Ecuador 2025 Blog

The students left from Boston, Sam left from Philly, and Brad left from Dallas all very early this morning! We gathered in the Houston airport and (courtesy of Brad) got to see a bit of Houston during out 9 hour layover. All of us piled into a big 12 (ish) passenger van and ate at Empire Cafe (we got treated by Brad’s Houston friends – big thank yous!), drove around Rice University, NRG stadium, and to a Buc-ee’s! At around 6 we’ll be headed to Quito, Ecuador and will be getting there close to midnight, so we figured we’d write this update now 🙂 It has been a very long but good day! We are back at the airport now relaxing at our gate. So far so good! We can’t wait to share all of the stories with you all and see what the next 12 days have in store for us. Much love to all of you for supporting us in this journey <3

Next time you hear from us, we’ll be in ECUADOR!!

Get excitedddd

Kana 🙂

Today started off bright and early with breakfast at 7 am. We had eggs, bread, a local cheese, some bananas and some very tasty coffee. After breakfast we decided to take the stairs back up to our rooms instead of the elevator to see if the high elevation of Quito ( which, for reference, is about 9,350 feet or 2,850 meters above sea level!) would affect us and we were quite out of breath when we made it up to the eighth floor but we recovered quickly. We packed everything up, signed out of the hotel, took a quick group picture and set off towards Napo, which is a rural parish in the province of Tena, which is close to the community that we will be working with. As we were all quite tired from our previous long travel day, we mostly drifted in and out of sleep for a while as we were driving through Quito but when we were not asleep, we were definitely taking in the beautiful view around us. 

Our first stop of the day was at a gas station where we tried some local snacks, recommended to us by Carlos and Mario, and some favorites were chicharrones and plantain chips. Then began a 2 hour drive to our lunch spot, which was a wonderful restaurant called El Viejo (the old man), where a lot of us tried local trout or trucha in Spanish. There were a lot of different choices on the menu so we ended up trying several different dishes and they became increasingly more fish-like in appearance as they were brought out but they were all very good. We also tried some Tomate de arbol (tree tomato) juice which tasted only faintly of tomato but was still very refreshing. There was a very cute beagle that would come to say hello to us several times throughout the meal and the view from the open window of the restaurant was absolutely stunning. 

Then we drove for a few more hours before stopping to refuel our van and ourselves with some ice cream! Kana tried some naranjilla ice cream (which is a local fruit that is a cross between an orange and a passion fruit), and Ella and I tried the coconut one. Refreshed and refueled, we set off for the final four hour leg of our journey which took us off of the paved roads onto a dirt road dotted with potholes that Adam expertly maneuvered around. The scenery that surrounded us during the drive was breathtaking. Imagine stepping into the lush tropical jungle of Jurassic Park: towering mountains so tall their peaks sit misted over by the clouds covered in greenery that spans close to all the possible shades of green, dotted through with periodic waterfalls with rolling rivers at their bases. 

We finally made it to our hotel around 6:30 pm and headed down for a wonderful dinner of chicken, rice and fries, beets, cream of broccoli soup with popcorn (which you add to the soup like oyster crackers and is a local tradition) and coconut chocolate cake for desert. It was very nice meal and everyone was happy to finally make it to our hotel. We briefly met with Carlos and Mario to discuss our plans for tomorrow and headed off to bed, exhausted but excited for tomorrow as it will be our first day in the community! 

Thank you for following along with us and we will be back tomorrow!

Olga

It was a short walk down a path to the community and on the way we saw banana, papaya, and cacao trees! When we got to the main area, I was able to recognize it from all the pictures and maps we had seen. We sat down in the community meeting house with a bunch of people to introduce ourselves, talk about the project, and ask them some questions pertaining to the project. There was a great turnout at the meeting with men and women of all ages. With Mario and Carlos translating, we had a good conversation and learned a lot! It was amazing to see how invested and excited they all are about our work. After the big group meeting, we had a smaller meeting with some of the leaders from the community and the CBO (Community Board Organization) who is in charge of maintaining the current distribution system. 

Our lunch was brought over from across the river with the help of our driver Adam and the canoe driver. We had chicken, rice, veggies, and lentils (which were an all around favorite) as well as jamaica juice, which is similar to a sweet hibiscus tea. Mario taught us how to drink the juice by biting off the corner of the bag. During lunch, we were visited by the cutest little puppy which we took to calling Perrito. 

