First, a bit about the country of Ecuador

This extremely geographically packed country is divided in 3 parts: the Coast (La Costa), the Andes (La Sierra) and the Amazonia (El Oriente).

There are 13 000 000 of inhabitants: 60% are “mestizos” (mix between spanish settlers, indigenous people or afros), 30% are indigenous (the original people from Ecuador) and 3% are afros (the slaves children) mostly on the Coast.

There are 24 provinces, having its own cantons, having its own parishes, having its own communities. One of these provinces is the Chimborazo province.

Chimborazo province

Chimborazo is the poorest province in Ecuador, located in the central Ecuadorian Andes, containing a section of Sangay National Park.

The capital is Riobamba. The province contains Chimborazo (6 310 m), Ecuador’s highest mountain and is divided in 10 cantons: Alausi, Chambo, Chunchi, Colta, Cumandá, Guamote, Guano, Pallatanga, Penipe, Riobamba.  In the map below, Chimborazo is highlighted in red.

Things to do here

Seriously, Ecuador is stunningly beautiful.  On weekends, you may find time to travel with friends to other towns.  If you live in a rural canton, you may venture into Riobamba to get a taste of (small) city life.  From there, Baños, a popular spa town, is about an hour away.  The 2011 Cultural Capital of Latin America, Quito, is 3 hours away.  Cuenca, Ecuador’s third largest city that is known for its beauty, is about a 5 hour bus ride away from Riobamba.  If you have a long weekend, you may wish to travel to the Coastal region or the Amazon region.  Maybe you will even have enough time to visit the Galapagos.  Bus transit in Ecuador is a great way to go, with prices as low as $1/hour.  But, head’s up, the driving here (both in buses and in cars) may make your life flash before your eyes…  You will also be able to stay in inexpensive hostels ($5-30/night), making traveling relatively inexpensive.

There are also many small towns in the Chimborazo province with their own charm and culture.  Festivals and parades are not uncommon, so you can have fun getting a taste of some very local entertainment.  (The Chimborazo province is not very touristy, especially in the smaller cantons).  Guamote, the canton where this project began and a canton we focus on especially for this reason, has a fantastic market every Thursday that you may want to check out.  There are, of course, other markets in Riobamba and Ambato.  There, you will be able to find food, livestock, colorful traditional clothes, hair wraps, ponchos, and other handicrafts. If you’re looking for a more modern market, Riobamba and Ambato have malls complete with nice cinemas.

There will most likely be other volunteers here while you are here, so you can meet with them.  Also, try to get involved in the community you live in and make local friends.  The more you attend community events and cultural festivals, the more you will feel a part of the community.

Cost of Living

Surprisingly enough, Ecuador uses the US dollar.  Although your accommodation and meals are provided by your host family and your schools, you will want to bring some spending money.  These estimates are meant to help you figure out how much you need to save up before coming.  Food prices: ice cream on a stick (more like a popsickle, really) is about 30 cents, a 3 course lunch (soup, rice and meat, juice) is around $2, a box of 20 tea bags is about 85 cents, a .  In general, food costs much less here than it probably costs in your country.

Transportation: Your transportation to the schools and back to your home will be provided, but here’s some information on how much you might want to budget for getting around Ecuador.As mentioned above, buses tend to cost about a dollar an hour.  In Riobamba, taxis always cost $1.  In Quito and Guayaquil, the cost is determined using a meter, but will be more expensive.  Quito has an excellent metro system, which only cost 25 centavos a ride.  If you are considering going to Galapagos, the plane ride is a bit pricey (relatively speaking).

Goods: Most items that are imported cost about what they would in the United States.  Clothes, electronics, and household items will probably cost what they cost in your home country.  However, anything made in Ecuador may be less expensive.  It is legal here to download and burn CDs and DVDs, so there is a plethora of multimedia shops selling your favorite movies and CDs for $1 each.  If you are confident enough with your Spanish, feel free to barter here.  Most stores do not have displayed prices, and negotiating is a part of the culture.

Activities: The cinema in Riobamba costs around $6 a movie.  Going out for a drink with friends is not very expensive, because glasses of wine (not the greatest wine, to be honest- we’re not in Chile or Argentina) costs around $2 and a 750 ml bottle of beer costs $1.  Internet cafes tend to cost around one centavo per minute.  Anything touristy will cost a bit more.  To parasail in the popular beach town of Atacamas is $25 for about 5 minutes.  It costs $25 to ride the popular train ride Nariz del Diablo, from Quito to Riobamba.  Climbing Mt. Chimborazo costs $100-$200.

Medical expenses: It is up to you if you choose to purchase insurance.  If you do not have insurance and need to go to the doctor, it costs $10 a visit.  Health care really does not cost very much here, nor do pills you may need to purchase.

In summary, do your best to save up some money before coming.  Technically, you can get by without spending anything, however you probably would not have a great time.  Of course, how much you will need depends on how much you want to purchase, but a good goal is to save $100-$150 for each month you will be here.

Living with a Host Family

Probably one of the reasons you are drawn to this program is that it allows you to live with an Ecuadorian family, ensuring that you will understand more of the Ecuadorian culture.  A cultural exchange really is a wonderful thing, for both the foreigner and the host family.  It will not always be easy, however.

You need to arrive in Ecuador with a very open mind and flexible attitude.  More than likely, your host family will be very different than your regular family.  From this author’s US cultural perspective, Ecuadorian parents are more protective and authoritative over their children, even if the children are adults.  Gender roles are more fixed here- women generally do the dishes and cook.  The people are generally more expressive here than they may be in your country.  They are very proud of every bit of their country: the food, the land, the music, the culture, and the history.  You will need to do your best to be as grateful as you can that this family has taken you in, and please them in any way you can.  We discuss boundaries with your families before they agree to host a volunteer, but if you feel they are being overly protective or controlling of you (the way they might be with their own children), you can talk with them and us, and we will work to finding a solution.  Living with a host family is definitely a learning experience, but with there being a language barrier and cultural differences, it will take a significant amount of time, effort, and cultural clashes to feel at home in your new home.  In the end, you will be very happy that you truly got an inside peek into another culture, and your tie to your host family will last a lifetime.

Studying Spanish and Giving English Lessons

It’s quite likely that one of your motivations for wishing to work with TEV is that you hope to improve your Spanish.  Living in a Spanish-speaking country will absolutely help you with your language skills!  If you have a Spanish textbook that you can bring and study with from time to time when you are here, that will also be good.  Because everyone in Ecuador has to learn English in school and university, you will be a magnet for Ecuadorians wishing to practice/ improve their English.  A good idea may be to set up a language exchange with people wanting English lessons, in which they assist you with your Spanish half the time, and you assist them with their English.  You may, of course, give all the English lessons you would like, but be sure you are putting your teaching in the schools first!  Ecuadorians can be quite persuasive, but it is okay to say no.  You don’t want to get run-down and overworked, so don’t feel like you need to say yes to everyone who wants English lessons.  There will almost definitely be many people who ask you for them.

Volunteer Blog

If you’d like to read volunteers’ thoughts on living here, click HERE!