Where to Next? How about back to Ecuador via Blog Carnival?

This time of year is when Hubs and I pick our next destination. Normally we have somewhere in mind and initiate our planning and booking before the new year. This year we seem to be stumped. I really want to look into going to Nepal or Thailand, but Hubs is leaning more toward China or Japan. In any case, I'm thinking we will end up in Asia. (Or maybe back in South America?) Aside from Antarctica, Asia is the one continent to which we both haven't been. (Hubs got to go to Morocco during a school trip to Spain. I love the pictures of 16 year old him on a camel in a fez!)

So of course with all this, "Where to now?" thinking I've been looking back on trips I have taken and picking out the moments I want to recreate. I always get called back to the mountains. I blame it on Ecuador and the Andes. I wouldn't mind going to Chile or Bolivia for somewhere new. Maybe that's why I want to know more about Nepal and the Himalayas. I want to see if they have the same effect on me as the Andes.

Speaking of Ecuador, here's my old blog from when I was there in 2011. If you want to know more about Ecuador, check out the Ecuador Travel Blog Carnival. I was invited to share my stories from Ecuador and of course I said yes! I love looking back, five years after the fact, so I'm going to answer their prompts to help sum up my three months in the beautiful country. Of course nostalgia has kicked in, so I highly suggest reading my original blog posts!

• Did you visit some of the destinations mentioned above so far?

I did! I stayed in Quito for most of my trip and went around to places like Papallacta. I went on a girls' trip to Tonsupa and two other trips with other teachers to Mindo and another to a lodge in Yasuni National Park. At the end of my trip I got to take a solo week-long trip to the Galapagos.

• What was your favorite place?

That's tough to answer! The juxtaposition of the city of Quito against the backdrop of the Andes was breathtaking. However, the Galapagos were, obviously, so unique. I felt very safe on those little islands. Except when a bull sea lion tried to take over my beach towel- with me still on it!

• What was the craziest thing that happened to you?

The sea lion "attack" for one. But one day in Quito I remember walking down the sidewalk and seeing a man with a thick, "marshmallow" jacket (it was really warm that day), jeans down below the belt line (with no undies!), he picked up a half-smoked cigarette from the ground, took a puff, and kept on walking! Haha! Oh! And I got to meet Miss Ecuador! Of course I had just hiked up a volcano and looked extra terrible next to such a beauty!

• Have you made any bad experiences you had to deal with during your trip?

Fortunately, I did not. I did have very good advice from my host mom about using the ATMs with the guards, taking cabs with numbers on the side and running meters or call from a company, and don't carry too much cash on you. It's general safety tips to know when traveling anywhere. Some of my friends there had a few dangerous experiences, but they came out unscathed.

• What were the differences compared to your home country and how did you like them?

I loved the warmth and liveliness of the people. Everyone I met was so welcoming, ready to eat and dance the salsa! They tried to teach me and were very patient with my stiff hips.

• Did you travel alone or were your accompanied by anyone?

I took the trip alone, but I stayed with a host mother and grandmother. I also made friends along the way with people I met and worked with.

• Did you plan your trip all by yourself or did you book it through a travel agency/organization?

My trip was planned through the COST program. They set up the living and teaching situation. I handled the flights and all the side trips on my own.

• How did you like the people?

They were so kind! Especially on the Galapagos. Imagine how nice everyone is at Disney World, but now imagine them as surfers. And now add that they also have that small town, family-like mentality. 

• And the most important thing: According to your overall experience, would you recommend Ecuador as must–travel destination and why?

YES! It has everything you could want- beaches, mountains, rain forest, hot springs, snow (if you go high enough!), delicious foods, awesome night life, gorgeous outdoor activities, I could go on! If I were to go back I would stay in Quito a few days and then go to the Galapagos for at least a week.

I hope you all have somewhere great in mind to go! If you have any questions about Ecuador, please ask! Or if you have a suggestion on where Hubs and I can go next please leave a comment below. Thanks!

Camping with Dogs

This weekend Hubs and I got our pups packed up in our new van and hit the road. We headed to the mountains with another couple and their pup. Hubs and I have never taken the dogs camping before. Sure, we have done a lot of hiking and picnicking with our furbabies. I have to say, it went so well! The dogs were so good in the van and so well behaved at the campsite. They even were calm in the tent and let us sleep in later than normal! Of course, this was all after an eight mile hike so that might explain it.

