AAVE Trip BLOG » Ecuador & Galapagos
July 21, 2008
Ecuador - July18, 2008
Posted by Abbott in : Ecuador & Galapagos , add a comment
Hey Abbott!
I have just read your emails about getting in touch with parents … we will have the kids email home tonight after dinner. It has been crazy hard to find time or places with phone service and Internet. Instead our days have been packed with penguin sightings, whales breaching, snorkeling with spotted rays and hammer heads, and best of all having a blast playing Frisbee on the beach and teaching the kids to body surf!
We have really truly connected over the past few days in the Galapagos. The kids are loving life and everyone is healthy and smiling! We arrived in Santa Cruz today and we are taking the kids out for Pizza and ice cream tonight … a bit of a change from rice and fish!
Abbott I´m sorry about the lack of communication home … our days have absolutely been packed with everything but time in town. Things are great … you would be proud!
Anna and Andy
July 14, 2008
Ecuador Pictures
Posted by Anna Kurtz in : Ecuador & Galapagos , add a comment
Ecuador #1
Posted by Anna Kurtz in : Ecuador & Galapagos , add a comment
Hey Abbott and families back home,
Things are going great…we are back in Quito after fantastic adventures in the Amazon! We had a salsa dancing lesson tonight and although the students were embarrassed at first, they ended up being quite impressive once they learned the moves!! We are headed out to the Galapagos tomorrow and just wanted to shoot you an email. All the kids said the rafting and jungle exploring was their favorite part of the trip! So far….we´ll see after the Galapagos!
Things are smooth and Andy, I and everyone are really get along..I think we are rocking the trip.
hasta pronto
Anna y Andy
July 9, 2008
Ecuador & Galapagos - 1
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Abbott, our campers are incredible! We worked with niños de la calle today´and everyone was so positively effected by these children. Tonight’s meeting, lead by Daniel naturally flowed into a reflection of what we are truly grateful for amidst all this poverty. Zhawen, charlie, Mike…really every student spoke of how thankful they are for friends, family, and their way of life.
We are headed up to Cotopaxi for a que chevre mountain bike ride tomorrow! Just wanted to check in!
Anna and Andy
Ecuador & Galapagos #1 - Some Highlights
Posted by Anna Kurtz in : Ecuador & Galapagos , add a comment
Hey Abbott,
Some news from the trip for the blog!!! I was unable to get to each camper, but will add their thoughts next time. Enjoy,
I have two main highlights from my trip so far. The first would be when be hiked to crater lake after staying in the village of Santa Anita. The lake was so beautiful and the picture opportunities were endless. After that, we had a multi-mile downhill bike ride through the Ecuadorian countryside. On my way, I got to practice my Spanish skills with the local children. My second highlight was hiking to the waterfall in Banos. After seeing the waterfall, we had a very steep hike back up to the bus. Though it was hard, once we got to the top, we all felt a sense of accomplishment upon seeing the view. Catherine Zucker
Some highlights have been mountain biking and taking a cable car across the water to the waterfall in Banos. In Cotopaxi, we biked down a mountain. We started at the top, where it was snowing and freezing, which was very cool. After a long day of biking, we made it to the bottom and felt very accomplished. In Banos, we took a cable car, which was exciting and scary at the same time. Then we hiked down the mountain to the waterfall, and then back up. The hike was very hard, but when we made it to the top the view was incredible.
Kelly Suchman
My highlights from my stay so far in Ecuador are running at high altitude and mountain biking two days in a row. My group is awesome and they are great people. Especially our trip leaders. -Mike Greenfield
Some of my favorite highlights from Ecuador are biking down Cotopaxi Mountain- even though it was hailing and freezing at the top, it was a lot of fun. Another highlight is when we took the cable car up a mountain in Baños to see waterfall- Also, i enjoyed helping the community of Santa Anita with building a fence around their park and picking up trash for them. -Melani
Today in Banos was awesome. The hike and the cable car were awesome. The whole trip has been great.- Carter
My highlight of the trip was seeing the crater lake at in Quilotoa. We were in Quilotoa Friday night and Saturday. About a minute walk from our hostel, there was the giant crater to the Quilotoa Volcano, in the Andes Mountains. We hiked a while along the rim of the crater. We could see the jade colored lake, Quechua indigenous people bringing their livestock to drink in the water, and magnificent, snow capped peaks of the Andes in the distance. On top of this volcano, we were almost 5,000 meters high! This was quite the spot for our daily meeting.
Charlie Kannel
A highlight of the trip was community service in Santa Anita. It felt good to give back to the people who were hosting us. Also, the view of Chimborazo was amazing. Chimborazo is the largest mountain in Ecuador, and from the center of the earth, it is the highest peak.
Sarah McManus
July 7, 2008
EG1 - Hey Abbott, Moms y Dads!
Posted by AAVE Leader in : Ecuador & Galapagos , add a comment
Sorry we have been out of contact ….we have been up in the Andes doing our service projects (which were incredible!!!)…no phones there…today we are in way cool Banos giving the kids town time…we are going to call the all the parents around 6 so we can hopefully catch them.
This trip IS ACTION PACKED. We are headed rafting in the Amazon tomorrow!!! We will try as often as we can but just let the parents know that we have been doing some wonderful service projects in very remote areas.
The kids are great!! They have handled our tough service work so well. We helped build a fence in a central park in Santa Anita, and spent time visiting very underprivileged families. Our meetings are still very meaningful. Andy and I are always impressed with the kids ability to empathize with the people of these communities. They have handled challenges very well, and are super fun and into each other, games and all the activities thus far!!
