Hola

So we're here in Guayaquil. It's hot, it's sweaty and it's the place we now call home (sorry Mum). We owe a BIG thank you to Laura and Nina, who have been amazing in showing us the ropes, how to eat bananas with cheese and introducing us to delights of Ahí (a hot chilly sauce not for the faint hearted).

We arrived in December and received a warm welcome from the local charity JUCONI, with whom we'll be running our art workshops with children aged between 3-12. We spent the first 3 weeks helping out with the many christmas parties arranged by JUCONI, giving street working children and their families the opportunity to enjoy the festive season. It was great to meet the children we will be working with in the forthcoming months and get a feeling of who they are as well as the communities they live in.

We'll be running art workshops in 4 different sectors of Guayaquil during the week and also help out with family visits with our JUCONI colleagues, who are all trained psychologists and social workers. Our first visit to the sectors was quite overwhelming, the living conditions are shocking but the children are fantastic, full of energy and curiosity.

Rainy season is just about in full swing so we're armed with ponchos and yellow wellington boots and feeling very excited about the months to come...