Two years ago I signed up to go on a trip of a lifetime to Ecuador with Camps International. I had to raise £5,580 to pay for flights, accommodation, food and jabs. To do this my family and I ran many fundraisers including an afternoon tea with tombola and garden games, a small gaming convention with a raffle and bake sale, and a sponsored walk where I walked 92 km in a month.
On the 13th of July 2024 we landed in Quito and travelled up into the Andes to our first camp. We got involved straight away on the three community projects, the first of which was fixing the bus shelter as it was not safe for people to use. We were also involved in laying a pavement to make it safe for people to get around and the children to get to school. At the school we started work building a library that could also be used as a classroom to give them more space. While we were there, we did many cultural activities such as playing traditional games and baking at one of the locals’ houses.
The best thing in my opinion was taking part in a traditional ceremony to thank the earth. As a part of this, one of the local women chose me to wear one of their traditional dresses for the ceremony. We then danced and celebrated together.
Our second camp was on the Galapagos Islands. On Isla San Cristóbal they taught us how to snorkel in a cove and they took us by boat to a small island which is one of the only places in the world where you can see all three types of Boobies such as the Blue Footed Booby (Ecuador’s National Bird). We then got to snorkel around a massive rock in the ocean where we saw so many different types of fish and some in my group were even lucky enough to see a shark. The next day we did a litter pick along the ocean front where the sea lions live to make sure there was nothing that they could swallow that would cause them or any other animals injuries or make them ill. We were also able to support the local primary school where we painted the playground making it look nicer for the children coming back to the school after the summer. On the last day in the Galapagos they took us to a giant tortoise sanctuary where we saw all the work that is put in to make sure that they don’t go extinct in the wild. We also visited a coffee farm and met the farmer who is the third generation to work on that land. We helped him plant more coffee plants and saw some of the work that teams like ours did three years ago.
After we arrived back in Quito we travelled to 3,500m above sea level to the next camp where we helped paint the school and build a greenhouse which they plan on using to teach the children in the community about growing their own food. Whilst there we ate guinea pig which is a very traditional dish for Ecuadorian people especially in the High Andes. In this camp one thing we all struggled with was altitude sickness that made us even more proud of the work we had done.
From the Andes we moved on to our final camp in the Amazon. As we only had two days of project work left we were all enthusiastic to get to work building a tourist trail, plastering and tiling a wash house and painting a mural. When we finished on the last day we were all very proud of what we accomplished in such a short amount of time. The next day we set out with our small rucksacks into the jungle where we arrived at the satellite camp and spent the next two nights sleeping in hammocks and learning about the culture of some of the people who live there. On the final night we attended a cultural celebration where the community showed us some of their cultural dances and we taught them the cha cha slide and the hokey-cokey. The next morning we said goodbye to the camp as we set off for a long journey home.
This trip taught me a lot, not just skills like bricklaying and plastering but also it taught me to believe in my own abilities. It also showed me that I was capable of being away from home for that length of time and that I could get along with people from other countries even while having very little in common and barely speaking their language. I am confident that, whatever the challenges I will face, the experience in Ecuador has made me better prepared and excited for my next adventure.