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About
Ecuador:
Ecuador is a land of contrasts. The spine of soaring, snow-covered
peaks which rises from the Andean highlands descends to the east
into lush rainforests of the Amazon basin, and to the west to a
steamy tropical coastline.
 Ecuador’s
Spanish heritage is evident in the old center of the capital city,
Quito, which the United Nations designated as a World Heritage Site
for its gorgeous concentration of colonial architecture. It is the
indigenous population, however, that remains the predominant ethnic
influence in Ecuador. The exotic flavor of their native dress,
music, and food permeates the landscape, from the Amazon to tiny
villages high in the Andes. Against this backdrop of natural beauty
and fascinating culture, rural poverty stands in stark contrast.
Educational opportunities are limited and school facilities are
primitive.
The Project:
Participants fly to Quito, where they spend a day learning about the
culture, language, and history of Ecuador. The following day they
depart for their project site, a small village in the Andean
highlands whose residents are Quechua Indians (descendants of the
Inca). During a typical day, work begins early, with a break for
lunch, and continues into the afternoon. In previous summers,
students worked side by side with villagers to complete a community
center; helped in the fields harvesting organic crops; ran a camp
for village children; built an interpretive center to increase
tourism; painted classrooms and taught English to young children at
a school; and built a chicken coop instrumental in the improvement
of the town’s economy and nutrition. This summer, students will work
on similar projects, providing much-needed help with construction,
planting trees to reforest the surrounding hillsides, and teaching
English, health, and environmental topics to children and adults.
Participants live together in a simple village house or school.
Local young people join them in the evenings to play guitar or enjoy
a game of soccer, providing a wonderful opportunity to practice
Spanish. Students form cooking crews and prepare meals with the help
of an Ecuadorian friend.
Weekends:
The group takes advantage of Ecuador’s spectacular natural beauty
and rich cultural traditions, visiting indigenous markets, attending
local
fiestas,
roaming the tundra-like
páramo
in search of the endangered Andean condor, hiking to the snow line
of Cotopaxi, a volcano just over 19,000 feet (once believed to be
the highest mountain in the world), soaking in natural hot springs,
and trekking deep into the cloud forest. The program ends with an
exciting journey into primary tropical rainforest in the Amazon
basin. Here, students stay at a lodge in a region recently declared
protected forest where they paddle through lagoons in dugout
canoes, swing from a rope into the warm waters of the Yuturi River,
and explore the astounding variety of birds, mammals, and plants.
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