After lunch, we did an initial walk around of the community to record on the GPS. During our walk around, we saw some of the existing taps and distribution system. We also saw tarps of cacao beans being dried in the sun and talked to a boy who told us about the process and showed us the inside of the beans.

Mid afternoon we headed back across the river and drove to our hotel where we had an hour or so to shower and rest before meeting up again to compare notes from the day and discuss how we might go about the project. Then, we had another great dinner of pork chops, rice, potato soup, pasta salad, and the same chocolate coconut cake as yesterday. After dinner, we played cards, talked about our plans for tomorrow, and played a couple of games of pool!

We are all very excited to go back to the community tomorrow and visit the water source! Thank you all for following along!

Ella 🙂

Before I talk about our journey to the water source let me give you a little background on the main goal of our trip. We partnered with Santa Estefania de Malta Pura in January through Engineers Without Borders because their current water collection and distribution system is aging, contaminated, and leaking. Additionally, during the dry season the water from the source does not meet the needs of the community. Through this assessment trip we hope to determine the best method of improving their water supply by collecting data, visiting the source, and speaking with the community to understand their personal needs. Traveling to Malta Pura is also incredibly important because it allows us to build relationships with the community and help us understand how to best support them.

Now that we’ve got a little more background lets get into the fun part! As soon as we got to the community we collected a sample of water from the Napo River and changed into rubber boots that we bought in Quito, and then we were off. The water source, which we lovingly named Barry, was a two kilometer walk from the community, much to the chagrin of Mario and Carlos. Guided by four members of the community and a little dog (who we named Bella), we walked along a narrow road that runs behind the community. We passed by another community, Bellavista Baja, on our walk and noticed that they had a water tower which was being fed by a similar source to the Malta Pura system, but we were told that the tank had recently broken and was no longer functional. We continued on our walk until eventually our guides stopped and indicated that it was time to venture into the Amazon.

The path we took was not a trail by a long shot. Our guides led the way with machetes, cutting down vines and branches in our way. It turned out that what was above wasn’t the only thing we had to look out for though. Shortly after we ventured into the forest I heard a scream from behind me. When I turned around I saw Elise hopping on one foot with her boot stuck deep in the mud. We retrieved her boot but not two minutes later the same thing happened to Ella! After ducking under many branches and climbing over many logs we came to a steep hill to lead us up to Barry. This climb was the scariest part of the hike for me, not because of the elevation or the mud, but because I was walking behind Mario who would intermittently scream in frustration. We came to the top of the hill and finally saw the source of the water system!

The system was made up of two holding tanks which were connected by a large rubber hose. Upstream of that was a large PVC pipe which led to a dam that held back the water from the stream to increase the pressure. After speculating and hearing so much about the water system, seeing it in person was surreal and we wanted to get as much information as possible. We collected water samples from both tanks, the water behind the dam, and from a leak in the PVC pipe. We also took the flow rate at two locations. 

After we were satisfied with the amount of data we had collected we headed back to the main path with Bella as our guide. Next, we went to visit a proposed water source nearby (we named it Steve). Luckily Steve was much closer to the main path so the hike was quick. We learned that Steve has a similar flow rate to Barry and is at a slightly higher elevation. Once we had taken a water sample and many pictures and videos we walked the two kilometers back to the community. 

At this point we were tired and ravenous. Luckily, lunch arrived shortly after we returned from our expedition. Lunch was delivered from the same restaurant as yesterday which is quickly becoming our favorite. We had beef, rice, beans, and salad with some more jamaica juice. Revived from lunch, we got right to conducting a first set of parameter testing on the water (the kit we got tests for 16 parameters, including pH, lead, and mercury). The tests came back with relatively similar results for each of the samples with very low levels of most of the parameters we tested for. We still had to test for bacteria and turbidity but because these tests are more involved, we would conduct them later at the hotel.

By that point it was about 1:30 and we were done with all of the work we had planned to do. Luckily we were not without activities. Carlos and Mario had brought a drone, which we set up to take some aerial shots of the community, which was very exciting to several of the children (and Ceci who became Mario’s drone assistant). Even more exciting was the soccer ball that Kana brought with us and we ended up with many new friends. We spent a long time kicking the ball around a big field in the middle of the community with Damian (Sam’s new bestie), Ronaldo, Jake, Maité, Titi, and Matias. After we were all sufficiently exhausted we left the community for the day, promising the kids we would be back for more soccer tomorrow.

