We began our trip by staying in Quito for one night, then travelling to the town of Baños. We hiked up to a cross on a hill and visited several beautiful waterfalls, including travelling across to a waterfall in a cable car. Then we travelled to our homestay in the jungle near Tena where we began our service project in a local school. We were helping to clean, repaint and organise supplies. In the jungle we also had the opportunity to go white water rafting, learn about the culture of people living in the rainforest and make chocolate.
3 weeks in Ecuador
Written by Eve Freeman, 2018 LaSERIO participant
For the second part of our service project in Otavalo, we went to a kindergarten where we ran activities with the children and cleaned. In the foundation for disabled children we helped with general maintenance, repainted a mural and gardened. We also got to experience the amazing market and walk around the town. Finally, in Quito we spent a very fun final morning with some Ecuadorian scouts!
During my expedition, I developed my resilience and perseverance. This was the first time I had been away from home for 3 weeks and in such a different environment for my own. However, I had an incredible time and I feel that this experience will help me to take on more challenges in the future. Having completed some demanding physical activities such as hiking and mountain biking I now feel more confident in myself and my ability to keep going. In addition, I developed my teamwork skills by communicating with and supporting the rest of the team. I learnt so much about the history of Ecuador and the varied ways of life in different places we visited, and I feel incredibly grateful to have had this amazing opportunity.
Find out more about LaSERIO and taking part here.