Tripp Chamblin Ecuador and the Galapagos 2019

On the last day of my adventure in Ecuador, my group met on the rooftop of our hostel in Quito to say goodbye both to the city and to each other.  The roof gave us a view of the entire city and the mountains around us about which we had learned folk tales and legends from locals and teachers. We sat in a circle and passed around a ball of yarn, creating a web as we shared our final thoughts.  Every single student, of which there were fifteen, explained that the highlight of their trip was not the amazing sights, living on a sailboat through the Galapagos, or living in the Cloud Forest of Mindo or even in the Amazons, but the connections that they made with fourteen other teenagers from all over the US (plus one from Ireland) and their new Ecuadorian families.  After everyone said their last goodbyes, we cut the yarn into fifteen pieces that serve as bracelets and a reminder of our experiment.

Arrival

The Group outside our hostel in Quito

On July 29, I boarded a plane from Nashville to Miami with John Moore.  As this was my first time flying alone, I waited nervously at the gate wondering what I forgot for almost an hour because I decided arriving early was the best way to mitigate any problems I may have inadvertently caused.  My nerves were, however, eased with the random upgrade to first class that placed me literally in the first seat on the plane. John did not share my excitement as he had to walk past me, already holding a drink with my feet kicked back.  We arrived in Miami at 10 AM, and waited until noon, the time in which I was supposed to meet my group, whereas John had to wait until 6 that night in order to meet his group traveling to Argentina. My group was not difficult to find as there are only so many groups of scared looking teenagers with person-sized hiking backpacks on their backs.  I met the two group leaders, Audrey and Natalia, who later told us that they had only met two weeks before the trip and had never been to Ecuador themselves. I sat down in a hallway-blocking circle with a group of strangers, and, naturally, we started to play Uno in the middle of the floor at the Miami airport in complete silence. I am sure we were a sight to be seen to anyone passing by to catch their flights.  Once we passed through security, however, things began to pick up. We played a couple name games led by the group leaders, and I soon learned the names and origins of my new “mandatory best friends.” Colin, Jose, Sam, Jordyn, Mia, Nina, Natasha, Ella, Andrea, Krissy, Eva, Favour, Elissa, and Naomi. Because of the games, I doubt I will ever forget the names of this group. We took a group photo for insurance purposes and boarded another plane to Quito, Ecuador.  We arrived at a hostel that became our “home base” in Quito at 10 pm, exhausted, and went to sleep.

Part 1: Adventures in Quito

For the first two days, the group toured around Quito, going to churches, buying unfamiliar fruits at markets, enduring orientation meetings, and having short Spanish lessons at the EIL (Experiment in International Living, the program through which my trip was coordinated) headquarters.  The adjustment to non-potable tap water and locals that speak only Spanish was a bit difficult, but these changes were balanced out by the fact that Coca Cola in Ecuador is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, a vast improvement in flavor. We went to shopping malls which seemed to be the most America-like locations in Ecuador.  Each of our first three nights in Quito were riddled with Uno, spoons, and a Spanish game called cuarenta, or fourties. On our fourth day, we woke up and visited the Equator museum. We learned why water in a sink goes in a different direction in each hemisphere, walked the Equator like a tightrope, and attempted to balance eggs on nails. After, we drove about 20 minutes to the Equator memorial, created in the 1800’s.  Hopefully, the people that built the memorial never learned that their gigantic monument had been built a few kilometers away from the actual Equator.

The view from the roof of the hostel

Part Two: Mindo, Ecuador

On Day 4, the group arrived at 5 PM to an eco lodge in the Cloud Forest of Mindo, Ecuador.  The transition to the hostel was not too different from the US, as we still had reliable hot water and rooms like those of a small hotel.  At the eco lodge, however, the adjustment was much more abrupt. We lived for four nights in completely wooden cabins, each with two light bulbs, situated a twenty minute hike into the forest and across a river that could only be crossed by way of a dilapidated cart attached to a rope pulled by a person on either side.  In Mindo, we hiked to waterfalls, rode in the beds of trucks, played more card games than ever because of the complete lack of Wi-Fi, tubed down a river, visited a butterfly farm, and experienced a town much smaller than Quito. On our night in the town, we went to a community soccer field and participated in a Zumba class before playing soccer with a few boys in the town.  I was humbly reminded that my Spanish skills are much more advanced than my soccer abilities. We also talked with street vendors and bought small souvenirs before eating dinner at a local pizza restaurant. Each morning in Mindo, and throughout the month, most breakfasts included eggs and rice with fruits on the side with either coffee or juice. It is notable that in Ecuador, it is uncommon to drink simply water with a meal.  This practice of consuming only coffee and juice was surely a factor in my dehydration near the end of the month. Lunch and dinner are also eaten with rice, but usually have chicken or beef for more formal meals, and another starch such as potatoes. Living in the eco lodge showed us how it is possible to live with a very small carbon footprint and without some of the amenities that we before considered vital to our existence.  