When we got home after some much needed showers (and tick checks) we got straight back to work. We configured our hotel room into a makeshift lab complete with petri dishes and an incubator. Olga led the experiments which the rest of us helped out, or at least tried to. We set up all six of the samples and put them into the incubator for 24 hours, you’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out the results!

To end off the day we had a delicious dinner of beef with mushroom sauce, rice, plantains, soup, shrimp salad, and banana bread. After dinner we played pool and Dutch Blitz and had a long conversation with Adam, our bus driver.

Today was so special and we are excited to learn even more tomorrow when we interview more community members!

Until next time,

Bergen

Our journey to the community began with a stop at the port, where several neighboring communities had gathered for a market day. People were selling clothing, soap, shoes, toys, and more. It was also a chance for everyone to socialize, so there was plenty of food, music, and fun! We just passed through on our way to the canoe, but it was great to see the fun.

Once we arrived, we split into two groups. My group—the cool group (me, Olga, Elise, Brad, and Carlos)—headed toward the houses on the edge of the community near the jungle, while the other group (Kana, Bergen, Ella, and Sam) went toward the river. It was about a 25-minute walk to the farthest house, led by Rojelio and accompanied by two friendly dogs. This family used to live in the main part of the community but moved out to farm. Even so, they still participate in mingas (community projects) and remain connected to the group.

Before lunch, we interviewed three households. These homes were farther away from the community center, and their needs were different from those living closer in. Many families told us they do not use the tap system connected to the stream because it either doesn’t work or the water is too dirty. Instead, most rely on rainwater—which is still often contaminated and causes issues like gastrointestinal diseases, vision problems, back pain, and flu.

We took a break and had lunch. It was delicious: rice, chicken, lentils, papas fritas, and jungle “Red Bull” juice sacks. After a quick recap with the other group, we continued interviewing more households, this time closer to the center of the community. We spoke with a variety of people, including farmers, a teacher, a doctor, and even the community president. Their input was incredibly valuable and gave us a deeper understanding of everyone’s perspectives and needs.

We ended the afternoon with a fun game of fútbol with the kids— including Sam’s bestie friend Damien! Then we made our way back and, after showering, got right to work in “the lab” (a.k.a. Kana, Olga, and Bergen’s hotel room). There, we conducted turbidity tests and checked the bacterial growth from yesterday’s samples. To our surprise, the results were not what we expected, so tomorrow we’ll collect more samples to double-check our findings.

At dinner, we all sat together at one big mega table (three tables joined together!) and enjoyed a delicious meal of fish, rice, salad, green plantain soup, sweet plantains, and blueberry cake for dessert.

After dinner, we returned to “the lab” and debriefed as a team. We reviewed the day’s findings, discussed potential solution options, and made a plan for tomorrow—it looks like it’s going to be another big day!

The morning was spent continuing household surveys. We split up into the same groups as yesterday with the cool group: Ceci, Olga, Carlos, Brad, and myself taking surveys in the community while the other group(still cool i guess) which consisted of Bergen, Kana, Ella, Sam, and Mario started with going to the farthest house to collect a water sample from a nearby creek. We learned that many of the households are connected to the tap but the water does not often reach them so they rely heavily on rainwater catchment. We also met the founder of the community, Augustine Tapuy, and learned that he moved to Malta Pura from a parish in Tena so everyone in the community is like family to him, and the school is even named after him! We also surveyed a house by Napo River and learned that their water connection is from the adjacent community but not any cleaner than Malta Pura’s. At one point when walking between houses I turned around and saw Ceci with a troop of little girls by her side joining us on our walk. By the end of the morning, all household surveys were completed, along with a growing amount of flowers given to us by the kids!

Then we had lunch which was delicious as always: beef, beans, rice, plantain, cucumber, and jungle “Red Bull”. After regrouping, we split off again for a short period to collect water samples from a running tap and stored rainwater from both older and newer systems, while the others stayed behind to learn about the existing water distribution system and map it out on paper with Rojelio. After this we joined the kids to play some futbol. Mario also joined in and immediately kicked the ball and hit a kid not once, not twice, but three times! But don’t fret, it all ended in laughter. With two soccer balls at play it was hard to keep track of what was going on but at one point Kana started a game of what could only be called “Running around in a Circle with our Hands Together”. With numerous things going on at once we started to hear Mario and Carlos let us know that it was time to leave. It was hard to leave the kids as they wanted to keep playing but we ended with another round of the previously mentioned game created by Kana and then were on our way back to Yuralpa.

