Day 11 It’s our first day in Puerto Lopez! After a wonderful  beachside breakfast, we headed to Machalilla de National. There, we did a short hike up to a beautiful vista. We all were sweaty and a bit tired, but the wind and the scenery made it all worth it. Then we walked to Turtle beach…

Day 8 Today we had a pretty relaxing day. We worked on our final presentations and after dinner, we went on a night walk to look at so me of the insects that are nocturnal. We saw a bunch of spiders and some very large insects. This was not my favorite activity, but it was…

Day 5, 6, 7: Visiting the Waorani Nation In the morning, we left the lodge and took an hour and a half bus ride before a 70 mile canoe trip up the Rio Nushino and Rio Curaya. It took about 7 hours to get to the Waorani community we were visiting. It was long, but…

Day 3: Goodbye Quito, heading up 13,000 ft Good morning! Today we left Quito for the Iyrina Lodge, but first, we had a few stops. On the way to our first stop, we had a jam session on the bus. Without a doubt, Taylor Swift was our most-liked artist! We journeyed up 13,000 feet to…

Day 2 Today we woke up at 6:30 for breakfast and hopped on the bus to go to our first flower plantation! We visited Jet Fresh Flower Growers in Cotopaxi, getting away from the city for a bit. They had a bunch of different animals like some very spirited ducks, friendly dogs, and llamas!  We…

Arrival/Day 1: Historic Quito After a long day of travel, we finally touched down in Quito! We were all so excited to be in the capital city, that after we checked into the beautiful Hotel San Francisco, in the historic Quito, we went into town for dinner. We had a great first night and prepared…