It is the last week of public school, so the kids have exams, and I only had a few more days to help with their English classes. It was an interesting experience.
On Saturday, I walked two kilometers to Olon, the next town up the coast. It is much quieter than Montanita. On the way, I passed another school that was having some kind of parent-kid field day. (Why there are two schools within two kilometers of each other, I don't know. It doesn't seem like the area is that big.) Anyway, it is like stepping back in time watching the activities and games in Ecuador. They had relay races with the parents and kids, including a sack race. You don't see that often back home.
When I got to Olon, I was rather disappointed to see that, like Christmas in Guayaquil, it is sponsored by Pepsi. Who knew you could sponsor whole villages as well as holidays?
I was not surprised to see lots of people playing futbol (soccer) on the beach. I was surprised to see that the second most popular game here is volleyball. They don't even need a net, and carrying is legal. But what really surprised me was to see a game of girls' rugby. I haven't watched a game since Rachel played rugby at Duke.
It has been mostly overcast in Montanita for at least part of each day. Friday, my last day here was sunny and beautiful. It was really tempting to cut classes on that last day, but my Spanish has improved a lot, so off I went. I got to read in the sun for a couple of hours in the afternoon before leaving for Quito. But I didn't go right into the city from the airport. I went two hours north to Otavalo, which has a large regional market, and on Saturdays, it has the largest market in South America. I spend most of the day wandering around the market, finally arriving in Quito on Saturday night.
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