We have had some headaches and achy tummies from the high altitude..but all that has seemed to settle now that we are in the sunny town of Banos!
Other than that, our trip is wonderful. Daniel and Zhawen especially have been shinning stars!!
Thanks! Enjoy!
Anna and Andy
July 2, 2008
EG1
Posted by AAVE Leader in : Ecuador & Galapagos , add a comment
Wow! What a phenomenal place and people and sites and colors and smells!!
Everyone has arrived safe and sound and fabulously excited for the adventures that lie ahead of us! We’ve met our Guide - Lenin - he’s great and funny and very helpful.
Quito is astounding - we’ll have to share more about it soon because we are all processing through what we’ve seen and learned. There is so much history and celebration of human life!!
The volcanoes - need we say more?! The campers are enthralled by their surroundings which is fun to watch but also be a part of.
Check back for more as we continue on this journey together. The stories will flow as is the laughter and friendships already!
February 1, 2008
Summer Camp in Ecuador & Galapagos!
Posted by AAVE Parent in : Ecuador & Galapagos, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
AAVE is a FANTASTIC post-camp experience! Ben went to Ecuador & Galapagos with them and it was a MOST impressive, well-run, generous trip. Incredible AAVE staff supplemented with experienced South American guides. College boy Ben wanted to go to Thailand or China with them this summer however, high school senior summer is the limit! We were very disappointed that we had not found out about them earlier in high school as this company for summer travel is a winner.
Best regards,
Janet Marks (aka Ben Sann’s mom)
January 31, 2008
Teen Summer Camp in Galapagos Sees It All!
Posted by AAVE Parent in : Ecuador & Galapagos, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Both my daughters, previous to this summer, had been on a wide and varied assortment of teen trips. I have to say the feedback from the Ecuador trip was, hands down, the best of any of their experiences. I credit your company in making it such a great time. In particular she thought the two leaders were everything you could look for, fun, enthusiastic, kind and considerate. I thank you.
-Parent, Jessica Fichter, EG
The trip was amazing…Michael forged incredible bonds with a variety of kids, his confidence & self-esteem grew immensely on top of being a tremendous growth experience for him! The combination of adventure & the group experience was fantastic. The leaders were professional & fun (a tough combo to find) & I would whole-heartedly recommend AAVE to everyone!
-Parent, Sharon Morris, EG
Everything about the trip was simply amazing. The places we traveled to were magnificent, but the 13 other kids I met, and our trip leaders were the most important part of the trip to me. Hopefully, I’ve made some life-long friends, and I hope that next summer will be just as exciting. Hiking through bat caves in the Amazon jungle was one of my favorite activities. I can’t really point out any unsuccesful thing on our trip.
-Camper, Michael Morris, EG
The whole trip was a great success! I loved all of it. I didn’t even get home sick I was having so much fun.
-Camper, Katie Dasburg, EG
I felt my daughter Kelsey had a wonderful experience with AAVE. She absolutely loved every aspect of it, and she says wishes it could have lasted for the whole year!
-Parent, Susan Beltz, EG
Absolutely everything this summer was a huge success. I ADORED the counselors, learned so much about Ecuador’s culture, and had the best time of my life!
-Camper, Kelsey Beltz, EG
Katie had a wonderful experience. She met and made new friends who were from other parts of the country and her leaders were knowledgeable and caring. Ecuador and the Galapagos was Katie’s 3rd trip with AAVE and it was by far the most interesting and rewarding. Once again, thank you for providing these opportunities to young adults!
-Parent, Bill Fusco, EG
Ira had a blast. It was an incredibly valuable experience for him. We were very impressed with the organization as well as the team leaders. I took Ira to university this past weekend, in Toronto and I think the confidence he gained onthe trip will be of great benefit to him. I will forward you request to him but I think he is pretty busy with starting at a huge school in a big city. So let me know if you don’t get a response.
-Parent, Joanne Schwartz, EG
It accomplished all of our goals for Kate in that she negotiated her first independent experience which included sickness and injury without us and I attribute that to the group and leader support. She is not an outdoorsy or adventurous girl, preferring NYC and LA to a village in the Andes, so considering that, it was amazing how much she loved the trip!
-Parent, Elise Coffey, EG
Josh came home excited about his entire experience in Ecuador. It was clearly the trip of a lifetime for him. One of the highlights was swimming with sea lions in the Galapagos. Memories of seeing some amazing wildlife in the Amazon will also stay with him always.
-Parent, Eveleyn Eidelberg, EG
I had a chance to challenge myself and do things I never though I would experience in my life time.
Ecuador #2A: From The Equator to the Galapagos
Posted by AAVE Leader in : Ecuador & Galapagos, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Hi Abbott and families,
Just thought we´d catch you all up on all the fun we´ve been having in Ecuador! We have been here in the beautiful Galapagos Islands since Sunday. Our time has been spent snorkeling, hiking, biking, swimming, hanging out at the beach and learning all about what makes these islands so unique. A few of us weren´t feeling too well at the beginning of the week, but after some ¨tranquila¨ time and amazing support from one another we have finally recovered and are ready to continue this second half as strong as ever!
We are spending the next two nights on Santa Cruz, where we will visit the Charles Darwin Research Station to see ¨Lonely George,¨and visit some other historic and natural sites like Tortuga Bay. It will be hard to say bye to all the animals and beautiful sites on the Galapagos, but the Amazon is calling and we will be there next week to enjoy all the rainforest has to offer. Everyone is having a wonderful time and wishes to say hi to all of you back home! Adios!
Thanks for the perfect group!
Heather, Lyn, and all the EG2 chicos
