It`s been an incredible week in the beatiful city of Baños, Ecuador. The week was spent perfecting our Spanish, volunteering, and living with host families.
Everyone has had a different story to tell about their host families. Some good, others not so great. Yael and I were lucky enough to be placed in a beautiful house with a sweet family and the most adorable cat, Katrina. While living with our family, we were able to practice our Spanish and learn a little about the lifestlye of an average Ecuadorian family. Each meal was served with a steaming cup of tea and a fresh glass of juice – papaya, orange, strawberry, you name it. The whole family meets for every meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There was a strong sense of family in this household, so beautiful yet so rare in the US. After dinner, we turned on some Latin music and our host mom and host siblings taught us a few salsa moves. We tried to follow our host mom´s lead and danced shamelessly, laughing all the while.
In only one week, we`ve grown close to this family in this wonderful city. We both felt so at home and welcome, and we will dearly miss the sweet ¨Chicas, chicas, buenas noches¨ from our warm host mother every night after a delicious vegetarian meal cooked so well for us.
It`s a bitter sweet day knowing it`s time to say goodbye to our host family before heading off on our next adventure in Otavalo.
Gracias por todo, Baños. ¡Se echaremos!