We got back to the hotel, showered, and entered again into “the lab” with our new water samples. It was a very busy lab day with lots going on: Kana, Ella, and I tested the samples with water quality strips, Olga started the process for bacteria counts, Ceci tested turbidity, while Bergen mapped out the water distribution on Canva. We’ll have to wait 24 hours to see if the bacteria counts differ from our previous results, but we think they will increase judging by the insects found in the samples. We then made our way to a great dinner consisting of shrimp, rice, dried plantains, and soup. 

After dinner, Carlos and Mario talked to us about our options for after we leave the community… very exciting things ahead!! We ended the night with Dutch Blitz and some journaling. See you tomorrow!!

Elise

We started off the day feeling refreshed after sleeping in an extra hour before having breakfast. Breakfast consisted of… just kidding, you know the drill by now :). 

Instead of heading to the community today, we went to the local Hardware Store (Ferreteria Chontapunta) to begin pricing out the possible pipes, tanks, taps, and pumps we may need to buy to implement our project. As a bonus, we got to check out the Hardware Store’s water storage and filtration system, which made excellent use of a First Flush Filter. We exchanged phone numbers with the employees and they asked to take a picture with some of us, likely for our gringo novelty.

Afterwards, we explored the very small town of Chontapunta which consisted of a high school, a soccer field (w/ a full 11v11 game in progress), a small medical center, and a couple more buildings along a dirt road. Then we finally met our hero: the owner of the restaurant we’d eaten lunch at the past few days! She ran a small restaurant on the side of the road and the prices on the wall showed about $3 for a full plate of rico nourishment. We also had some Inca Cola (tasted like bubblegum) and Fiora Vanti (strawberry soda) to wash it down.

After a slow and bumpy ride back to the hotel, some of us did a small workout and then took a dip in the pool to cool off (I was the only one fully in the pool…). Then, I went to take a shower, and got startled by a little white lizard that was hanging out there to keep me company. He scampered off behind the shower caddy and hung out there while I took my cold shower. About halfway through, Ecuador decided to welcome us to the rainforest. It poured for the next couple hours, which I was glad to see, as many community members’ rainwater catchment systems were beginning to run dry. In the meantime, most of the travel team was in the Lab reading our results from our second round of bacteria tests.

Our tests showed unsafe levels of E. Coli in all of the water samples we’d taken from the community. To confirm this, our travel team painstakingly counted every colony in these tests (Elise counted all the way to 622…). While it’s dismaying to know that most community members drink this water untreated everyday, we’re now armed with the knowledge of what we need to improve.

Then, we had dinner, and it was our first non-rice meal of the trip! We had pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan, and our guide Carlos dumped 4 small bowls of parmesan on his pasta, despite claiming he didn’t like queso all that much. 

After dinner, we finished up our plan for the final meeting with the community tomorrow. While we can’t provide clean water tomorrow, we plan to focus on three big ideas to help in the meantime: boiling water, hand-washing, and closing their taps. Especially by emphasizing the importance of boiling water before consumption, we hope that the overall health of the community members can improve before we’re able to implement a more permanent solution.

While I’m personally struggling with the fact that in less than a week I’ll be back to hot showers and clean drinking water while my new friends in Maltapura will drink this water for at least a year, our guides Carlos and Mario reminded me that just by being here we’ve given the community hope. For the children, maybe they’ll grow up wanting to be an engineer. For the adults, the government hasn’t supported them, the community can’t fix this themselves, and yet a small group of students from a university in another hemisphere still cares about them.

While we’ll have to say goodbye tomorrow, I find solace knowing that we’re doing what we can. 

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Teddy Roosevelt

Sam

P.S. If you’d like to support our student chapter financially, please donate.

P.P.S. Teddy Roosevelt also said “speak softly but carry a big stick” which I always thought was a funny sounding quote.

