The last few weeks have brought a lot of fun and excitement to the Arajuno Road Project volunteer house! The third trimester has been wrapped up with the completion of exams and end of the year excursions. We were lucky enough to be invited to the final party for the school Simón Bolívar. It is the school closest to Puyo and where two past volunteers painted a much loved Mickey Mouse and Pluto mural. We met at the schools in the early morning hours where one of the fathers was still cooking a pig. He told us he had been there since 3 a.m.!! While waiting for the rest of the children and parents to arrive, we sang songs with the children and then happily boarded the awaiting bus. It took us to a nearby dam called Fatima. At first, the children were not allowed in the waters due to the prior nights heavy rains, however, before long everyone was laughing and swimming and renting inflatable boats- volunteers, parents and children alike! After lunch we all parted ways and began looking forward to summer school.

The volunteers had a week to prepare activities for Summer School festivities while at the same time, exploring the local tourism. One day was spent at the OMARE botanical gardens in Puyo where we learned about two of the indigenous groups’ traditional lodging and tools, as well as the identification and purpose of several natural herbal remedies found in the region. We also spent some mornings working in the garden at the house and a day of adventure in nearby Banos. Everyone went over to the bridge to see where people jump from (it’s called puenting here), but due to the rain, no one stepped up to the wavering platform.

On the home front, electricity has arrived to the jungle!! There is no more noise from a generator during the evening hours and now we can all sit back and listen to the sounds of nature with the lights on. Amazing.

Summer School 2011 started off with and bang and is a bit different than it has been in the past. We kept the same title “Dia de Actividades”, or “Day of Activities”, but are trying it out at 5 schools, with a different one each day. The first week’s activities were all centered on the circus, with the children coloring, stuffing and making juggling balls, learning related basic vocabulary and of course playing a little football (soccer for my fellow North Americans). It was a shame none of us could juggle, but the kids surely enjoyed it.
Shall we end on some more good news? The first library has been installed at one of the schools! It is full of Spanish and English resources as well as audio for all the English stories. We can’t wait to see how they receive the new addition to their school at the start of September!