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3: In to the selva we go!

 

Due to time constraints, we will be publishing a collective blog post this week. We are a few hours away from departing from Puyo to Chuya Yaku, our first summer camp site. Last minute preparations are happening, but overall we’re ready to go. We’ve had to pack for our two week stay at Chuya Yaku and Paparawa. These are small indigenous communities living in the outskirts of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We are thrilled to be working with them as they are the first to experience our revised summer camp program. The focus of the summer camp is to preserve and celebrate indigenous cultures through the sharing of local sports. We will be counting on the collaboration of members of the community to teach us these sports so that we pass them on to the last two communities we will be working with living on the Arajuno Road, peoples closer to Puyo and thus, urban culture.

This past week, we have mainly worked on two major projects – the organizing of the ARP office and plastering of the dining room. We got them finished just in time for our departure. In the office, the children at Km 6 have already been enjoying the cozy reading nook we have arranged. It truly is an amazing feeling to see them go through all the books on the shelves so eagerly. Once we are back, we will continue to remodel the office and finally paint the dining room a gorgeous naranja calabaza.

We have also had several meetings to finalize our plans for the summer camp and our stay at the sites. Yesterday, we packed our bags and stayed the night in Puyo to be closer to the bus terminal for our trip today. We will miss the kids at Km 6, but do look forward to meeting many new smiling faces. We are thrilled to meet the communities and share in the summer camp spirit!

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