We had a slightly later breakfast today at 7:30 and had the usual, except we had bacon instead of a sausage with the eggs. We had some time to get our bags ready, played some final rounds of pool and ping pong, and headed off to the community at around 9:30. At the Los Rios boat dock, some of the kids from the community (Damien and Jayden) were waiting to join us on our ride across the river for our final day. We got to the community and gathered in their hall to thank them for welcoming us into their lives and trusting us with helping them. We showed them our findings of bacteria in their various water sources and some temporary solutions for the next year while we work towards implementing a long term solution. The three action items we focused on were boiling their water to kill bacteria, closing their taps to help water get to everyone in the system, and washing their hands with soap. I should definitely note that this talk with the community was done by Olga who did an amazing job communicating to them in Spanish. (She’s been helping us all translate the whole trip and is always so patient with us, spelling things out and repeating questions and answers :)) The community expressed their thanks to us and said that when we have a plan for them, they will be ready to help, all hands on deck, just in the fashion of a true minga. Afterwards, we spent some time taking pictures and videos with the community and kids, and Mario and Carlos even pulled out the drone for some cool shots! The kids are always so happy to just hold our hands or be next to us; it really feels so special to have them run up to us and greet us with their smiles. We had our final meeting with the CBO to ask them a few questions to help us plan out what our project might look like and sign our partnership agreement between us (Tufts EWB), Hombro a Hombro (Shoulder to Shoulder), and the Santa Estefanía de Maltapura Community. On our way out we were offered freshly picked abiu – a sticky but delicious fruit. We then said our final goodbyes and took our last ride across the Napo River, made our way back to the hotel, and ate a late lunch. Today, the place we usually get lunch at was closed, so we had lunch at the hotel, consisting of mote (hominy corn), pork, plantains, pickled salad, chicken and veggie soup, and a cookie! 

We then got packed up to leave Hotel Yuralpa and started our 2½ hour bumpy ride to Tena. We played some car games, took naps, and chatted. The mountains looked stunning as we reached the Cruscaspi Hotel in Tena. We settled into our rooms (Bergen, Ella, and my room has 5 beds! And Olga, Elise, and Ceci’s room has two porches with a stunning view!) and headed to get some shoes for rafting tomorrow. We then had an Italian dinner at Marchelo’s Pizzería (we had pizza) and are back at the hotel now to play some games and rest up for our day full of fun activities tomorrow!

The rest is a bit more of a reflection if you’d like to continue reading.

It’s hard for me to believe that our time in the community has come to an end for this trip. So much of our Ecuador chapter of EWB’s time has been poured into this trip and planning for those six days. The team works so well together, and it was incredible seeing everything come to life. It is so evident that all of us are truly there to listen to the community and care about the words they say. The constant flow of ideas and excitement to brainstorm as we reflected on each day made me so happy. Being in the community, interacting with the people, sharing laughs with the kids – the feeling I leave with is one I can’t ever explain, but only hope that everyone can experience something so moving in their lives. These people have, physically, so much less than we do, but their support and kindness they have for one another is incredible. The children there have some of the brightest smiles and laughter I’ve ever seen – genuine pure joy just kicking a ball or running in a circle. 

When talking about EWB, I once wrote that this club has opened my eyes to a whole new world that I had never been a part of. It made me realize how much we need to uplift these communities and do what we can to give them basic human needs and use the engineering we learn to help them and places alike; often it feels like we have somehow forgotten about these people who are still worrying about the very water that they drink. The bacteria in the water is a bigger issue than the monthly stomach issues they have. It affects their development and brain throughout their lives, makes it harder to learn in school, and is a constant worry on their mind. The Maltapura community is doing all they can, having built their current water system with their own hands and making makeshift rainwater catchment systems all while working in the fields each day and living off of one meal a day. Just to put things into perspective, the average monthly income for a family in our community is $10-15, if they are able to sell their crops, and our projects typically cost around $30,000. Even buying soap for a few dollars is something that is difficult to expect them to do. 

Today, one of the community members said thank you to us, for without water, there is no life. It is simple and obvious, but hearing it come from them hit hard. They live with this fear – one drought, increased contamination to their stream, a break in their water system is all it takes to no longer have access to water for them. It is sad and scary to hear their stories, but all the more inspiring to see their resilience. So, I hope these are more than just a daily update, but also a chance for us to share about a community who needs our help. A chance for us to share their story because they cannot themselves.

