Ecuador

Jun 09 2022

We had a wonderful week last week hosting some faculty from Goshen College and making our way North to the city of Otavalo in the province of Imbabura.

May 28 2022

May 25 2022

One of the texts for our term is Hans Rosling’s Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think.  I believe one of the great benefits of the book is that it…

May 22 2022

After two days of normal class schedule in Quito, we wound our way through the mountains to the northwest region of the Pichincha province where we explored the cloud forest. With historical and indigenous peoples contexts in the back of...

May 15 2022

The first week of class are already behind us!  Wow, we’ve already covered a lot of ground and feels good to start to settle in and find a new routine between classes and host families. Here is a glimpse of...

May 09 2022

Welcome to Quito! We are so pleased and honored to welcome 21 new students to this beautiful country of Ecuador. And welcome to you, who may be following along and supporting our journey from afar. After picking up students from...

Apr 13 2022

We wrapped up our semester with a weekend full of reflections, discussions, relaxing and fun at El Refugio where we had the decompression and processing time we needed to close out our time together here in Ecuador. Thanks to those...

Apr 08 2022

During the service portion of SST, I have been volunteering at a foundation called Su Cambio Por El Cambio (SCXC) in a little town called San Simon. SCXC’s primary missions are to provide a safe after school environment for local...

Mar 30 2022

In January, I took a 3-day trip with my host family in Quito, Paola (host-mom) and Sammy (host-sister). It took 2.5 hours to get to Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas. We took the Cordillera de Los Andes road. This very...

Mar 28 2022

Before we left for SST, we were told to prepare some gifts for our host family. The suggestion we got was to prepare some things from Goshen or our College. But at that time the bookstore was already closed. I...

Mar 26 2022

Nina and I keep in touch regularly with the students via phone calls and texts, but we especially enjoyed visiting students at their service internship placements throughout the last few weeks. We continue to be so grateful for the many...

Mar 21 2022

Soccer games with the family, an example of so many things I’ve experienced and learned throughout only six short weeks in Ecuador. Every Sunday except those during which we were out of town visiting Mindo or Tena, my host dad...

Mar 16 2022

There are a lot of hard things in Quito. For instance, my walk to the Fundación, where we have our classes, is up a very steep hill. My little commute is one of the best parts of my day, however,...

Mar 03 2022

Students left for their service placements on Saturday morning  all arriving by the evening and greeted by their new host families. 🙂 We mentioned previously that last Thursday afternoon we spent some concentrated time discussing/reflecting/anticipating the upcoming transition to service...

Feb 27 2022

During our last week of the “study” portion of the term, students traveled to several hours east of Quito to explore the upper Amazon basin. We combined several experiential learning activities – both cultural and environmental, based on the region’s...

Feb 20 2022

We had a full week of classes and wrapped up several large academic pieces to the term. Friday evening students hosted their families for a program and goodbye party.   Last night (Saturday) we arrived here to Hostal Pakay in...

Feb 13 2022

After a few days of class in Quito we took off for the north, arriving to the beautiful city of Otavalo in the province of Imbabura for several days.   Here is a short clip of some of the music...

Feb 07 2022

We continue individually and as a group to process the tragedy of the landslides in Quito that occurred last week not far from some of our host families and in a neighborhood that we have, on a couple occasions, passed through...

Feb 05 2022

Jan 31 2022

After a couple of normal days of class, we made our way through the mountains to the northwest region of the Pichincha province where we explored the amazing cloud forest. We are bringing last weeks’ historical context with us as...

Jan 23 2022

Time is flying by and students are settling into a new rhythm here in Quito between classes and a new life with their host families. The omicron wave is beginning here in Ecuador and we’re continuing to make adjustments as...

Jan 17 2022

Welcome to Quito! We are so pleased and honored to welcome 15 new students to this beautiful country of Ecuador. And welcome to you, who may be following along and supporting our journey from afar. We had an absolutely fantastic...

Nov 29 2021

Nov 22 2021

Today was a different day here in Salinas de Guaranda (Salinas for short). It was sunny and beautiful unlike the usual rainy weather we have been getting. I was really excited to know what I will be doing today since...