9/13/2019 0 Comments A Trip to RememberBy Avery Degerstrom
This past summer, students from Hinckley-Finlayson, Braham and Mora went on the trip of a lifetime to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. They left on the fourteenth of June and returned home on the twenty-ninth, sixteen days of new experiences for these 39 students and 7 adult chaperones. Everyone on the trip stayed with a host family in the city of Cotacachi or La Calera (a small indigenous village a few miles out of the city). Our families were amazing. They fed us for a week, did our laundry, took us out to do things, taught us the ways of life in Ecuador and really let us feel like part of their family. We all made bonds with people in Ecuador that will never be forgotten; for me it was my host sister Lia. She is eight years old and the funniest and sassiest person I have ever met. Lia and I played a lot of Uno and other card games along with her older sister and Austin Stapek, the other student from Hinckley that went on the trip. Communication may have been difficult at times but it never was impossible. The language barrier was a struggle but everyone we encountered talked slower for us or would if we asked them to, except for the woman who worked at the pizza place we called one night. The Spanish group as a whole was able to better our language skills especially in the form of talking and listening. We all came home feeling much more confident in speaking and had learned so many new words and phrases. By the end of the trip people were talking to each other in Spanish of the bus or incorporating small words of Spanish into English sentences, even thinking and writing in Spanish without trying to. Spanish words were becoming natural for us and it was amazing to see and feel that transition. Being immersed in a foreign language for two whole weeks was great but to combine the language and culture of Ecuador was the greatest learning experience we could have asked for. The culture of Ecuador is fun, lively and beautiful. The markets and filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, there was fresh bread every morning for breakfast and the juice was the most delicious thing ever. They dance in the streets for festivals, sing songs and play instruments. They have cleansing rituals and watch soccer games. The best part about it was they were so willing to share every last piece of it with us. We tried the amazing food, went to many traditional dance and song festivals and hiked down the side of a mountain to get cleansed by a shaman. They gave us experiences you would never get if you just went to Ecuador. “The communities were warm and friendly” said Leah Kehr, a Mora student who went on the trip. The Mora students had an extra special person who was in Ecuador, her name is Dominique. Dominique was a foreign exchange student at Mora for the 2018-19 school year. She is from Ecuador and we were fortunate enough to have her come on our trip with us. We even got to go to her school in Ibarra and talk to students there. We gave a presentation about Minnesota things like MOA, hot dish and our slang words. It was a great experience to have and to see the differences and similarities between school systems there and here in the United States. The entire trip was something that the people who went will never forget. We had fun, improved our language skills, saw a different culture and learned so many things. The mountains were gorgeous and I was inspired by the beauty that is in living a simple life. This trip sparked a want to travel in many of the students who went. It was really the trip of the lifetime.
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