Sorry this got long! Thank you for all of your interest in our journey; it is an experience that will stick with us throughout our lives.

All the best,

Kana

P.S. If you’d like to support our student chapter financially, please donate.

The location where we began our rafting journey was a scenic 45 minute-ride away and as we left the concrete walls of the city of Tena and entered the vibrant greenery of the Amazon rainforest, we chatted and listened to some great music. Before we knew it, we had arrived at our destination. After we exited the car, we immediately put on lots of bug spray and sunscreen (which has become part of our daily ritual now) to prevent getting attacked by mosquitoes (and the numerous insects that inhabit these lands) and burned by the sun, although the day was slightly overcast which lowered the risk of being burnt to a crisp. Our guide gave us a very thorough safety briefing (Kana helped demonstrate being rescued after falling out of the boat which would prove to be very useful later that day) and then we donned out river gear: lifejackets, helmets and paddles. Ceci bravely volunteered to ride in the kayak while the rest of the team took to the raft. Once everyone else was seated comfortably in the raft named Survivor, we practiced paddling forwards and backwards in unison with the side of the boat that we were on and all of a sudden, the rope holding our raft to the shore slowly unravelled, floating behind the raft and we were off! 

The view from the raft was absolutely incredible from the beginning to the end. Sitting in our lime-green raft moving steadily downstream in the light-brown river, we were surrounded by majestic mountain peaks covered in the signature lush greenery of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Before long, we approached our first rapid, clearly denoted by the frothy peaks of whitewater. Little did I know that it was here that I would see  the rescuing technique we just learned in action. Our guide told us to paddle hard so that we would get enough momentum to get us through the rapid, which we did or rather attempted to do in unison. The waves rocked our boat up, down and sideways, regularly dousing us with cold water as we dived down into the next wave. Everything was going great, Bergen, Kana and I were paddling in unison when all of a sudden, we went over a particularly large wave. My foot slipped out from underneath what I though was a secure foothold and I was in the water. If there were any remnants of sleep in my system, they disappeared without a trace as I plunged into the icy water. Very quickly, our guide pulled me back into the boat but I had learned my lesson and found a more secure location to secure my feet for the rest of the journey. We passed several more rapids along the way, each with their own name in Kichwa and their own legend. Our team successfully navigated the mariposa (butterfly), buho (owl) and sirena (siren) rapids to name a few! But desperately paddling through the rapids wasn’t enough and quite soon Bergen took the first shift riding cowgirl style at the front of the raft. She valiantly held on until a massive wave came crashing over her head, sweeping her from the front of the raft and into the bottom of the boat. After a quick recovery, Sam took up the next post as cowboy followed by Ella, Elise, Ceci and Kana. 

About halfway through the journey, we stopped at a small indigenous Kichwa community to warm up slightly by playing some games (which involved our paddles and lots of running around) and to see some local artisanal crafts made by the residents of the community. They had lots of very intricate handicrafts ranging from carefully carved spoons to vibrant Macaws made from minuscule beads to local chocolate. Equipped with some souvenirs, we returned back to the canoe and completed the remainder of our Napo river journey. 

After returning to the hotel and showering, we went to Quiipo cevicheria to try some local Ecuadorian seafood and cuisine. One of the national dishes of Ecuador is a seafood soup called Encebollado that is made with fresh tuna, yucca, tomato, onions and spices. Traditionally it is served with lime and popcorn but depending on the region, it is also served with plantain chips. The soup was very delicious, and we tried different varieties with shrimp, squid, mussels, and other seafood. Definitely a dish worth trying! Having eaten our fill, we embarked on a drive to  Puerto Misahualli, a city known for its monos or monkeys which I will come back to in a bit. 

The main reason for our visit here was to meet the women of the Shiripuno community, an indigenous Kichwa community that began a women-operated cultural program that works to preserve indigenous culture and customs. After a short canoe ride across the Napo, we arrived in the Shiripuno community. We learned about the achiote shrub used as a paint that is applied to the face in intricate designs to protect against bad energy and woven crowns that also ward off bad energy. We tried guayusa tea and learned about the importance of yucca and the process of making Chicha, a fermented come-bebe (food and drink) which is a staple food of the Amazon region. We also learned some traditional dances, which differ for men and women. For women, the dance is always performed with a bowl in one hand symbolizing that the women prepares the food for the family, and involves rhythmic footwork and some serious hair flipping  For men, their dance is performed with a spear, symbolizing their role as the hunters in Kichwa families. We all definitely came away with a deeper appreciation for Pachamama (Kichwa for Mother Earth) and Kichwa culture. 

