An Ecuadorian Christmas

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

The holiday traditions are very different here than in the United States. First of all, almost everyone here celebrates Christmas. If you’re walking down the street and want to greet someone, you don’t say “Happy Holidays”, you say, “Merry Christmas.” One of the reasons for this is that Ecuador is 95% Roman Catholic, according to the CIA World Factbook. In the States, many people do not celebrate Christmas, but here, almost all celebrate Christmas.

Christmas here was very fun. We had a dinner at midnight (nochebuena) at a friend’s house and then walked around the neighborhood hanging out with people until 2:30 in the morning. The funny thing is, we went to bed early! We gringos couldn’t handle being out that late!

The food here is great. For Christmas dinner, we had chicken, rice and salad. It is amazing that the people here are so poor, yet so generous. Whenever we visit someone’s house, they always cook up some great food for us, even though they really don’t have much. Many of the houses are one room, with a bed on the floor and a stove in the corner. Even though people here barely have enough for themselves, they willingly give to their guests.

(This is my sister and Natalie, a little girl from Bastion with her Christmas gift)

Q: About how many people are NOT Roman Catholic?

Hint: You can use the CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ec.html to find the total population of Ecuador.

Estoy en Ecuador!

Hey Students!

I made it to Ecuador! I left New York City at 12:01am on Thursday, and I got to Ecuador the next morning. I ended up sitting next to a guy named Alfonzo. He’s an Ecuadorian citizen, but is studying architecture in New York City. He was a really nice guy, and around my age.

Here’s a funny tid-bit. I sat in the emergency exit row in the plane, so there was a little less storage for my bags. I had to put my carry-on bag a couple rows in front of me, so it was out of sight for the whole trip. When I went to get to off the plane, I went looking for my bag, and it wasn’t there! “Great,” I thought, “First day in Ecuador and my bag gets stolen…” Then I looked over and saw a flight attendant zipping up my bag… which made me wonder why he had unzipped my bag in the first place. Apparently, some woman thought that my bag was hers, and needed to open it up to check if it was hers. You’d think just looking at the name tag on the bag would be enough, but I guess not!

Anyway, the flight went really well and I got to Ecuador pre

tty early in the morning. So students, here is your first bonus question.

Q: What time did I get to Guayaquil, Ecuador?

For this question, you must calculate the time it took me to fly to Ecuador. Guessing a time of arrival won’t cut it. Here are some things that you know. The average plane travels at 460 miles per hour. You can find the distance between NYC and Guayaquil using this website: http://www.geobytes.com/citydistancetool.htm.

You can use this website to check your answer: http://www.aaat.com/free-online-time-distance-speed-calculator.cfm

This formula may come in handy too: Time = Distance ÷ Speed

Hasta Luego!

Mr. Hayes

How this Works

Hey Students!

Welcome to my bonus blog! This blog will not only let you see what I'm up to in Ecuador for the next three weeks, but it will also give you the opportunity to get some extra credit! Each post will include some kind of a question (perhaps math or science). If you complete all of the questions and hand them in to me, you will get extra credit towards your last test in Mrs. Catarano's science class. We may have something for you in math class also. Answers are due to me on Wednesday, January 19th.

Hope you guys enjoy this and learn something! Have a nice break!

Mr. Hayes