By: Lupine Genevieve
Aumack
La
Saharienne is made up of women competitors from Belgium, Canada, France, and
Ecuador. This competition was located in Zamora, Loja and Vilcabamba, Ecuador. First,
they were in Loja for running and climbing, then they ran and biked 40km from
Loja to Vilcabamba, and finally in Zamora they kayaked on sit on top kayaks on
the Bombuscaro/ Zamora river. La Saharienne started on November 7th,
2016 and ended on November 13th, 2016. The goals of this event were
to have fun, travel, meet new people and also to get donations for AMAUTA
SCHOOL. In order to make this happen, they had to have helpers and big tour
buses for transportation.
The
first day of the competition was at AMAUTA SCHOOL. All the students prepared
little flags with the countries painted on them with the art teacher, Julia
Tapia Castro. The students stood by the trail, waved flags and cheered. The
women were happy and pumped up by this. Some of the smaller kids were running
up to them and giving their legs hugs. That slowed them down a bit.
Puertas Abiertas was part of the fun.
One Monday, half of the women came up to the school, which is a reserve, and
did activities with the kids. For example, they showed the competitors how to
make a traditional food from Ecuador, las empanadas. Also they made recycled
art, and planted trees (a native tree, the Romerillo or Podocarpus.) Very fun for everyone!
Julia
Tapia Castro, art teacher, commented: “I
think the visit was beautiful because we could meet a group of people who are
supportive and help those who need it. It also helped them to know our school
and reserve.”
