Ecuador 2008 II

Local Chaupi kids on a bike going to class

The kids walked to and from class with us

The class we taught English to. They came volunterily because it was their summer break. They ranged in age from 5-15. There were usually 20-30 kids

One of the kids from the school with Ashley from North Carolina

The daughter of the owners of the Hostal we stayed at didn't like her picture taken. Holding her is Erin from the U.S.

A pig that got loose from someone's yard I guess


The last day of class we took lots of pictures


Our group along with the our project leader and the family of the Hostal


Three girls on a wall of one of the houses we helped out at


Esteban (the kid) and Whitney from Vermont walking back from school

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It was very sad to leave El Chaupi. When we were boarding the bus, everyone was crying and the children cried and all the family of the Hostal was crying as well. I will miss everyone from that town and I will never forget those children. It really hit me deep down inside because I used to be one of those children in a town probably very similar to this one. This trip was very important for me and pretty emotional. I thought it was a great experience. Most of my family was of course against it because they though it was wasteful.

For the last two weeks, our little group turned into about 35 students ranging in age from 18-26. We met up with the other groups who were doing similar things in other small towns in the Northern part of the country. Not everyone came on the adventure tour. That was also a sad moment when they left.


The place we stayed at in the middle of the jungle. It wasn't too buggy nor too hot. It was very humid though and there were no showers.

Pretty waterfalls in the popular town of Banos


Katie, One of our tour leaders photo-op after a few of us climbed up and over a big chunk of ice about 5,200 m (17,000 ft) not even near the summit of the dormant volcano-Cotopaxi


Cotopaxi National park


The big chunk of ice we climbed up and over. We were all strapped together on our hands and knees with ice picks up this thing. This is what it looked like when I turned around after climbing it. It was awesome to know that we were the only ones who did this out of ALL the groups in ISV to ever climb this mountain.

The last days of our trip. Surfing in Montanita. It was, however, overcast the whole time, but the weather wasn't cold nor hot.


The 75 foot bridge where I jumped from twice. I jumped backwards and forward.


The bridge I jumped off (called Puenting)

The mosquito net i had to sleep in during the 2 days in the jungle