Hey everyone! My name is Ben, and I’m beyond pumped to get on the road to Ecuador. I’m from Philadelphia, PA (yes, inside Philly) and am majoring in marketing and finance, but who knows, maybe after this I’ll switch to supply chain. I love all things sports, playing sports and watching sports, no matter what it is I’ll tune in or play around. On top of that, I’m a huge fan of music, and I’m dabbling in DJing.

I can’t start to explain how excited I am to venture to Ecuador as part of Pitt’s Plus3 program, a trip that isn’t your typical stamp-in-the-passport trip. We’re traveling deep into the Amazon to trace the full supply chain of chocolate, from the cacao farms and the hands that tend them to the broader systems that bring it to the rest of the world. For me, the most meaningful travel has never been about checking off landmarks; it’s about slowing down enough to actually understand a place. That means sharing space with local communities, learning how people work and live, and letting the experience genuinely reshape the way you see things. Ecuador isn’t a backdrop for this trip; it’s the whole point.

This won’t actually be my first time putting that philosophy into practice. A few years ago, I traveled to Costa Rica on a service trip and stayed with a host family in a remote village, exactly the kind of immersive experience I was just describing. No resort, no tour bus, just real life in a community that was gracious enough to open their home to m. Between that and regular trips to the Dominican Republic to visit family, where the agenda is dinners, errands, and actual life rather than anything you’d find in a guidebook. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable being somewhere rather than just visiting it. It also helps that I speak Spanish, which, if anyone on the Plus3 trip needs a translator deep in the Amazon, I’m available. Reasonable rates.