What began as an idea ended up as a trip to Ecuador for some local students and their parents. Shortly before the school year ended, they gathered to reminisce about their big adventure.
Almost all the students attended Laurel Ridge Elementary, and 10 of them made the journey, along with nine parents, three of whom speak Spanish. The trip wasn’t sponsored by the school but, instead, was organized by parent Michele Farber of Fairfax’s Hayden Village community.
She has two children in Laurel Ridge Elementary’s partial, Spanish-language immersion program, where some subjects are taught in Spanish, and others, in English. After reading about a trip to Japan taken by another group of immersion-school children, Farber began thinking about a trip for the Laurel Ridge students.
"It would supplement their speaking and understanding of the Spanish language and help them learn about a different culture," she said. "They’d also get to experience international travel and interact with children in a Spanish-speaking country."
So a group of interested parents started meeting and evaluated several destinations before deciding on Ecuador. Being an immersion school, Laurel Ridge draws students from other school districts, and those who went on the trip, April 3-12, live in Fairfax, Burke, Clifton and Centreville.
"We had an amazing experience," said Farber. "Prior to our trip, we started writing back and forth with children in a very small school located in a small farming community in the mountains outside Ibarra, Ecuador. The kids exchanged letters and pictures. The children there are indigenous people who speak a native language in addition to Spanish. During our trip, we met with their community and spent two days at their school."
The American visitors helped their new friends paint a mural on a wall, taught the children how to jump rope and play American games and spent time in their classrooms. In return, their hosts cooked native food for them, including a meal featuring the local delicacy of guinea pig.
"We also visited and toured the capital city of Quito, visited a crater lake, shopped at one of the largest markets in South America, called Otavalo, and visited Quilotoa and the town of Mindo, where we hiked in the rainforest and did an awesome, zip-line canopy tour," said Farber. "The trip ended with a spectacular visit to the national equator monument and the neighboring, ‘real’ equator museum dedicated to the native people of Ecuador."
Fifth-grader Camilo Ortiz was excited to meet the children there and learn more Spanish. "It was a poor, but nice, country," he said. "I saw mostly people walking and not a lot of cars. I spent time with my pen pal, Aida, who’s 10, and we spoke in Spanish. We also played soccer and jumped on a trampoline in the playground. And we went to a museum and saw a lot of cool artifacts."
Sixth-grader Tobin Wieder, 12, liked "seeing how other people lived differently from the U.S. But some of them were begging on the streets, and it was kind of sad. The food was different, especially the guinea pig, which tasted like lemon-flavored chicken, and we had soup every day. My favorite moment was the zip line in Mindo. It was fun going upside down, 100 feet in the air. And my pen pal Christian was strong and funny."
Burke resident Clarisse O’Brien, 11, a Laurel Ridge sixth-grader, said the area was "rural, with lots of open plains and farms. The roads were gravel and there were lots of stray dogs. I liked seeing my pen pal, Diego. We played soccer — all the kids were good at it — and had fun."
Farber’s daughter Bella, 11, in sixth grade, was surprised to see "old ladies and kids living on the streets. The kids sold gum or shined shoes to make money; they offered to shine our sneakers. I couldn’t imagine living like that. Some of them walked at least two hours to school along paths."
She said the people spoke Quechua so, for both Bella and her pen pal Diana, Spanish was their second language. But they communicated just fine while jumping on a trampoline made out of tires. "It was great meeting our pen pals after writing to each other for about two months," said Bella. "Although we felt like giants because most of them were shorter than us. We gave the children an American flag and brought them framed pictures of ourselves."
Fifth-grader Graciela Perez, 10, called the whole adventure "really, really fun. My pen pal was Jamilton, and he and Clarisse’s pen pal were best friends. He liked to draw and embroider. I liked getting to know how other people live. Here, we’re modern and have lots of buildings, but they have small buildings made out of wood."
As souvenirs, Graciela bought bracelets for herself and her friends, a hat and an embroidered wall hanging of a rural scene. And if possible, she said, "I would like to go back some day and see how the people at the school grew up."
Sami Ryder, 10, of Burke Village enjoyed meeting pen pal Luz and shopping at Otavalo. "They had shawls, dolls and shoulder bags," she said. "I bought jewelry, a shawl and a doll. We also went to Crater Lake, which was like the inside of a volcano, but with water in it. It was really cool."
Lucas Ortiz, a fourth-grader, said pen pal Andrea is "shy, doesn’t have many friends and is poor. But she was nice and playful." He said people ate guinea pig every Sunday and also eat lots of soup and popcorn. He brought back keychains for his friends and liked being in Ecuador because "I learned a lot more Spanish – and I’m a Spanish-American."
He also had fun visiting the museum at the equator line because "it showed what happened in the country long ago and what they wore. I would go back again to see how my pen pal is; we’re going to keep writing to each other."
Michele Farber feels the same way. "The experience was incredible," she said. "We’re planning on going again next year and making it an annual thing."