Ecuador & the Galápagos
Service, Kichwa Culture, & Island Biodiversity
Travel to Ecuador’s Andean highlands and Galápagos Islands on this summer service program specifically designed for middle school students. Live for nine days in a welcoming Kichwa community and engage in meaningful service projects—lend a hand with light construction work, help with the local harvest, and learn to make bread in a brick oven. Then, in the company of your group and leaders, explore the otherworldly landscapes and wildlife of the Galápagos Islands, home to giant tortoises, lava tunnels, equatorial penguins, marine iguanas, and blue-footed boobies.
- Highlights
• Hike to a coffee cooperative and natural hot springs
• Celebrate the Inti-Raymi festival with new friends
• Snorkel with sea lions in a sheltered Galápagos bay
Itinerary
This itinerary represents our best projection of the group’s schedule. However, we may implement changes designed to improve the quality of the program.
Meet your fellow middle school student travelers and one or more of your leaders in Miami and fly together to Quito, Ecuador. To learn more about how we organize travel, click here.
Spend the first days of this summer program exploring Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. Get to know your leaders and fellow students, take a chocolate making class in Plaza San Francisco, ride the teleférico up the Pichincha Volcano, taste rich Ecuadorian coffee in an outdoor café, and participate in an in-depth orientation to prepare for your host community stay.
Travel by bus to our host community, a small municipality of about 500–1,000 people, in the central Andean highlands north of Quito. Experience local culture and everyday life as you work with a Kichwa indigenous community to complete volunteer projects. Practice your Spanish as you lend a hand with water-access projects, help with renovation work at a community center, harvest crops, or organize an afternoon of activities for local children. Enjoy home-cooked meals and take part in an Inti-Raymi celebration. In the afternoons and evenings, play pick-up soccer with Ecuadorian friends, practice your Spanish, or hike into the hills surrounding your host community. Take a day trip to Otavalo and explore its renowned outdoor market featuring handcrafted textiles, handwoven alpaca blankets, art, jewelry, and more. Hike around the rim of Laguna de Cuicocha, a crater lake with spiritual significance to the Kichwa people.
Take an overnight excursion to visit a cloud forest preserve and learn about the region’s biodiversity. Hike to a mirador to spot some of Ecuador’s 1,500 bird species, soak in geothermal hot springs, and visit a coffee farm to learn about coffee production from bean to cup.
After bidding goodbye to your host community, return to Quito before a morning flight to the Galápagos Islands.
Fly from Quito to Baltra Island and travel by boat to the island of Santa Cruz to meet one of the Galápagos’ most famous residents, a 100-year-old tortoise named Diego, who has helped repopulate an entire species of giant tortoises. Visit Diego along with other