After exploring some more local handicrafts, we also learned about the Yacharumi rock, meaning having knowledge and energy. Outlines of local fauna are naturally ingrained into the towering rock that also has a window and a door, which are patches of the rock that sound more hollow than the rest of the rock. Legend has it that there was once an anaconda that resided on the top of the rock and would feed on unsuspecting animals and even humans. Luckily there was no anaconda anywhere near the rock as we climbed up to take a picture but there was in fact an anaconda nearby. It was a very photogenic anaconda and many members of the travel team took some pictures with it (they are much braver than I was)! There was also a beautiful macaw named Nina with whom we also took some pictures. We said goodbye to the women of the Shiripuno community and after a brief canoe ride back, we returned to Monkey Town to try an Ecuadorian delicacy called Chontacuro. A Chontacuro is a type of worm that lives in dry palm trees and can be eaten cooked or raw. Mario demonstrated the proper technique for eating them, which requires holding their pincers away from your fingers and biting the head off (quite grotesque, I know). Kana, Sam and Elise were brave enough to try them raw and even went back for seconds with the roasted ones. Ceci and Bergen also tried the cooked ones. After that we roamed around the town in a vain attempt to see the swarms of monkeys that are rumored to inhabit this town. Although we didn’t encounter any swarms of monkeys, we did see a few running high up across power lines and over the roofs of buildings. Finally, we began our journey back to the hotel. 

For dinner, we stopped at a taco restaurant called El Chulito, located in a dinosaur themed park. The tacos were amazing and Carlos also had several helpings of his favorite pickled onions not only with his tacos but also with his elote. After taking some pictures with the dinosaur statues around the park, we returned to the bus and returned to our hotel. We ended the night by journaling, playing salad bowl and reflecting on the day. Tomorrow we will travel to our next stop, Baños, so stay tuned for more adventures!  

All the best, 

Olga     

For lunch we stopped at a place called “Paradero Las Truchas Hermanas” where we got grilled chicken, fried trout, and trout ceviche with a delicious vegetable soup, lentils, and rice. A few of us also got Fiora Vanti (the strawberry soda), which was quickly becoming a favorite of mine. 

After lunch we met up with our Baños tour guide, Monica, who is a good friend of Mario and Carlos, then took a quick 5 minute drive to Pailón de Diablo (the devil’s cauldron), an 80 meter tall waterfall. To get to the bottom of the waterfall, we hiked down some stairs, across a wobbly suspension bridge, then down many more stairs. At the bottom, we were greeted by an incredible view of the waterfall. We all zipped up our raincoats and tried to avoid getting our shoes too wet as we walked by the waterfall, which was spraying water everywhere and roaring so loud we could barely hear each other. We took turns taking pictures in front of the waterfall and Kana even jumped on Olga’s back (and almost fell). Then, we trekked back up to the top, leaving us all out of breath. We got back into the bus and drove to our hotel, which was located right in the city of Baños. 

After checking in and taking a short rest, we left the hotel to explore the city. We looked in many souvenir shops, walked around an old church, and then Elise, Bergen, and I got chocolate covered bananas! The city is pretty small so it didn’t take long to see most of it. We then regrouped at the hotel and played a very intense game of Jenga. 

Around 6, we met back up with Monica and walked over to Fábrica Mágica de Chocolate, a fun chocolate factory/museum. We took a tour where we learned about the process of making chocolate starting from the cacao pods to the final product. First, the beans are removed, fermented, and dried. Next, the coco nibs are taken out of the beans and ground up into a paste. We were shown some of the traditional tools that were used by indigenous Ecuadorians to make chocolate, and got to see a demonstration of the grinding process, which Ceci participated in. The chocolatiers even put on a little show for us by manipulating the melted chocolate to prevent crystallization. My favorite part of the tour was probably the samples we got throughout, including tea made from cacao beans, chocolate with different percentages of cacao, white chocolate, and chocolate rum. After the tour, we were able to sample even more flavors of chocolate in the shop. I tried the Ají (spicy chili), piña (pineapple), and naranja (orange). It was hard to choose between all the different flavors but I eventually picked some out to bring home.

