gringolandia - Trole station La Mariscal, Meera street.

Outside Quito:

6 - Visit the middle of the world at Mitad del Mundo

Quito is practically on the equator (but not quite) so you can visit the actual equator just north of the city - otherwise called the Mitad del Mundo or middle of the world.

If you take public transport be prepared to take 1.5 hours upwards depending on where in the city you start from, however this is the cheapest option - the round trip cost me only $1.4!

When you arrive at the park with the equator monument there is a whole village of shops and cafés and few museums etc to look at. We bypassed this to head straight to the equator line and get silly photos:

Selfie on the equator

Plank time

Tip - head to the west side to get a pic without hordes of people in the way!

We then had some lunch before deciding to enter the monument and get the views from the top as well as seeing the museum about the indigenous people of Ecuador.

View from the top of the monument

The world sits on top

Not sure this guy always wears a 2014 football too!

Shrunken head...

Trying on the headress

There is also meant to be an area where they show you 'science experiments' to demonstrate the coriolis force amongst other things. We went on a Monday and it wasn't very busy so we didn't see this - which is good as it's a load of b*llocks anyway (coriolis force is weakest at the equator and you can only see its effect on large slow moving things like storms).

Costs: $3 to enter the park with the monument, $3 to enter the actual monument (and museum inside)

Location: North of Quito - take the metrobus line to the north terminal Ofelia and then a Mitad del Mundo bus or there is another bus that goes from El Panecillo and back, fares are around 25-40c.

7 - Have a day trip to Otavalo for the markets & scenery

Otavalo is about 2 hours north of Quito and set in some lovely scenery. There are waterfalls and lakes to explore and you can see lots of birds including its namesake in the Condor park.

However the main reason people visit Otavalo is for the market. This is huge on Saturdays when the local people bring their animals and the usual stalls around the square spill out into the surrounding streets. It's meant to be the largest indigenous market in Ecuador.

So it's super busy Saturday mornings, but I've heard you get better bargains on other days as there are less tourists to sell to - again I haven't visited in person but people tell me it has similar things to the  market in Mariscal.

Costs: as much as you want to spend! About $2 bus fare from the north bus station (Carcelen), taxi transfer costs and if you don't want to get up early Saturday then around $10-12 for a hostel in Otavalo.

Location: 2-2.5 hours north of Quito - bus from the north station Carcelen 

Country 48: how to get to Colombia!

We left Quito after 2 nights staying in the Secret Garden hostel in the old town - great views from the roof top terrace:

And off we headed for Colombia - at least we thought we were... After half an hour on the wrong bus we discovered we were headed back south to Guayaquil - so back to the bus station, a refund and another ticket later we were on the correct bus and headed north. It only cost us an hour of travel....

I found that the scenery changed quite a bit on this bus ride. The rolling hills of North Ecuador separted by hedges looked very similar to the English countryside until you see the tile roofs on the houses.

We made our way to Tulcan where we hopped off the bus and grabbed a cab with another couple. Stamping out of Ecuador was easy and then a short walk across the border to the Colombia side and I was on country 48 (the 13th new one since I started travelling last year).

We then got another cab to Ipiales and unfortunately didn't have time for a side trip to see the sanctuary of Las Lajas.

This is what it looks like - hugging the ravine:

(Picture credit: thecoracle.blogspot.com)

To start with the scenery in Colombia wasn't much different - but it quickly changed to steeper hills and ravines, the obtiquitous ecucalytpus trees and pretty flowers planted up around the houses on the road.

Trying to grab a shot out of the bus window was tricky - this is the best I have!

I had more luck on the stunning sunset

After our epic journey we ended up in Pasto over night staying at the Koala Inn - pretty much the only hostel in town and a gran old house with high ceilings and very dark rooms if you got those without windows! 

Central courtyard and common area at Koala inn

Pasto is a well placed stop for those that don't want to travel overnight (not recommended in the border region) and that's about all it had going for it....

The next morning we were up and off to Popayan, which the backpacked grapevine had told us was a beautifully preserved colonial town and worth a visit.

What should have taken 6 hours ended up being a bit longer as we were in a small bus that would stop to tout for passengers in every other town and then we also had 2 police road stops where we were ignored for blantently being gringos!

When we got to Popayan we were pleasantly surprised and delighted that our hostel, Park Life, was right on the main square.

It was also next to a church - which meant we had breakfast to the lovely accompaniment of hymns!

It was another old house that was beautifully preserved and run as a hostel, with lots of charming quirks and vintage styling

Me chilling out in the covered courtyard

We ended up spending more time that we originally planned in Popayan - as we got in late we didn't see the town much and the original plan was to head to Medellin first thing in the morning - we decided to scrap that and get the direct night bus instead of having to change buses in the day and suffer unknown delays etc

This meant we got longer in bed and time to explore the town!

Looking through the square

The transport minister was in town to talk about his donations to the transport police - we got there as the locals were lining up the bikes - they did a pretty good job!

After grabbing an amazing lunch - Cat had steak on her 10,000 COP almuerzo and I had one of the local dishes Bandeja Paisa, which was a plateful, including rice, beans, fried egg, steaks, pork fat crisped up, avocado and plantain - we went for a walk to burn it off!

View over the old town

Selfie in the rain!

On the path steps up to the monument of the city's founder - situated on top of an ancient pyramid El Morro de Tulcan

Here's the guy - Sebastian de Belalcazar

View over the old town

There were lots of locals up there enjoying the view in the break from the rain - and Cat jumping!

Mountains in the background - it was a pretty sunset, but we missed it having headed to the bus station for our overnight to Medellin....