Language Learning Ecuador & the Galápagos 2017

Words cannot describe all that we have experienced in the last few days. The Galápagos are all they are hyped up to be and so much more. It is such a magical world over here, and being able to appreciate it with such a solid…

Connectivity has been low but we have been keeping notes while we adventure and learn, and are happy to share our awesome experience from last week. Stay tuned! – Nicolás & Claire We left Las Tolas and the cloud forest on July 18 to head…

And now we arrive at the worst part of being a traveler: saying goodbye. The students finished up their community service portion of the trip with a reforestation day on a hill just outside of town where Putney Student Travel teams have been planting endangered,…

Our second week in Las Tolas is coming to an end. Our group has now been scattered among our multiple host families. We’ve changed our shared rooms in the school for cozy beds in different houses in the town, and our late night card games…

The town of Mindo is located about an hour north of our community. It sits surrounded by the cloud forest, its birds, and multiple waterfalls. It is one of the most touristed towns in Ecuador and is loved by hikers, birdwatchers, and chocolate enthusiasts alike. …

We’ve been in Ecuador for over a week now! We are sad because the time is flying by, but happy because after such a short while we feel at home and like part of a family. It’s awesome that the students have gotten so close…

Today was our first day of work in the beautiful village of Las Tolas, where we will be staying for the next two weeks. It’s a town located in the cloud forest of about 350 inhabitants, and probably twice that number of cows, chickens, and…

Today was our first full day in Ecuador—hooray! We arrived safe and sound last night and, since we were all pretty exhausted from the travel day, we basically just collapsed in bed upon our arrival to our hotel. Doña Elena, the owner, received us with…

We’ve received word from the leaders that the group has arrived in Ecuador.

Hello, students and parents! Greetings from The Barn (Putney’s HQ here in Vermont). We your leaders have just finished our weekend of leader orientation; it was a busy four days. We made final preparations for our trip and we cannot wait to meet all of…