Part Three: Homestays

We returned to Quito for one night after Mindo, and although the eco lodge was a perspective changing experience, I did enjoy a hot shower in Quito.  We had our first opportunity to do laundry before a five hour drive to a town called Riobamba in which we would live with an Ecuadorian family for a week.  The day leading up to meeting my family was one of the most nerve racking times of the month because I felt unprepared to speak only Spanish all day with strangers and live in their home.  My family, however, was perfect. I lived with my mother, Ximena, my brother, Sebastian, and my sister, Kelly. Ximena is a lawyer but left work often throughout the week to drive my brother and I to various activities and events across the

city.  On the very first morning, my brother, who is two years younger than I, knocked on my door and told me that we were going to walk through the city so he could show me everything. We walked to my mom’s office, my dad’s office, my sister’s favorite places to hangout, and I met some of my brothers’ friends.  Although our conversations were sometimes imperfect, we quickly bonded over the ukulele and bass guitar that my brother played. I came to Ecuador with a little knowledge regarding the ukulele, but I left a bass player too. As a family, we drove to a community pool, bought groceries, walked the city, went to the mall and watched movies, swam in hot springs.  Each day, we also met with the group for activities. Almost every morning, we rode the bus to an elementary school in order to plant trees, paint a playground, create a mural, and repaint a wall. At the end of our work, we put our painted handprints on the wall with our initials. All of the students in summer school watched us and occasionally started conversations.  We also went to cooking classes in which we learned how to make llapingachos, a type of potato based tortilla, and took salsa dance classes. At the end of the homestay, the group met in a park and competed in a scavenger hunt in which we had to ask locals questions and find various statues and monuments in the park. On our last day, we hiked a portion of the volcano

Chimborazo.  It is the tallest mountain in Ecuador, and due to the bulge of the Earth at the center, Chimborazo’s summit is the tallest in relation to the center of the Earth. The weather in Ecuador stays about the same all year long because of its position on the Equator, but it changes from chilly in the morning to a Nashville summer heat in the afternoon and back to below 50 degrees at night.  However, at an elevation of 15,000 feet at Chimborazo, snow formed along the trail. We biked down 40 kilometers to a small town at the base of the mountain where we ate our lunch. On the night of Day 15, the group went to dinner together with their homestay families and said one last thank you and goodbye. The next morning, we traveled by bus to a town in between Quito and Riobamba called Banos.  This city had more tourist attractions than the other cities, and although we stayed in the city for only one night, the hotel resembled that of a resort. We rode horses through the city and into the forest, and visited another natural hot spring. On the way back to Quito, we stopped at another waterfall and went caving. We packed for the Galapagos that night and got ready for an early wakeup call.

Part Four: Galapagos

We arrived at the Quito airport at 7 AM and boarded a flight to the island of Baltra in the Galapagos.  Three hours later, we landed. My initial reaction to the island was surprise because although I expected a lush, colorful environment like that of Hawaii or other tropical

islands, Baltra looked more like a desert. 

Our guide, Ivan, soon explained that many people come to the Galapagos with that expectation, but because the islands are all volcanic and still very active, eruptions destroy most colorful plants and volcanic rock is not a suitable soil for most plants.  However, the wildlife presence in the Galapagos was amazing. Ivan explained that the animals on the island are not afraid of humans because there are very few predators in the island food chains, so the animals have no fight or flight instincts. Sea lions swam around us as we snorkeled and turtles would almost run into us as they resurfaced.  Sea lions lined the beaches and were happy to take a look at the humans around them, and the crown jewel of the Galapagos, the marine iguanas, were omnipresent. We lived on a large boat for the four nights that we stayed in the Galapagos, and each night before dinner,

Ivan would lay out the schedule for the next day, including what animals we would see.  It became a running joke that during the night, the crew members would have to capture the animals on Ivan’s list and lay them out in our path for the morning because it seemed so unreal that all of these endangered animals could be easily found just feet away from whatever trail we walked. At night, we sat on the top deck of the boat and watched the stars, as there was almost no light pollution because the entire area is a national park.  The Galapagos were by far the highlight of the entire trip.

Part 5: Amazons

The group returned to Quito for one night before hopping on the bus again to go to the Amazon rainforest.  We stayed in another, slightly more luxurious eco lodge, but this time we were accustomed to sleeping with mosquito nets in the open air.  We boated on large canoes to indigenous islands where we learned about traditional foods, tools, and how to hunt with a blowgun.

We spent hours hiking with the local guide, Domingo, who knew every single plant and tree in the Amazons, and although he knew no English, always laughed along with our jokes.  After many attempts to use the Wi-Fi at the eco lodge, I decided that it would be better to go unplugged, and I spent almost four days without using my phone at all. We learned about all of the animals

that lived in our region of the Amazon, including green anacondas that can grow up to 10 meters long. Immediately after learning of the dangerous wildlife, we went tubing in the Amazon River, a slightly scary experience, but a fun one nonetheless.  After four nights in the Amazons, we drove back to Quito and said our goodbyes before boarding the plane back to Miami.  

Thanks

I would like to use this platform as an opportunity to express so much gratitude to the Wilson family, my own family, Mr. Paolicchi, and all of my language teachers for making possible this opportunity to see the world.  I have not only improved my Spanish skills, but also experienced a culture and people far from home, as well as made life-long friends and even a new family in Ecuador. Thank you all again!