Quito is a colorful place

Monday began with spats of rain and a slightly slower start. However, everyone managed to be at the morning meeting where Callan shared the message of the day from George Washington. Then on to Center 1 where Pat stepped into helping with the feisty 2- to 3-year-old group, Larry spent the morning finishing grout in the bathrooms and repairing tiling on the pathway to the patio, and Amy and Callan traced worksheets for the children and created English worksheets for the tías’ afternoon English classes. In the afternoon, Callan worked with Larry on beginning to sand down a bed that requires re-finishing, Amy spent time working with Tía Ruby’s group and reading to the class in Spanish, and Pat remained with the 2- to 3-year-olds. The day at the center closed with English classes for the tías that included a game of bingo to test word recognition and practice pronunciation.

The journey back to the center proved to be more exciting than strictly necessary when a cement truck decided it wanted our place in the traffic jam and cut in extremely closely knocking the passenger side mirror off the bus. Fortunately, we all made it safely back to Quito minus one mirror. The good news is the mirror didn’t shatter so no seven years of bad luck for us. Or would it be bad luck for the cement truck driver? We did see a newly unveiled mural at the side of the road and the man who breathes fire for tips at red lights on our way home. Quito is a colorful place.

Entry submitted by: Amy McLaughlin

Message for the day: “It’s wonderful what we can do if we’re always doing.” – George Washington