Carly V. - Blog Post #5

My greatest challenge in Ecuador so far has simply been adjusting to communicating through the native language of Spanish as well as finding alternative ways of communicaiton. The culture is something that I have found to be fairly easy to get used to now that I have been here a few days and understand how it works. For me, who does not speak Spanish very well, I have obviously found this to be a great challenge. I have found however that gestures and facial expressions are fairly universal and this has helped me a lot when trying to communicate. I have also learned some common phrases that has greatly increase my understanding and navigation within the language. I think as I continue to take Spanish classes I will be able to overcome my challenge. Most likely not completely, but a great deal. 
My favorite part of my Spanish class today was playing Hangman as well as Pictionary. Because I am at a lower level of Spanish, the class can get pretty boring because we are really learning simple words. Playing these two games really helped to not only have some fun in the class, but it was an unconventional way to really solidify the vocabulary that we were learning into our minds. We were also able to really engage in our learning and this helped a great deal. I greatly enjoyed my entire class and I can't wait to continue to learn more! 
What I will remember most about our trip to Teleferico will be the amazing views that we got to experience as we were heading back down the mountain. Because it was so cloudy on our way up, I was not expecting to get to see the amazing views that we had been told about. However, as we were walking down the clouds parted just enough to give us an amazing view of the landscape as well as the city in the distance. My favorite part of the landscape was the waterfall that seemed like it was coming from nowhere and ending nowhere. It was so amazing to get a glimpse at the beauty of the landscape. It was also amazing to see a small civilization in the valley. I am unsure whether it was one person, or a sort of village but it was really amazing to see that someone could utilize the valley and flourish in such a place. There was also livestock around the buildings which I thought was very interesting as well. After getting a taste of how the Indigenous people of Ecuador live, I am very intrigued to get to see more of these rural communities. Although the weather did not cooperate for the entire trip, it was definitely an amazing experience I am grateful to have gotten!

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