To start off the day, we had breakfast and then joined back in the common area at the lodge for a lesson on chocolate making! We had a great guide come and show us his process of turning roasted beans into melted chocolate which was a super cool experience to see up close. Then I…
Author: Madelyn Och
Into the Waorani!
We woke up on Sunday bright and early, around 5:30am so that we could grab a quick breakfast before starting our long travel day. After breakfast we hopped on the bus and got started on our 2 hour bus ride to the river. I will say it was quite a bumpy ride, as all the…
First Days at Iyarina Lodge!!
Day 1 at Iyarina Lodge was a blast! We started the day off by having an amazing breakfast with tamales, fresh fruit, and fresh orange juice!! Then we had the opportunity to learn how to handmake our own pottery bowls. It definitely was pretty difficult and we had to start over a few times, but…
Happy Travel Day!!
I took a break from blogging last night, and lets just say that was a mistake. Looking back on my past two days, we had jam-packed days with amazing stories! On Wednesday, we started the day by driving to the volcano, Cotacachi. There were beautiful views of the volcano and we even got to take…
A City of Chocolate
We woke up yesterday and had an exciting day of chocolate tasting ahead of us! We had breakfast and headed out to our first visit, which was to Yumbos right in the plaza. We had the opportunity to learn about the history of cacao and how they have come to source their chocolate. They had…
Hola Ecuador!
Coming back down to Pitt definitely felt weird after finishing our semester just a week ago, however we had so much fun in the “night” we stayed here! We arrived and had our orientation meeting where we played Ecuadorian jeopardy and got to test our knowledge of the country. Unfortunately we did not win, however…
Excited for Ecuador!
Hello, my name is Madelyn Och and I will be a part of the Pitt Business Plus3 Program in Ecuador this May! I am from Cranberry Township, PA (30 mins north of Pitt) where I was born and raised loving the city of Pittsburgh. I am an Accounting major and just finished my freshman here…