The Gentleman The Gentleman, Part Two

It was 2004 when NN, a British gentleman, brought more than 60 students between the ages of 15 and 18 to practice Spanish and live in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

This was possible because NN had founded a foundation with Ecuadorian citizens and farmers to promote smart tourism in Ecuador.

Smart tourism was a somewhat vague concept at the time, but it was understood as traveling to another country to learn, teach, and help others.

Ecuador, then one of the cheapest countries in Latin America, had become a favorite destination for learning Spanish, along with Guatemala and Bolivia, since the students, who were also backpackers, had to stay for at least six weeks to learn Spanish to an intermediate level.

The foundation created by NN offered students accommodation in Quito in an apartment for students and volunteers, with rooms with private bathrooms, a shared kitchen, dining room, and living room, an internet café, and classrooms for one-on-one learning (one teacher per student). This allowed students who already knew Spanish to improve their skills and those who didn't to start from scratch.

But the foundation also gave students the opportunity to practice Spanish in rural communities in the Galápagos Islands, the Coast, the Andes, and the Amazon. There, they could teach English in schools, participate in reforestation projects, protect endangered species, write theses or conduct research, and above all, practice their Spanish and learn about peaceful coexistence.

NN arranged for British students to come to Ecuador to travel around the country, visiting tourist sites, and live in the Pablo VI Residence Hall in groups of 15, accompanied by their teachers. A community where Indigenous people and settlers from the Amazon have been learning to live together since 1976, when the town was founded under the concept of the Second Agrarian Reform.

Among the founders was a general who directed the Southern Rehabilitation Center and who created these towns, including Pablo VI, in honor of the Pope; Huamaboya; and San Juan Bosco, as the Salesians were the religious congregation that had worked most extensively in the area, even creating schools and colleges, and recovering culture and traditions. They also established a museum called Abya Yala, dedicated to Indigenous nationalities, in Quito. Other towns were located on the border with Peru, such as Puerto Morona and San José de Morona, where the Cenepa War was fought in 1995, and where landmines had been sought and removed for almost 10 years.

The students stayed in a wooden hotel, the only one in the village, from where Sangay was visible, a snow-capped mountain visible from its slopes to its snow-covered peak, from which smoke rose every hour, and at night something incandescent like lava could be seen. Below the 5,300-meter volcano lay a tropical rainforest plain where palms and trees stretched out like an ocean.

Among the experiences of the young people was crossing a very deep canyon by raft, visiting the large and very high rivers and waterfalls, and camping overnight in the jungle, all thanks to the help of the Shuar indigenous people from the community of Santa Inés.

Some of the students also had to work in the kitchen, where they had to learn everything from how to kill a chicken, which was traumatic for some, to preparing meals based on yucca, coconut, chontaduro (peach palm fruit), and other local foods.

The biggest problems the young people faced were insect bites and sunburn. The most important work the students did in the village was painting murals to combat deforestation, and painting the old school, which was made of wood and was the village's first building. After painting it, a museum was created to display the ceramics, weapons, food, and crafts of the indigenous people. But the village was plagued by racism from the mestizo settlers against the indigenous people, whom they despised.

The local director of the foundation was a mestizo man who had been a teacher and who became mayor thanks to the support and publicity of the young people and the promise to turn the village into a tourist attraction.

NN personally visited this place and had previously visited some of the communities throughout the country that worked with his foundation. In the communities, the arrival of NN and his friend, a doctor and also a founder of the foundation, along with his family—who provided the foundation's premises, rooms for the students, and even served as teachers—was a significant moment for each community. The idea of ​​community-based tourism and the protection of nature and ancestral cultures that they brought with them was paramount.

In 2007, at the age of 80, NN stopped visiting Ecuador due to foot and heart problems. He died in London during the 2020 pandemic.