Polonia Ensemble in ECUADOR

Day 1: Guayaquil

Day 2 - 4: Puerto Rico
La Barquita
Isla de la Plata

Day 5: Middle of the Word

Day 6 - 11: Ibarra - Festival Paz y Cultura Para el Mundo
TV Day
The Charm of Cotacachi People

Day 12: Quito

Day 13 - 16: Baños adventure
Jungle at its purest!
Hike to waterfalls
Dance all night
Go jump off the bridge

06-28-2009 - Baños - Dance all night

When we arrived at our hotel, we quickly took short showers and jumped into our dancing costumes. We took the open bus again but this one was lit up with colorful bright lights. As we rode down the streets of the town, our colorful costumes and welcoming smiles invited the locals to come watch our concert. We got out at the town center and paraded the rest of the way to our the gymnasium, attracting cheers from the locals. At the stadium, we met another Polish traveling group that was led by our co-organizer and leader Andrew Piętowski, who had previously directed our expedition to Peru. Amongst the group was my younger brother. It brought me great joy to see him again.

That night we danced Rzeszów, sang our folk songs and danced Krakowiak for the finale. The Ecuadorians reacted with stunning enthusiasm because they had never encountered such a culture in their small city. The major of Baños was most astonished and invited us to dinner. There he shared his appreciation for our unplanned show and even welcomed us to come during our winter break to put on a full performance and enjoy the rest of the attractions in his city.

Baños left us one of the best impressions because it was a place that is home to so many varied attractions for people and it also preserves the natural landscape which is so precious in our times.

Aleksandra and Matthew Podowski