Half term - road trip to the coast

We decided to hit the coast for the October half term. We ended up turning back and sleeping in Quito for the first night because I had followed what I thought was a road on the map (it turns out it was the border between two provinces!). I used to love navigating but absolutely hate it here because there are no signs and the roads are awful! When we eventually set off, we stayed at a beach called 'playa escondida' in Esmeraldas for the first night. The place was an eco-lodge. Our room was great because it was kind of in the open. We were sleeping with a shelter above us, but no walls and only a mosquito net. It was fun for one night but I wouldn't like to stay there much longer with all the insects every night. The beach was nice and there was no one around so we had it all to ourselves. The following day we had another disaster with the roads - this time it was not my fault! We followed the coast road south west instead of heading inland to the busy main road. We had travelled for about 2 hours only to come to a complete halt because the road had stopped and there was a river!! We could see the road that we wanted continuing on the other side of the river but could not get across the water! We had to turn around and retrace our tracks, to make it worse, the petrol light was on red! All fun and games. We got back to the main road and headed south to Canoa. The weather wasn't great so we were not that impressed. The coast in Guernsey is so much better! We also got stopped by the police for going through a red light that we did not see! Was quite scary as they put you in jail here for things like that. Luckily we just flashed our British embassy cards and went on our way. All in all, we spent a lot of time driving and were not that impressed with the beaches so we are not going to return to the coast in a hurry!

Quilatoa Loop

We headed off for a long weekend with Sadie and Leo in October. We drove to the Cotopaxi National Park and drove around the Quilatoa Loop, so called because of the beautiful Quilatoa Lake that is formed in the crater of a volcano. We drove around the loop from Latacunga. The first night we stayed in a great hostal called 'Mama Hilda's' which cost us $12 each including breakfast and an evening meal of lots of meat - Tom was happy. We hired horses and went riding in the hills and hiked along the beautiful roads. I was in my element snapping away at the incredible scenery. The second night we stayed in a hotel right next to the lake. We got up early and took some photos of it first thing in the morning. It was absolutely freezing! I have never been so cold. Luckily Sade had mentioned the fact it gets so cold and we had packed some extra blankets. I slept in my joggers, 2 pairs of socks, t-shirt, fleece and wooly hat as well as the extra blankets. The drive back was lovely and I got some great pictures of some local children wearing traditional costume.

The British School Quito

Here are a few pictures of the school. The school used to be a health club so is a very unusual layout. It is at the foot of the lovely volcano Ilalo. Tommy and I are both teaching Year 3 classes alongside each other. It is the only 2 form entry class in the whole school. The kids think its great that they have Mr and Mrs Johnson teaching them. We are extremely lucky and only have 13 children in each of our classes. In the whole of the year group there are only 2 children who have British parents, the rest are either locals or from other South American countries so they speak english as an additional language. They are a lovely bunch and we are really enjoying teaching them to date.