After having a great time in Otavalo, we took a long bus ride down to the coast to warm up a bit… and boy was it hot! The whole team lives in New York City, so we’re used to hot and humid summers, but after almost 2-weeks in the Andes, the humidity of the coast was a shock to our system.
The colors of the town of Esmeraldas are so vibrant. They were unlike anything we’d seen on a building in Ecuador. Every bit of building was painted a different shade of excitement. The structures wear the personalities of Esmeraldians on their walls, and it’s lovely to experience it!
We did so much in our short week in Esmeraldas- it was finally time to get to “work”. First, we were interviewed by a local newspaper and television station.
Then we workshoped with students from the Unidad Educativa Bellas Artes school for the arts, with the help of our translator, Holly.
Man oh man, it was hot out there on the pavement!
And we collected their stories.
We also worked with Teatro La Catanga, a local professional theatre company with fantastic ideas and vision, with the help of our translator Edwardo.
We met so many interesting people in Esmeraldas.
Including this man, who was painting a naked women from head to toe.
And this sweet puppy!
Who Mary had to get out of the cage!
We also took an overnight trip to a beach town in Sua.
We drank fresh juice every day made of amazing fruit we’d never heard of.
And danced as much as we could to the fantastic Marimba and Salsa music coming from every speaker in the whole city!
We really had an amazing time in Esmeraldas. We plan to return with the ACTion: Ecuador Project next summer, the students are bound to have a blast!
If you’d like to find out more about the Esmeraldas portion of the ACTion: Ecuador Project, click here.