Finally a posting

I can't believe I haven't posted since May of last year. I will try to do better this year. I will try to do several posts on our trip to Loja. We had a wonderful visit with the grandchildren. The first thing Esther said to me was Grandmas were supposed to cuddle and we went upstairs and cuddled. She read to me and I just looked at her remembering the day she was born. She has turned into a beautiful little girl. I was able to have several weeks of cuddle days with her.


I was able to attend their school for a day. Climbing into the van was an experience. There must have been 20 kids in the seats and there were no seat belts. The children have small classes and move around for each subject. I was surprised to hear Esther and Marcus using spanish so well. Weston is working on it. It was a wonderful ride up the mountain to the school. The views were
spectacular.


The children plant a huge garden every year. They til it with their hand tools and plant and care for it. When the garden has grown they pick and cook the garden veggies for lunch. They also tend to the goats and milk them. Some days they go down to the river for science and climb the hills. Most schools in town only go until 12:00 or 1 than let out for Siesta. This school goes for six hours. It is considered one of the more elite schools in Loja.

One thing I noticed that was different about their school was that the boys played like boys. There was a large sandbox in which they used toy trucks and moved the sand around. They also used their hands to throw it at each other. A real no no in the states. Many of the boys ran around using their fingers as guns. Some were rough housing on the hills while others were dangling from trees. A good game of soccer was always going on.

The girls played in their girl groups and watched the guys. The younger ones played tag and played on the slides.

Art and music were an important part of the school. Almost all the children played an instrument or sang. Red and blue pens were used for math and for writing. I was told that presentation is important in the schools so the printing and writing must look good. Most of the work was copied from the boards as there are no textbooks. So the children get a lot of opportunity to practice.

The trip home was interesting. I was sitting in the front seat when one of the boys who was sitting next to me started using his finger as a machine gun while making machine gun noises. He than says what I thought sounded like Terrorist but it could have been tourista as he pointed at me.

We saw a monkey in a fenced yard trying to escape. Several cows eating along the road and a horse that didn't seem to mind that a van load of kids were about to run it over.