More Internet Excuses/Volunteer Group

We've had some shaky internets over the past couple of weeks so prepare yourself for a slew of posts spanning our Teen Center revamp with our great volunteer group from Vanderbilt to a new video chronicling a day in the Ecuador PD's life. We'll start out with a post written up by Colin, one of the volunteers that were here last week.

Earlier this week, an awesome group of six Vanderbilt students arrived to spend their Thanksgiving break with us.  So far, it's been an incredible time.  We started off the week by spending a couple days touring around Quito and other sites in the area.  Some of the highlights included the Oswaldo Guayasamín Museum, the markets at La Mariscal, old town Quito, and the equator line(s) at Mitad del Mundo, "lines" being plural because there is one that is purely a tourist attraction and one that is actually the equator line.  Unsurprisingly, the real equator, complete with shrunken heads, is the better attraction.

After getting our feet wet and refining our Catch Phrase skills, we began our work at the Teen Center.  Despite the fact that the Center has lost some of its usual crowd due to technical problems with the videojuegos, it still has a lot of potential.  Hopefully we will see some new faces around after repainting the walls, adding a projector screen, bargaining with our carpenter amigos to help us build some new muebles, and purchasing a few more items, most importantly a Koosh basketball hoop.  The reopening party on Friday is destined to be a success.

We'll keep you posted!

So the posting was a little late, but you can get the general idea of how enthusiastic they were to get started. And yes, we did end up Koosh basketball hoop and the kids love it.