Since my dogs are my little furry children, I did a lot of reading before taking them hiking. I made sure their vaccines were up to date, they had all their medicines, and I packed enough food and water for them. Hubs and I did have some slight oversights about some conveniences of camping with dogs. Learning by trial and error, right?

Long Creek Falls off the Appalachian Trail

Here are some things I learned while camping with dogs.

1. Bring a dog bed. We are okay with our pups sleeping on the ground in the tent, but after a long hike and in the cool fall weather I wish I had something a little softer and warmer for them.

2. We packed a 5 gallon cooler with ice and assumed enough of it would melt. It didn't. We managed because the couple we were camping with brought a gallon of water and we had some water bottles. I wish we had filled the container with water as well as with the ice. We needed to fill our Camelbaks, but all we had were a few 16oz water bottles. That's not quite enough with four people and three dogs.

3. We needed a dog sweater. One of our dogs is a husky so she was fine when the temperatures started to drop. Our other baby is a Labrador and Weimaraner mix so his winter coat hasn't grown in yet. He also didn't want to get too close to the fire either due to the wind blowing the smoke everywhere. Our friends' little puppy, a black Labrador and Pitbull Terrier mix, was shivering most of the night and the morning. They wrapped her up in a sleeping bag to help keep her warm. I have a sweater and a jacket for my little boy and I was upset with myself that I didn't think to pack them. I put one of my shirts for a little bit on him but it was too big.

what I wish we had set up at camp

4. We had leashes, leads. and halters so the dogs could roam the site but not run off. So of course this meant that stuff got knocked over and dogs got tangled. Out little boy basically hog-tied himself more than once! Poor thing. I wish we had a run line for them. That way they could still walk around without all the drama.

morning at the campsite

Hubs and I, like many people, love our pets and consider them family. I love being able to take them places and I know they love being part of our adventures! Overall it was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again!

Inspiring Travel in the Classroom

Before, I’ve written about the importance of geography in the social studies classroom. So far this school year I’ve seem to put a higher emphasis on traveling. Here are a few ways how I’ve done that.

1.       What Time Is It?

the middle clock's batteries are dying so it's time is not in line with the others

On my classroom wall I have a poster from Junior Scholastic Magazine called “What Time Is It?” I then got six inexpensive clocks and hung them around the poster all showing a different time zone. My students like to go over and find where the places are or try to figure out what time it is in another place. I love the questions I hear them ask one another. “So, the people in Japan right now are going to sleep?” “Is Australia already in tomorrow?”

     2.       Where’s Waldo?

This I’ve written about in a previous post about finding the teacher, but this year I’m implementing it with a more student-centered attitude.  To get my students started and provide an example, I wrote a description and included a picture of a location I had been and posted it on our Google Classroom site. Then I gave the students one week to guess where I was. The first to do so correctly wins a homework pass and to “hide” next.  All the students who guess correctly get a piece of candy. To help make it more challenging, if the student who “hides” does not get guessed, then that student receives another homework pass, a piece of candy, and to hide again if they’d like!

This was the first one I wrote to start off my classes.
Can you figure out the answer?

This is one of my student's hiding place.
Not all the entries went off my example this closely,
but this student stumped a lot of her classmates.
Can you find this 6th grader?

The goal of this activity is to have students honing their map skills, learning about new places, and getting to describe their own adventures to their classmates. This activity is optional and works as a great lesson extender. (The students in my classes have their own laptops or Chromebooks so they can easily access it.) Then on the large classroom map (mine is a shower curtain from Target) I plan on posting arrows with where everyone has hidden after the week is up. That way the students from other classes can see where their friends have been. So far, this activity has been a hit!

     3.       Passports

I never keep up with the bathroom sign out list, or who goes where when, it’s simply something I don’t prioritize. So I thought to myself, what can I do so I can see easily which students leave my room without having to analyze a sign-out sheet? A passport! I came up with a document that students keep in their notebooks with “stamps.” The student writes where and when they are going and then I actually stamp the paper. Each student gets nine “stamps” per nine weeks. This helps me see who habitually leaves the classroom and helps the students see how often they are leaving class. I was worried this would become a more of nuisance than a help, but once the habit was formed it goes really smoothly! I like this as a method to monitor the students and it encourages conversations of who has a passport, who’s never even seen one, who went where, etc.

I believe we are all students, no matter what stage of life we are at currently. I also believe that traveling helps open up our minds to new ways of life and news level of education. I suppose this is my way as a social studies teacher to “do” in order to learn. All I want for my students is to have a passion to continue learning throughout their lives, whether it be through travel or other means.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” -Benjamin Franklin

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." - Confucius