In summer 2016, after I finished my A Levels, I spent a month in Ecuador. It was a challenging month but it was also an extremely rewarding and I want to tell you all about it.
The trip was organised and run by a company called
Outlook Expeditions chosen by the school that I attended for sixth form. They also run trips outside of schools and to so many different destinations, giving anyone the opportunity to explore. The expedition was open to student from year 11 to year 13 and cost over £3,000 which we were encouraged to fund raise ourselves. Outlook give you so many fundraising ideas and they completely supported us throughout the 18 months before our journey to Ecuador.
In the months running up to our trip to Ecuador, we met as a group with our expedition leader and discussed health and safety stuff like injections and tablets and planned our itinerary. We also had a mini expedition weekend in the Peak District. Our itinerary for Ecuador had 3 main parts: the market town, the jungle (project) and the trek. In between each part, we always went back to the city, Quito for a few days to restock on food, wash our clothes and get ready to conquer the next part of our expedition (plus is took us 8 hours to travel back to Quito from some places).
When we first arrived in Quito, I loved the different culture! When we got on the tram, people were singing and playing instruments, I didn't understand what they were singing but it made me happier. There were women selling amazing ice creams on the street and fresh fruit, we saw a taxi driver stop his car on the road and a lady handed him an ice cream through his window, it was a funny thing to see. We had a small food budget so sometimes we bought food from the supermarket and used the (lack of) cooking equipment at the hostel. But I loved eating out! They served humble quinoa, potato and goat soup, then there was chicken with rice and vegetables and, there was always freshly squeezed pineapple juice. It was so simple, so delicious and it cost about $3 per person. There was a man who was singing and playing a banjo in one of the restaurants. He told us that he had come from Canada and he was travelling all the way down to Argentina. I was so inspired by how far he'd travelled and I couldn't wait to begin our adventure.
Next stop Otavalo! Before I went to Ecuador, the most I could say in Spanish was 'hola'
but when we got to Otavalo, I was in a group responsible for booking a hostel for the next 4 nights. When we arrived in Quito, our first hostel had already been booked by Outlook so we didn't have to worry about where we were staying. And in Quito, people spoke very good English but this was not the case in Otavalo as it was only a small town. Therefore, we had to book a hostel for 12 people in Spanish. This was very difficult to begin with but I managed to pick Spanish up quite easily and became confident using it, I was even able to barter in Spanish when we went to the market.
I bought hammock!
Whilst we were in Otavalo, we also went on a few short walks in preparation for our trek later on but without our big bags. Firstly, we trekked around the 'Guinea Pig' lake and a couple of days later we visited a sacred waterfall with a hot pool at the bottom (it wasn't really hot though, I think you can tell). Both of these places showed me how beautiful nature is, I was so happy that I'd travelled half way across the world to be there. We also started to create great bonds with one another whilst we were walking and we spent the evenings chatting, playing cards and I wrote in my travel journal at night too.
I found the jungle to be the most emotionally challenging element of our expedition. I was very aware of there being dangerous animals around me like snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, bullet ants, literally anything can kill you in the jungle. One evening, we went on a night walk and I stood in a red ants nest. The bites were quite painful and they wouldn't stop and I couldn't see what was hurting me so I got very scared and I ended up in tears. Some people would say that I overreacted but the animals and insects were my biggest worry about the trip and I think I was most scared of not being able to see what it was and not being able to make it stop. I was also stung by a wasp under my eye and in several other places and I had to brush a scorpion off my leg. When I got back home, I told people that I would never go to the jungle again because I was so scared the whole time that I was there but I think I would. I'd probably still cry but whilst we were there, our project was to build a house for family to live in. Everyone is so proud of that, we learnt so many new skills and we worked so hard on it for a week. The family were so happy when we handed it over to them, it made everything worth it.
There was another day in the jungle that I also really enjoyed and made my pain worth while. It was the day that we spent with the tribe and their children. We taught the children some English games like 'duck, duck goose', 'Simon says' and they loved it. We also gave them gifts such as colouring books, an England shirt and a football and they really appreciated them. One of the children was so fascinated by my sunglasses which was really funny. They have such a different way of life to us but they're fine just the way they are... they're not scared of insects like I am!
The last part of our trip before heading back to Quito was our trek. We started in Isinlivi and then trekked 12k with massive bags in 32 degrees heat to Chugchilan. I was happy walking when it was just at at slight angle but I found walking up the steep mountain really hard. However, I was so overwhelmed with support from our expedition leader, Jake and even other people trekking who were American encouraged me, it was amazing. We had a rest day before the next part of our trek chilling out on our hammocks and playing cards and having nice chats with everyone. Then the following day, we walked from Chugchilan to Quilotoa and when we got there, this was the view!!!!!!!!
It was like paradise only windier. We walked about 19k to see this view and I still can't believe I managed that, I'm so proud of myself and everyone else who was with me. I definitely found the first day of the trek the hardest which is amazing considering how much further we walked on our second day of trekking. I discovered that I love trekking. it's challenging but I feel like I've accomplished so much when I get to the end, especially when you get a phenomenal view like this. I can't wait for my next adventure.
