Ecuatoriamente (Ecuador loves life)

Arguably one of the least talked about country globally; Ecuador lies at the equator far away South America. It has a population of about 16 million citizens and bordered by Colombia from the South/North and Peru from the East/North.
A country with so much diversity and 3 different climate (Cold at the Andes/Sierra, Hot/Warm at the Coast and Humid/Hot at the Jungle/Amazon).
I had embarked on an English Language teaching program which was meant to be a life changing experience for me; learning new culture, learning new language (Spanish) & visiting that part of the world for the first time.
At about 1:10am on Thursday February 24, 2017 my flight touched down at Mariscal Sucre airport in Quito.
It was freezing cold, then a downpour started just as I was arriving what would be my first base for some few days (Hostel world is truly amazing).
My bed and room was so cold that I could not lay on them. But the jet lag was real, my eyes were heavy and I had no choice than to pass out.
Tick tick tick, it was time for breakfast as I noticed feets walking around the hallway of the hostel. There were other volunteers on the program too, I was on the verge of meeting people of different culture and diversity from different countries far away from home. I am use to meeting people from different countries but experiencing this on another country felt different.
I needed to cope fastly with 3 things;
1. Quito is freezingly cold with an altitude of about 3,400 meters,
2. If you must talk to someone other than your colleagues then it should be in Spanish,
3. Navigating your way around the town and connecting with bus as against the taxi life which is quite expensive.

I was quite lucky to have arrived 4 days to the biggest carnival in the country; it was meant to be the National carnaval in 4 days time and there's sure going to be a public holiday for all to enjoy themselves. Ambato host one of the biggest carnaval in the country and I hooked up with other volunteers who were all going to spend the long weekend there.
The carnival was top notch and a good way to start my South American adventure. It was partying all throughout the 4 days and I bonded nicely with other colleagues most of whom were Brazilians. My crush for Brazil 🇧🇷 was reawakened by these beautiful souls from the Bahia beach front of El-Salvador, Brazil.
After the carnival, I had to return back to Quito to meet up with another volunteer teacher who was scheduled to take me to Lago Agrio; located at the Amazonian forest of Ecuador. I never new I was heading to a very lovely and calm city. Lago Agrio use to be a "drug troubled" city some years ago. Bordering Colombia from San Miguel, it was a route that was mostly used by drug lords to get into Ecuador from Colombia and Peru 🇵🇪. But after much work by the security forces of Ecuador, they were able to stabilize the situation. Very calm and quiet citizens . A lot of Colombians (maybe due to the US dollar influence) were involved in trade. A vodka could cost twice the price as against the price been sold in the neighboring towns in Colombia. Food, drinks and clothes are said to be smuggled in from Colombia.
I spent 5 months working on an ESL project with the Ministry of Education of Ecuador. Teaching English Language at Unidad Educativa Napo, Lago Agrio.
It was a very fulfilling experience and quite challenging also. The students were experiencing this for the first time and weren't much motivated to learn. It was quite a difficult language for them to learn I guess.
Very few students would try to buy some time with me to learn two new words and some went to the extent of engaging me on a conversation. This was something very motivating to me, helping young people learn.
5 months passed and school went on vacation. I had to return back to Quito for another posting. The academic calendar of the Sierra and Coast are different; one starts September and ends in July while the other starts in May and end in March.
But after this adventure, i wanted to see what Colombia looks like. An opportunity came and I quickly grabbed it. The visa process became a bit cumbersome for myself and other Africans who were invited to come work on a project in Bogotá. So we ended up traveling in September 2017.
Ecuador is full of touristic sites, other than the famous Galapagos, there are so much volcanoes in the country than in Africa. And the Amazon jungle pride itself with a mouth watering adventure you'll always want to have a feel of.
Ama La Vida; Ecuador loves life.

Watch out for part 2 of Ecuatoriamente'.

Sign out; Muhammad Awwal Jibril.