Mindo, where my service portion of SST is located, is between the descent from the Andes to the coast. It is one of Ecuador’s most biodiverse places with birdwatching being one of the well-known activities. It is two hours away...
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Ecuador
This blog captures the experiences of Goshen College students participating in Study-Service Term in Ecuador.
Over the course of the semester, students are living with host families, strengthening their Spanish, learning alongside Indigenous communities, and engaging in service that connects local realities with global questions. From the Andes to coastal regions, Ecuador offers a powerful setting for hands-on learning shaped by culture, community, and care. Through these reflections, readers are invited into the everyday moments, challenges, and discoveries that are shaping how students understand the world and their place within it.
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Service in Mindo – Lily
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Visiting Students at their Service Placements
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Life in Pedro Vicente Maldonado – Solomon
My service location is in Pedro Vicente Maldonado, a small city about 2 and a half hours drive from Quito in the coastal region of Ecuador. However, the coast is still quite a ways away. To Esmeraldas, the closest coastal...
Study AbroadMilking Cows in Cayambe – Yadira
Cayambe, a very beautiful town in Ecuador that’s 1hr and a half away from the capital of Quito. Cayambe is also the third highest volcano in Ecuador, and not only that, it’s also right in the middle of the earth....
Study AbroadDía de los Muertos – Daniel
My day began unlike any other I had experienced at Salinas de Guaranda. After a simple breakfast of a boiled egg and tea, I struck out for yet another day of burning music for the local radio station. But I...
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Tena, Baños & Salinas de Guaranda
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Despedida and Goodbye to Study
We had a good final week of classes, wrapping up the “study” portion of the term that makes up our Study-Service term namesake. On Friday evening the students hosted all the host families and other program partners for a despedida,...
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Ecuador — Lengua De Señas
As a part of her SST experience, Amanda has been involved in a special sign language track here in Ecuador in which she has been dividing her morning class time between learning spanish and sign language. Beyond her individual class...
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World Renown Markets & Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador
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Dancing and Prancing through the Andes
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Mindo Cloud Forest
This week after a couple days of class we made the trek west through the mountains to the region of Mindo for an extended weekend. The lush cloud forest was a refreshing break from the congested concrete valley of Quito.
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Orientation, Host Families and the First Week
Orientation and the first week of class are already behind us! Wow, we’ve already covered a lot of ground! I think everyone felt like the time has flown by. Here is a glimpse of the story in pictures:
Study AbroadWelcome SSTers!
On Tuesday evening our SSTers arrived safely in Ecuador and are beginning their orientation to their new Ecuador surroundings! One student has been held up by visa issues. We are working hard to remedy the problem and plans are taking shape...
Study AbroadEcuador, Here We Come!
Yep, you got it, we’re back! For all of you who forgot you were subscribed, get ready, we’ve got a new adventure coming your way! After more than a year and half of Study-Service Term (SST) unit cancelations we...
Study AbroadService, Pandemics, and “El Refugio”
What is “Service”. The concept of service in a North American context generally revolves around productivity. In our lead-up to service with the current Ecuador SST group, we spoke at length about what service is and is not in a...
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The Long Silence is Broken…..
If you’ve been checking the Ecuador blog for updates over the past two weeks you’ve been met with silence…. at least internet blog silence. The final two weeks of the study portion of Spring 2020 SST have been a blur...
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Indigenous cultures, volcanoes, and refugees
As the beat of the SST drum marches on, students shifted from a focus on Ecuador’s biodiversity to Ecuador’s ethnic diversity. Depending how you subdivide it, Ecuador has 14 distinct languages and more than 30 unique people groups and subgroups. ...
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Peering through the Mist…..
Week three of Spring 2020 Ecuador SST thrust students into the biodiversity that is Ecuador and all the complexity that comes with it. One of the neat elements of SST is there is so much learning that takes place outside...
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At the Top of the World
The theme of week two of SST has been ascending and descending…. After a lecture on the history of the Catholic church in Ecuador, students visited some of the historic churches in the Centro Historico of Quito. At the national...
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Beauty, History, and the Equatorial Sun
Ecuador SST 2019-2020 version 2.0 kicked off this past week with strange global climate change induced sunny weather during the start to the rainy season in Ecuador. Students missing the sun in North America quickly realized just how intense the...
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Spring 2020 Ecuador SST has Begun!
The Spring 2020 Ecuador unit has arrived in Quito and has been safely delivered to their lodging at the Cofan Survival Fund facilities. Their first couple of days will include a host of orientation activities, including introductions to the public...
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