Written by: Kayleigh, class of 2019, Biology major

Mother’s Day spent in the shoes of a Galapagonian/Ecuadorian.
For the past two days our class has been doing a lot of manual, tiresome community work such as pulling the devil out of the ground. It’s May 14th and I’m positive my classmates and I are rejoicing because it’s our off day! My roommate and I spent the entire day with our lovely host family doing various activities from painting our nails to going to a gorgeous beach on the east coast of Isabela called La Playita.
We were off to a late start in comparison to the past few days, but our host mum was very understanding. We helped prepare a delicious lunch which consisted of chicken fried rice and some veggies on the side. Afterwards, we had some girl time and everyone in the house got a mani and pedi while watching Shrek in Spanish. It was interesting and quite impressive to see how much my roommate and I picked up from the movie.
After the blistering midday sun subsided, our host family decided it was time to go to the beach. We rode in the tray of a truck and sang ‘Vamos a la playa’ until we reached the stunning white sands and crystal clear blue waters. We were greeted by Jurassic parklike marine iguanas that guarded the pathway down to the beach. As soon as our toes touched the sand our host sister was eager to play football, so we set aside our bags and had a try at it. My roommate and I then basked in the sun before heading into the frigid water with our host sister and her cousin. It was surprising to find out that they couldn’t swim because they live on a land mass surrounded by beautiful waters.
We returned home around 5 to realise that the water was off, due to conservation purposes. My roommate and I slightly panicked because we were as sandy as ‘Bikini Bottom’, but our host mum graciously brought a bucket of water and we had a quick outdoor shower. Later that afternoon we had a fiesta in celebration of Mother’s Day, where the entire family came over, had a photoshoot and ate banana bread with dulce de leche (their version of caramel). All in all it was a fantastic day and I am so thrilled to have gotten the chance to spend it with them!