Touring with Tourism Students

When Phil and I met after our Spanish classes on Wednesday, he informed me that there was an opportunity to spend the next three hours with a tourism class from the local university. They needed English speakers to take on a walking tour, so the students could practice their Spanish. Although we had little information about to expect, we agreed to go (I mean, how could a former recreation student say no to such a learning opportunity?!).
We were picked up by the professor, who took us to the school to met the students, and then we headed to the first of two tourist locations, all piled into the professors car.
There were 8 students and they each had a prepared talk to give, as we wondered from one spot to the next, in an area of town that we had not been to before. One site was a monument for the iron works in Cuenca, and a museum dedicated to this and other crafts. The next site was Simon Bolivar´s house while he lived in Cuenca during the time he liberation Ecuador from colonization. Simon Bolivar is credited for liberating 6 countries at that time; Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Columbia, Bolivia and Panama. The house is now a beautiful art gallery.
Although many of the students were nervous at first, they did a great job with their English and with entertaining us. The event ended with their professor taking us all out for huge fruit and yogurt salads (which are a popular treat here and are the size of vases. I try to have one as often as possible), so that they could help us with our Spanish. It was a great trade. We hope to help them out again, sometime over the next month!