Plus 3 Ecuador has officially wrapped up, but that doesn’t mean that our last day was uneventful. As always, the group gathered bright and early for our last breakfast together before turning in our lodge room keys and heading on the bus to head on back to the Quito airport. Now you see, the bus…
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The Final Chapter of Ecuador
Day 11 After another amazing breakfast from the people of the lodge, we went to paint our pots that we sculpted earlier in the trip. They were finally done firing. we needed someone’s hair for our brushes, so our group chose Sherly for the hair person. With Sherly’s hair, we proceeded to wrap it around…
Plants vs. Zombies
Today, the capabilities that I once applied to humankind have been refurbished and polished. At the grand time of 6:30am, the crew and I woke up for a bountiful breakfast. You can tell how rough the day will be by seeing how much food is on your plate. The more, the harder. When the…
TLC was Wrong. Do Go Chasing Waterfalls.
The day is May 16th, 2025, and the mom lore in 30 years has already exceeded expectations. On this day, I started my day by walking out onto the balcony and to my surprise, seeing a family of 6 monkeys jumping around in the trees. This lodge was much less scary in the morning, and…
Channeling My Inner Coyote Peterson
We have finally reached home base for the rest of the trip! We are currently staying at a lodge in Iyarinia, which overlooks the Napo River! Our welcome looked a little like something out of a war movie as we immediately hit the ground running, suitcases gripped until knuckles were white, gravel crumbling under our…
Day 8, 9, 10: Into the Lungs of the Earth
we woke up early to get ready for a long travel day. we got on the bus around 8 to leave to catch our canoes to go to the Waorani people. when we got to the canoes, the professors told us it would be about 6 or 7 hours on these canoes. during our canoe…
One Wild Ride
5/22 This trip has been one wild ride and I can’t believe it is coming to a close. A part of me is ready for the comforts of my everyday life and to continue with my next great adventures this summer, but a bigger part of me knows this was the trip of a lifetime,…
Leaving, but Taking it All With Me
Day 11 Today was definitely more laid-back after all the adventures from the past few days. We still woke up at our usual time, and right after breakfast, we painted the ceramic pots we made earlier in the trip. Our instructor actually cut a piece of Maddie’s hair so we could use it to make…
Last few days : Day 11, 12, 13
Today was a chill day. We woke at 7:30 as usual for breakfast at 8:00. Straight after breakfast, we started our presentations on Bio’s chocolate factory. My teammates are Maddie, Mark, and Kayhaan. We went to our rooms and sat outside working on our presentation. Afterwards, we chilled in our rooms for a few hours…
Day 7, 8, 9, 10 in Equador
Starting off our day, we at breakfast in the lodge. After breakfast, we had chocolate making and tasting. We peeled, ground, and then boiled the cocoa beans. The chocolate was mixed with leaves and sugar to add flavor. The chocolate was still very bitter for me, though. After that, we went directly to the river…
Day 3, 4, 5, 6 in Equador
Beginning day 3, we set out to visit a rose greenhouse. We learned about care for roses, customer demand, and the different types of roses. We were also gifted beautiful roses. Afterward, we headed back to the lodge for lunch. After lunch, we went to a building where we learned a bit about Moncayo’s culture…
Day 5, 6, & 7: from River hikes to chocolate tastings
After a good night’s sleep in the hotel in Otavalo, we set out for our lodge in the Amazon rainforest. We had a good night’s sleep and were ready to tackle the long bus ride that was ahead. we left around 9 in the morning to start our trip. Skip and Rick decided it would…
Turning the Page, The End of My Time in Ecuador
My Plus3 Ecuador trip is finally coming to an end. First of all, I want to thank my professors Rick and Skip. They led us through a flexible Plus3 program and did it so well. They had everything planned and controlled, even if things needed to be planned last minute. I also appreciate how they…
Day 11, 12, & 13: Leaving Ecuador with a filled heart!
On day 11, we hung around at the Iyarina lodge. We painted our post that we had crafted earlier in the week. We used the rest of the afternoon to work on our projects for the next day and to rest. We then took canoes from the lodge over to Misahulli, a nearby town. We…
Day 13: All Good Things Must Come to An End
Officially the at the finish line! This trip has been an experience of a lifetime and has changed my perspective in so many ways. Today was our travel day to the Quito Airport. We made many stops along the way to take Ecuador all in one last time. We had a special breakfast today of…
Our final days in Ecuador
So today is a very bittersweet day as we’re making our way back home and leaving Ecuador 🙁 However, let me tell you about what we did on our last couple of days! Wednesday was definitely on the calm side as everyone was still pretty tired from our long day of travel. We started with…
The Journey of a Lifetime
Hello! It’s been a chill last couple of days at the lodge. It’s been more focused toward working on school projects. On Wednesday, May 21st we painted our ceramics that we made earlier in the trip. We painted with one of our fellow students’ hairs. It was really hard to paint and get good lines….
Gracias para Todo, Ecuador
On our final two days in country, we finished up our project presentations that we had been working on as well as putting the finishing touches on our traditional macagwa pots. I decided to make mine with a clay lizard and snake on the inside and paint them with simple traditional diagonal line patterns. We…
From Presentations to Parting: The End of My Time in Ecuador
Hey everyone! This is my last blog post for Plus3 Ecuador, which is crazy because I feel like I just started this journey. This post is going to be a little shorter than usual as we didn’t do much the last 3 days, but it was a nice break from our jam-packed days that we…
Adios Ecuador!
Today was a sad but special day.. it was our last day in Ecuador. We left the lodge after breakfast and had to kill time til our late night flight. First, we went hiking in the cloud forest which is endangered so it was a special sighting. Then we headed to see a bunch of…