¡What a Summer!
The following is an El Terreno newsletter published on 25th September 2026
Hola there,
..What a summer — last season was one of our most dynamic yet. A huge thank you to all involved.
We're heading into the slower autumn season, but with building projects and a programme relaunch in the pipeline, watch this space!
Joshua Holmes
Founder, El Terreno
Hands-On Healthcare: Nursing Students Bring Their Skills to Guaranda
This season, we welcomed a team of nursing students from the University of Missouri, they came for a week with Kaya of EcuaExplora, for a placement built around hands-on healthcare. Over their time with El Terreno, they moved between rural communities, local schools, a Red Cross brigade and the wards of Hospital Alfredo Noboa |
Much of their placement took them into the communities and schools around Guaranda, carrying out basic health checks — blood pressure, vitals, and talking patients through what each reading meant. They also joined a brigade with the Red Cross, putting their training to work alongside local volunteers. For many of the children and elders they saw, it was a rare chance to have a health check at all. |
Their placement also included direct hospital experience at Hospital Alfredo Noboa, shadowing local doctors and nurses across different wards — from paediatrics to surgical and obstetric units — and seeing first-hand how healthcare is delivered in a public hospital setting. |
Perhaps the most memorable part of the placement was a workshop with local community midwives, who shared their ancestral knowledge — from traditional birthing practices to the use of the manta, the woven blanket used to wrap and comfort during labour. What began as clinical training became a genuine exchange between two healthcare traditions, built on warmth and mutual respect. |
These midwives often work with little more than their own hands and generations of knowledge passed down to them. Your support can help them keep serving their communities with the resources they deserve.
Passing Down the Mountain's Secrets: The Lost City of Chimborazo
A legend survives because it is passed down. High in the páramo of Chimborazo volcano, an old story had been told for generations: that of Sisa, a young girl who lost her family's bull and followed a grey-haired old man through a passage that opened in the mountainside. Inside, she found a golden city where people lived in harmony with nature — and learned that the truest treasure wasn't gold, but respect, gratitude and love for the land. |
Ava (🇺🇸), Eliza (🇺🇸) and Carla (🇸🇪) joined us to gather and pass down this oral history, working alongside local storytellers to shape the legend into a leaflet the whole community could share.
Before this leaflet existed, the story had to be collected — hours spent meeting the storytellers who still held these accounts, recording the different versions they told, and working alongside the community to decide how it should be written down. |
And it happened because seven local businesses in Guaranda decided a story was worth printing. Thank you to Las Cavernas del Susanga, Cevichería El Mono, Supay Café de Especialidad, Bubble Time EC, Señora Pizza GDA, La Estancia Guaranda, La Bohemia Restaurante and the Biblioteca Municipal Guaranda for backing this project 🙏. That was exactly how oral history has always moved: hand to hand, table to table, generation to generation. |
Watch the webinar below to hear Ava and Eliza's own testimonials about their experience carrying out this project — from meeting the storytellers to seeing the legend go to print. And below that, you'll find a button where you can download the leaflet and print it for yourself.
Join the Magic: Applications Now Open for Carnaval 2027
Guaranda's Carnaval is the most renowned in Ecuador — for almost a week, the city's population more than doubles to nearly 100,000 people in a whirlwind of processions, concerts and electric celebrations. El Terreno is now preparing to return to the 'Comparsas de la Alegría y Confraternidad Guarandeña' for Carnaval 2027 — and we're looking for an intern to help lead the way. |
Running for five weeks from January 2027, this placement centres on the community of Atandahua and the wider Guaranda population. The goal: field a complete procession for the main parade on Sunday 7 February 2027 — float, costumes, music and choreography — with at least 20 participants drawn from our team, local stakeholders and community members. It's a chance to be recognised not as a spectator of Guaranda's cultural life, but as a genuine participant in it. |
We're looking for participants to coordinate multiple moving parts — providers, stakeholders and deadlines, ideally with some Spanish — to refine our dance choreography, music mix, designing the Carnaval float, or co-creating costumes that are both beautiful and affordable for the whole group. This role suits someone from an arts, fashion or event management background, who is good with people and knows how to balance fun with high-quality delivery. |
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