That Quilotoa Trip...

When I was in my last year of high school, all last year high school classes went on a trip to the Quilotoa Lagoon. It took us three hours to arrive there, it was a sunny day, and everything seemed to be going great.  

We were all gathered at the lagoon overlook when one of our guides told us that we had to go down to the lagoon because there they were going to explain something important about the place. This trip to the lagoon was going to be graded so, my class and I started to walk all the way down the mountain. The hike to get to the lagoon took about 2 hours. It was not tired but when we got to the lagoon, it started to rain. No one had brought umbrellas and especially the trail we went down got muddy.

When we arrived at the lagoon, we had to wait for 10 minutes to “receive” the supposed explanation of the place, but there was no explanation. The guides lied to us to get the whole class to go down that 2-hour hill to kayak in the lagoon. That kayaking activity cost $10 but we had all left our belongings, including money, inside the bus.

We were doing nothing there when suddenly one guide said: “You must help local tourism. So, please go kayaking in the lagoon”. Since we had no money, we had to borrow it from our teachers who did have cash. We went kayaking, while was raining. We were all wet and bored, but worst of all, we had to walk that 3-hour hill to get to the bus.

It took us about 3 hours to go up that hill. Because it started raining harder, the ground was muddy and slippery; and everyone was tired and hungry. I remember that I was in a group of 5 people and out of the blue, a girl could not resist any longer and fainted in the middle of the hill. At that moment, we all helped her to get up. The bad thing was that we still had about another hour to go to the top.

Finally, we arrived almost dead at the top. Our uniform, which was red, was brown from the mud. We were all about to vomit and fall to the ground. The teachers were upset since many girls (some pregnant) fainted and the guides did nothing about it. They could not even complain because everyone there washed their hands. It seems that the only thing that mattered to the locals was that all the students spent money there. 

A good guide should not neglect his group the way these guides did. What would have happened if someone had had an accident? Advantageously, no one was hurt. However, I consider that the guides and locals behaved in a very indifferent manner. Respect and, above all, responsibility must prevail in any job. Even if you have had a bad day, work is work and it must be done to the best of your ability. What I learned from this trip is that if the person in charge does not fulfill his or her duties to the fullest, you have to take the initiative to help others who are lost. Just because one irresponsible person doesn't want to do something, doesn't mean that we are all going to do the same.