Hola! My name is Nora, as you may recall from our classroom visit, and I am your Reach The World Traveler. I studied Spanish and Elementary Education at Western Washington University, and I will be teaching English here in Ecuador. I live in the capital city, Quito, where I have a beautiful view of a park called La Carolina and a tall, intimidating-looking mountain named Guagua Pichincha. Here's a fun fact about the word Guagua: it means baby, because that's the sound babies make! It's pronounced "wawa" and comes from the indigenous language Quechua (pronounced keh-chwa).
Some good friends of mine invited me to hike up Guagua Pichincha a bit next month, and to be honest, I am a little nervous! Nobody who knows me would describe me as super athletic. I used to play hockey, I like to dance and swim, and I walk most everywhere here, but my favorite hobbies usually involve sitting at a table and making something. When I walk around in Ecuador, my heart beats so fast it feels like a hummingbird trying to escape my chest. I thought something was wrong, but I learned that it's due to the high altitude.
