Ecuador & the Galápagos
Service & Spanish Immersion in the Andes
Practice your Spanish daily on this high school language immersion and service program in Ecuador, as you work hand-in-hand with local friends in a small host community. Undertake meaningful service projects this summer and spend a week with a homestay family. Volunteer to construct a community center, shadow farmers as they harvest crops, and cook meals alongside your host parents. Explore the Andean páramo, and snorkel, hike, and kayak in the incredible Galápagos Islands to cap off your program.
- Highlights
• Learn to make empanadas with your homestay family
• Ride horseback in the shadow of Cotopaxi Volcano
• Snorkel with playful sea lions in the Galápagos Islands
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 high school student travelers and one of your leaders in Miami, and fly together to Quito, Ecuador. To learn more about how we organize travel, click here.
Explore Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, and get to know your leaders and fellow students. Walk the streets of the Old City, ride the teleférico up the Pichincha Volcano, savor rich Ecuadorian coffee in an outdoor café, and participate in an in-depth orientation to discuss life in Ecuador, your language goals, and group dynamics.
Travel by bus to your host community a few hours outside of Quito. Volunteer with community members to complete a series of construction, environmental, and agricultural projects, while participating in Spanish language lessons and activities to complement your experiential learning. Construct a community center, plant seedlings to bring native plant species back to the area, clear forest trails, or visit a local farm and learn how to milk a cow. In the afternoons and evenings, play pick-up soccer with Ecuadorian friends, learn to make artisanal crafts, or hike into the hills surrounding the community.
During your time in your host community, take overnight excursions to explore the surrounding area. Hike to a mirador to spot some of Ecuador’s 1,500 bird species, cool off at nearby waterfalls, and visit a coffee farm to learn about coffee production from bean to cup.
Return to your host community and join a welcoming local family for full immersion into Ecuadorian life and the Spanish language. During the day, continue your work on service projects, spend quality time with your new host siblings, help out around the family farm, and trade stories around the dinner table.
After saying goodbye to your host community, visit snowcapped Cotopaxi, one of the world’s largest volcanoes. Stay at an Andean hacienda, hike up to the Cotopaxi refugio for breathtaking views, and ride horseback across the surrounding páramo. At night, savor traditional meals and recount your adventures with your group by the fireplace.
Return to Quito for one night before catching a morning flight to the Galápagos Islands.
Language learning continues in your final days of the program as you fly from Quito to Baltra Island. Travel by boat to the island of Santa Cruz, formerly the home of one of the Galápagos’ most famous residents, a 100-year-old tortoise named Diego, who helped repopulate an entire species of giant tortoises. Visit tortoises and rarely seen land iguanas at the Charles Darwin Research Station and learn what scientists are doing to reintroduce them into the wild. Go for a hike in the highlands and check out the cavernous lava tubes. Head to Tortuga Bay, a stunning beach with fine white sand to see marine iguanas.
Visit the Interpretation Center on San Cristóbal for an introduction to the biology, geology, and history of human impact on the islands. Then take a bike ride to Lobería for a swim with a lively colony of sea lions. Snorkel through the passage of Kicker Rock, the remains of an underwater volcano, and scout for manta rays, sea turtles, harmless Galápagos sharks,