Ooh, a coup

Something political happened today in Ecuador, but it isn’t clear quite what. The army has taken control of Quito airport which is in the middle of the city. But whether that is part of a coup, or to protect infrastructure for the government isn’t obvious. The head of the army has apparently sworn his allegiance to President Correa. But the police force is rebelling. My work was cancelled today due to the potential danger of travelling in the city, but otherwise where I am based, nothing seems any different, and that is only maybe four miles from Quito airport. There were rumours that the supermarket next door to my flat was being looted, but when I went to investigate, it was still open and trading cat food to old women as usual.

The issue seems to be mainly with the police force which is protesting against austerity cuts. At a demonstration the president challenged the rebels to try and kill him ´si me quieren matar, mátenme´. They didn’t kill him, but he did have tear gas fired at him by his own police officers. One Ecuadorian friend said that it is about the police loosing things like their free turkey at Christmas, presumably there is more to it than that. The main problem seems to be now that with the police force rebelling, the country is unprotected from crime. It is dangerous after dark as it is, a friend was held up with a gun thrust in his chest two days ago. It seems that if you walk around the streets after dark a weapon will be pulled against you. It is just getting dark now, so the night might bring some chaos. The police aren’t going to get much sympathy from the public. They are widely considered to be corrupt and self serving.

The politics here are similar to the rest of the southern continent, so people aren’t particularly surprised by a possible coup being underway. Ecuador is part of the ´marea rosa latinoamericana´, the pink tide of Latin American countries shifting to leftish politics. Indeed, several of Correa´s equivalents have seen similar coups in recent years. President Chavez in Venezuela held on to power after his, President Zelaya in Honduras was dumped out of the country still in his pyjamas.

Baños

Baños is a small town about three hours by bus from Quito. Its name comes from its thermal baths, which are heated by Tungurahua, the volcano that the town sits on. Eruption is a real threat, and visitors are advised to briefly study the evacuation procedure upon arrival. There are also street signs pointing out the evacuation route. Despite the risk, the town attracts a lot of national and international tourists. We stayed over here at the weekend as a break from Quito, and found it a lovely place to visit. It is a real change from the hustle and constant but vague threat of robbery in the capital. We stayed in the very recommendable Hostal Transilvania.

The town draws people for two main reasons 1) the open air hot baths and 2) it is a stop off on route to the Amazon jungle.  But there are also other quirks of interest here, such as stunning scenery with lots or waterfalls and their very own dangerous sport: puenting, some odd cross between a zip wire and bungee jumping. In the town, there is sugar cane on sale everywhere and also the melcocha, a nougat like substance made from the cane.

Cuy (guinea pig) on sale in the market

Melcocha (sugar candy) makers at work

However, for me the most interesting part is the town museum, located in the cloisters of the Basilica. This is possibly the most unintentionally bizarre display of artefacts in the world, due in large part to its taxidermy collection.

First job

And so it just sort of happened, without knowing how, I had got a job. That seems to be how things work here. There isn't much of an application and interview system, just right time and place. Helen had agreed to do some teaching at a language school specialising in British English. They asked her if I would do a couple of hours next week, I could pop in to get the details on Monday. I turned up at 2:30 and was given my coming week’s schedule, my first class starting at 7:30. I only have about 10 hours per week of teaching time, but it’s enough to wreak havoc with my leisure time.

A language institute isn’t quite what I was after. But most of the work is in the evenings, so I can still look for some university based work. This also beefs up my teaching CV a bit, so is probably increasing my chance of finding an additional university job. I’ve heard that there is a desperate shortage of English teachers in China, 30,000 unfilled teaching posts at any one time. However, the market seems to be pretty buoyant in South America too, at least in Ecuador. Most, if not all of the CELTA trainees who stayed in Ecuador are now in teaching positions. The course only finished 11 days ago.

