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 breakfast at the lodge and then my partner and I started working on our short ad that we had to do for the trip. Our video turned out so good and I hope that it can be used to convince more people to do Plus3 Ecuador! We got lunch after this before taking two canoes along the Rio Napo river to a town called Misuallahi that was maybe 20 minutes away. The town was small but cute and there were monkeys running around everywhere! We got pizza and did some shopping before hoping back in the canoes to head back to the Iyarina lodge. I think the canoe rides had everyone tired again so we had dinner at the lodge and all just hung around the fire for the night which was the perfect ending to such a calm day.
Thursday started similarly with breakfast at the lodge and then I started working with my group on our presentation that we had to do during the trip. Our topic was about the Picalqui community which we visited earlier in the trip and we were formulating a suggested course of action for their Rose industry production with the main focus being on how they could aim to make contact with a buyer in the United States. This took a little while but our presentation turned out really good. After finishing the presentation we hung around the lodge and in the afternoon the 4 groups all showed did their presentations for the other students. After we all did our presentations we also got to show our short ads to not only the other students but some of the faculty at the Iyarina lodge as well. This was super fun but also sad because all the videos captured what we did on the trip and it was both really fun to see all the videos but also made me sad to be leaving. After this we got dinner at the lodge before heading to a nearby town called Tena to check out some of the night life
Friday I woke up sad to leave but also excited to be home. We had a few more stops planned for our day of travel though. Our first stop was at the “cloud rainforest” that had a small trail we got to walk along. The rainforest is located at a high enough elevation so that you walking through clouds essentially and this made for some super cool photos. After this we stopped at a small hummingbird park where we could hold nectar bottles and the hummingbirds would land on your hand and drink from them. The birds moved so fast and it was so cool to get to see them that up close rather than just in my backyard. After this we had one last stop at a farm/restaurant just outside of Quito. The area had some really cool trails to walk as well as Polylepis trees which are highly endangered. The trees were really cool to see and after this we made our way to the Quito airport to start making our way home.
I’m writing this now from the Philadelphia airport and thinking back on it I can’t believe I’ve gotten to do all of these cool things in just the past two weeks. I’ve made some amazing memories and even better friendships that I couldn’t have even imagined just two weeks ago. I can say now with full confidence that this trip has been life changing, no doubt about it. I’ve loved every second of my time in Ecuador, from walking around in the cities to being soaking wet in the Jungle, there is nothing like it. If there is one thing I could say to anyone thats on the fence about trying the trip is don’t overthink and just go for it!