Friday & Saturday (6/22 & 23) - Maquipucuna

Our weekend trip was to Maquipucuna (in the cloud forrest) north of Quito and toward the Pacific.  It's about a 2 to 3 hour bus ride.  We first went to Mindo Ecuador and ate at Caskaffesu - good food, and the rooms for rent looked nice.  I hope to return one day.

Then we went to Hostería Mariposas de Mindo - butterfly farm.  We took a tour and walked inside a greenhouse like structure containing 1000s of butterflies that they are raising.  Once they mature enough, they set them off in the wild.

Open air dinning (left)
Resort rooms (right)

Then on to Maquipucuna where we hiked to a cascades waterfall and got in the water, then to a fast flowing stream.  The next day we went bird watching at 6:15 a.m.  We saw flycatchers, coo coos, tanagers, woodpeckers, and more.  While at Maquipucuna, I talked with faculty from University of Georgia who were there to do biology and entomology work.  They had 15 to 20 students too.

Thursday, June 21 - Quito at Night

Team 6 - Colton & Jon with
Teacher Christina at Bicentenario

Thursday was our last day at Bicentenario.  We taught our classes, gave professional development for the teachers on computer security, and said goodbye.

Crystal Palace, Quito

We got home just in time to eat dinner, then we were off for a night tour of Quito that included Centro Histórico and a view of downtown from the Crystal Palace.

We got home at 11 p.m.  I packed for the upcoming weekend trip and went to bed.

Quito at Night

Wednesday - June 20

Today was our third day at Bicentenario.  Things went well.

Afterward working at Bicentenario, I had a meeting scheduled at SENESCYT.  This organization has to do with way more than I understand, but one item includes (as I've been told) the creation of the four new universities in Ecuador, one of them call YACHAY (City of Knowledge).

Fulbright in Ecuador originally thought I might be able be of service to SENECYT and its work with the creation of these universities.

Alas, my meeting didn't happen because the person with whom I was to meet (Ramiro Moncayo) ended up not being available because other meetings popped up on his calendar.

I was aware that he is quite occupied, so came prepared with a one page listing of items where I might be able to contribute to YACHAY and the other universities.

Tuesday - June 19 - Visit to Ministry for Culture in Ecuador

Did I mention that it takes close to two hours to get to Bicentenario in the morning.  I get picked up early in the bus route around 7:30 a.m. and we arrive around 9:15 a.m. or so.

After our work at Bicentenario today, Dr. Magdalena and I went to the offices of the Ministerio de Cultura del Ecuador.  There I met with the minister, Erika Sylva.  We talked for about 20 minutes about things I might be able to do during the fall when I return to Ecuador.  The talks went well, and there may be opportunities for me to work with the Ministerio during my Fulbright stay.

Ecuador is creating four brand new universities and one of them is devoted to the arts, that's where the Ministerio de Cultura del Ecuador comes into play.  Where I would contribute would be with helping with assessment of the classes, and overall curriculum.  There is also interest in peer review of faculty, possibly developing a CTL (center for teaching and learning for faculty professional development - which is what I head up at IU Southeast), and using course management software in order to deliver course related materials for each course through the web (handouts, quizzes, tests, collect homeworks, etc.).

Monday - June 18

This week we are at La Escuela Bicentenario in the south of Quito.  This school was started three years ago and is intended to be a model public school.

The teachers that I have met are all very dedicated to student learning.  The computer teacher we work with is so full of enthusiasm that it is contagious.

At this school you can tell they know what "time on task" means.  In one of the computer rooms where we taught, the computer teacher was teaching Excel to 5th graders, she had a good lesson plan and she was executing it well.

They have SmartBoards in some classrooms, but it might be the case that insufficient SmartBoard training was provided.

There is WiFi everywhere.

At the end of the first day we did professional development, both teams taught some html programming for the teachers, and it seemed to be well received.

Father's Day - June 17

On Father's Day I was invited to a Father's Day get-together at a relative's of Maria Eugenia's (my host).  I ate four different kinds of lasagna, salad, and dessert.  I talked and listened to Spanish for muchos hours.  It was a real nice outing.  At the end of the day my head was hurting from all the Spanish talking.

Thursday (6/14) through Saturday (6/16)

Chimborazo as seen from San Gerardo

Thursday (6/14/2012) we travelled to a pueblo San Gerardo and visited their school.  There we were received with open arms.  I asked Dr. Magdalena Herdoíza how she originally found San Gerardo and of course there is a story behind it, but the short story is that she found it through her contacts at UNESCO some 8 or 9 years ago.  San Gerardo is located in the foothills of the inactive volcano Chimborazo.


The people of San Gerardo welcomed our group with open arms.  We started with a ceremony which included speeches of gratitude for our visit and various performances from the children at the school.  They fed us a snack for dinner that was more like a meal for dinner on Thursday night, and the gave us handmade gives.  I received a scarf and earrings para me esposa (for my wife).


Friday we returned early in the morning to San Gerardo to work for a short while with the children in their classrooms, and then we conducted three different seminars for the teachers of the school and adults of the pueblo; the teaching seminar was conducted by Dr. Magdalena, health by the nursing student team, and computing by the computing student teams (San Gerardo has a computer lab with computers donated by IU Southeast).

In Riobamba (map) we stayed at the Hotel Montecarlo and on Saturday, we were up and ready to leave at 8:45 for a day at Baños de Santa Agua.  Baños is an hour or two away from Riobamba because both are in the Andes and there isn't a straight road to Baños.  Baños is on the Pastaza River which flows to the Amazon region.  This the first time that the Summer in Ecuador class has visited Baños and this was because of the insistence of four of the teachers of San Gerardo, they were our guide for the day and paid for many of the attractions.

Joe in front of el Pailon del Diablo

There we visited the el Pailon del Diablo where there is a waterfall and it is said you can see the face of the devil in a rock formation.  We climbed a trail to near the top of the waterfall where you can get under/behind the waterfall and get really refreshed by the splashing of the water as it falls to the bottom.  We also visited a thermal bath/spa which are heated by bubbles coming up from the volcano below us.