Only in South America

'Ouch' one of the mums said and looked at me with a grimace as the tree branch hit me full in the face.  The fact I had both of my arms wrapped tightly round the four year old perched on my lap meant I hadn't had time to raise my hand to push said branch out of the way. Still at least the kid hadn't been flung from the back of the bus/van/hell machine we were sat in.

It was Friday at school which could only mean one thing,  field trip day.  Despite having all the parents accompany us on these trips for me it was always the most stressful day of the week. Being out of the school house meant being out of routine, which in turn for me at least meant stress. Kids were no longer confined to the school and it's gardens and were free to roam wherever we took them, invariably a farm or beach. And whilst the Galapagos itself is one of the safest places known to man (most people here don't even lock their doors), the possibility of drowning, running off and getting lost or falling over still remained.

This Friday proved to be no exception to my stress levels as we headed off into the Highlands to celebrate the birthday of one of my pupils.  We left school with me and two of the mums sat in the back of what seemed to be a converted large van that for a body now had a roof and two rows of bench seats facing each other.  The kids with us thought this was great, and ordinarily I would have too,  apart from the fact that for the next thirty minutes it was my job to stop them hanging over the side and either falling or losing body parts along the way.

Happily we all arrived in one piece and just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief I was informed we were going to drive up a mountain to reach what promised to be a panoramic lookout.  Again,  ordinarily this would fill me with joy as there is nothing I love more than nature and adventure, especially if the two are combined and an element of danger is thrown in.  However today I had my dream scenario and a literally a truck full of children to accompany me on it. 

Yet as the proverb says beggars shouldn't be choosers, so I climbed back into the rear of said truck and off we set with birthday girl sat firmly on my lap. However I soon realised that as I was sat nearest to the 'exit' (read chain) of the vehicle and that the track to the summit was more a series of potholes and boulders we were going to be in for one hell of a ride,  and that we were. 

Very soon I was bouncing along with both arms firmly round my pupil's waist to stop her from being flung from the back of what I soon came to term the hell machine. The track was in a worse state than I had imagined and with my arms now being used as honorary seat belts, it was all I could do to plant my feet firmly on the floor and consider turning to prayer to try and ease what I was becoming more and more certain of was at the very least going to result in a mild  concussion. 

The climb seemed to last forever and was a series of potholes,  boulders and the tree mentioned at the beginning of this post.  This left me no time to enjoy the environment or surroundings we were journeying through,  but did give me time to work on ducking to avoid rogue tree branches.  At one point the climb was near vertical and I was sure we were going to either roll or get stuck.  However the driver must have been praying hard too,  because all of a sudden the lookout came into view and it promised to be breath taking.  It was also at the top of a near vertical mound with a zig zagging path carved through the undergrowth to reach it, but we were almost there and the end was in site. At the very least I thought I could console the stinging sensation on my right cheek with the view from the top. 

However yet again Ecuador surprised me and we came to a sudden stop.  Maybe we'll walk the rest of the way I thought,  relishing the chance to get out of the hell machine and enjoy the wonderful piece of nature I had found myself in.  But yet again I was in for another surprise as it was announced we had come far enough and were going back down, so I never did reach that dream view.

As the title of the post says 'Only in South America', oh and in case you were wondering about the journey down.....It was like descending into Dante's Inferno.

What Ecuador has Taught Me

I can sum this post up in one word.  Patience.

By the end of March I will have spent three months working and living in Puerto Ayora in the Galapagos Islands teaching English to kindergarten children. It's a far cry from the fast paced cities of my native England and the more relaxed yet bustling cities of Australia where I lived for most of 2013. In fact the pace of life in the Galapagos is so slow even the giant tortoises who frequent the Islands move faster, and for anyone who is interested their top speed is five miles per hour.

I mean don't get me wrong, I was expecting life here to be different but there are some fundamental differences I just wasn't prepared for.  For example,  your air conditioning is broken.  You call the repair man who says he will arrive in an hour,  but what he actual means is he isn't coming at all.  See Ecuadorians have a problem using the word 'no', so instead of telling you that elusive word they simple fob you off.  The issue is that you never know when you are being fobbed off or when they actually mean what they say.  Cue hours of frustration for a variety of situations,  including broken air conditioning,  asking for directions and scheduling any kind of appointment with anyone.

The Ecuadorian sense of time also differs from my British sense of punctuality, where eight actually means seven forty five.  Here arranging to meet someone at eight actually means they will be arriving between nine and ten and of course will neglect to let you know.

This South American lesson in learning to go with the flow of life is further compounded by my chosen profession whilst in this slice of equatorial paradise.... teaching.  Mind you,  not only teaching but attempting to impart a new language to children between the ages of two and five.  Incidentally out of the fourteen children in my school less than a quarter spoke any English and my Spanish was limited to about ten words when I first arrived on the island.  I'm happy to report it has much improved since.

I remember my first day at school vividly, it was a combination of energetic screaming children running around in a somewhat kind of organised chaos looking at me as if to say 'who the hell are you'? The ones that ventured over to play with me soon got frustrated or lost interest when they realised our languages were incompatible,  for my first few days I really did wonder what the hell I had done.

However, I am a big believer that every country you visit teaches you something and I will be forever grateful to Ecuador for what it has taught me as it's been something I have sorely lacked in my whole life.  Patience. Now rather than clock watch whilst waiting for a friend I enjoy my drink and the view, read a book or just soak in the moment.  I manage to count to ten and breathe before tackling the group of five year olds that think it's hilarious to sit with their backs to me in class. Perhaps most importantly I have learned to go with the ebb and flow of life,  and realise that those things in life I thought were catastrophic, such as broken air conditioning and the lack of a repair man are actually mole hills and not mountains.  I am pleased to say patience is now a much bigger virtue in my life.

Oh and for those of you who were wondering what Australia taught me,  that is a whole other post.... or twenty.