Quito

Quito has a fantastic climate. Located only 15 miles south of the Equator it has a lot of sunshine, but being high in the mountains, at aver 9,000 feet above sea level, it doesn’t get too hot and has a permanently spring like feel. We have been here for about six days, mainly looking for jobs. The plan was to move onto Cuenca or Loja next and distribute our CVs there. However, although we haven’t found work yet, there have been some positive signs. So at the moment, it is looking like Quito will end up being where we settle. One possibility for me is the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito. This is the top research university in the country, and is located in Cumbayá, a town just outside of Quito. Being at a lower altitude it gets somewhat warmer than Quito and has less rain. Although they have no English teaching vacancies at the moment, I may be able to teach a psychology course for them in the spring. This is dependent on enough students signing up to take a psychology course taught in English, and me obtaining a full work visa before then (my current 12-ix visa has only 4 months left on it).

In the meantime I need to continue looking for English teaching work, the procedure is quite simple, you just arrive somewhere and ask if they need teachers and leave a CV. It seemed ridiculous when I first heard this, but that really is how they do things here. As I've had no call backs from my initial trip out around the campuses, I probably need to try a few more. Though I'm getting out of the city for the weekend, to Baños.

View over Quito from Volcan Pichincha

Teacher I am

So I have finished the course today, and passed. One of our group has already been hired to go and work in Puerto Viejo, starting Monday. They urgently needed a British teacher which they didn’t have, so the first Brit to accept it got it. All the Brits on the course were virtually begged to take the job. That is the way it is here, as I’m a native English speaker with the teaching qualification, I am a sought after commodity. If they have foolishly advertised the course as being taught by a British born English teacher, then more so. But I’m hanging on for a University job in the Sierra. Unfortunately, my interview with a university on Monday has been cancelled. Somebody who could get to the capital for the interview before me now has that job. But I have plenty of other options, Quito is full of universities, and they all need a steady supply of English teachers.

Teachers and trainers after the last class of the course, the thing behind is the classroom.

As expected, I eventually found a scorpion in my cabana. A large chap, but he was looking pretty ill, I suspect the owners of Playa Kamala has used insecticide, as it was starting to look like a plague. And that wasn’t the only biological challenge sent to us this week, there has also been an outbreak of vomiting illness. I am one of the four people who have managed to avoid it, that is out 12 trainee teachers. But that is pretty much finished with and we’ve all passed the course. So tonight we party, and go our separate ways in the morning. For me it is to Quito.

This one was half dead when I found him on the floor of my cabana. He is huddled up so looks smaller than he would if healthy, but you can see how long his tail his. That packs quite a nasty punch.

Virtually certifable

I've completed four weeks of the five week CELTA course now, just 5 more days of this and I'll be qualified to teach English. To qualify you need to have six hours of assessed teaching, i.e. a trainer watches your class and decides whether it is up to standard or not. I've pretty much got my six hours now. The actual teaching isn't so hard, but you spend a lot of time on preparation and documenting that preparation. There are a few other requirements too. For example, there is coursework that totals about 4,000-5,000 words of written material and a requirement to observe six hours of lessons given by qualified teachers. Other than that it is mainly all about attending classes.

This is the classroom at the Playa Kamala CELTA course. They do things a little differently here.

Hopefully once I have the CELTA qualification I'll be able to get a job fairly quickly. So far the signs are positive. I have sort of already had one job offer, to start full time English teaching next week in Quito. But it is in a language institute, and I really need to get a university job. Otherwise, my CV will look too wonky when I do return to the university job market in the UK.

As I have a PhD in psychology, I also have the possibility of teaching that, however it would have to be in English and most of the university level education here is, as you would expect, delivered in Spanish. It is going to be a while before my Spanish improves enough to teach in it. I've contacted two universities so far, stating clearly in my CV that I can't teach in Spanish. Both have emailed me back asking if I could take on a module teaching psychology, in Spanish. At least it's encouraging that there are jobs out there, and they are still keen to take me on as an English teacher. Quite possibly I'll take an English teaching job at an Ecuadorian university and then get a bit of academic work too. I'll just have to play things by ear. When this course finishes next Friday, I'm going to quickly plunged back into the real world. I have my first job interview at Quito's Universidad de los Hemisferios on the following Monday.