Once we all bought our chocolate, we walked to dinner. Mario was very set on hamburgers, so we settled on Carnal Carnitas, where they had quite the extensive menu. We ordered various types of burgers including mushroom and hawayana. The restaurant coincidentally also had multiple sets of Jenga, so Elise, Sam, Kana, and I played a couple more rounds while waiting for our food, while the rest of the table played Uno. Our food arrived and we were shocked by how big the burgers were. Once we were sufficiently stuffed, we headed back to the hotel for our nightly journal sesh and game of salad bowl (an EWB classic). 

We have another eventful day tomorrow so get excited and stay tuned to hear about it!

Ella 🙂

Our first stop was La Casa de Arbol, a small park with a treehouse and swing on the edge of a mountain. It is known for its spectacular views where, on a clear day, you can see the Tungurahua Volcano. Unfortunately today was not even remotely close to a clear day, it felt like we were standing in a giant cloud. Despite the sub-par viewing conditions we still had a great time on the swings where Elise conquered her fear of heights (which she would go on to do many times today. We also rode a small zipline and saw many hummingbirds. Our favorite part of this excursion, however, was after we left the park to go back to the bus. Right next to the parking lot were two alpacas! They posed for us as we took many photos before getting back onto the bus for our next activity. 

Our second stop for the day was called Puntzan Canopy, a zipline circuit with six different ziplines with views of the forest and the mountains. After suiting up in our harnesses, helmets, gloves, and more carabiners than I could count, we headed to the first zipline of the course. The first zipline of the course was the shortest and closest to the ground, a good intro to get us ready for what was to come. The intro was immediately cut short for the second zipline when the guides suggested we ride it upside down! It was exhilarating and disorienting at the same time, and I think I screamed louder than I ever have in my life. We then had to hike up a steep hill to get to the next one, which left all of us out of breath because we were at about 6,000 feet of elevation. When we got to the third zipline the guides had us put on another harness backpack-style because we were going to be riding this one like superman, or in our case like birds (there were a lot of “CACAW” sounds). The fourth zipline was a normal one, except at the end we got to a platform with a really sweet (and maybe pregnant) dog, named chewbacca. The fifth was superman again, except this time we got to go with a partner! Ella and I went together and held hands on the way down :). After one final steep hike and one more zipline we ended up back at the start of the circuit. We were all hungry and cold, but luckily we were immediately presented with lunch: chicken and rice soup and a plate of pork, rice, lentils, and salad. 

At this point it was about 1:30 and we were finished with all of the planned activities for the day so we headed back to the hotel to regroup. We were still pretty chilly from being outside in the rain for the past few hours so we decided to hit up a coffee shop and then go to the hotsprings for which Baños are named. The coffee place, called Honey Coffee & Tea, had some pretty tasty coffee but the most interesting part was the cups they chose to use. Some terms to describe them would be globular, hollow, and smashable. Adiquately recharged Sam, Ella, Ceci, Elise, and I started our walk to Termas de la Virgen, a communal hotsprings bath heated naturally by a volcano, while Olga and Kana went to a hot chocolate shop nearby.

As soon as we entered the the hotsprings we were told to put on swim caps, which we assume is to help keep the pool clean. It was a super great look. There were several different temperatures of baths and we made it our mission to try out all of them. The first one we tried was 42 degrees Celsius (108 F) and felt like a perfect hot tub. We showered off in water that was piped directly from a waterfall that we had a view of from the baths and then went into our second pool. This one was slightly cooler and filled with a lot of little kids so we quickly moved onto the next. This one was cold so we hopped in and out quickly before heading downstairs to the hottest pool. There was no temperature listed but we assume it was about 50 degrees Celsius (122 F)! This one was boiling and it was far too hot for anyone but Ceci to fully go into. We returned to the first pool and stayed there for a long time chatting and taking in the healing powers of the hotsprings. 

Once we felt fully restored (and a little overheated) we left to head back to the hotel, but not before we hit up a bakery called Baking Partners that we had passed by earlier in the day. Elise had looked it up and saw that it had a five star rating, so we couldn’t pass it up. Ella and Sam got cinnamon rolls, Ceci got a double chocolate cookie, and Elise and I split a walnut cookie and an oatmeal cookie. Everything was absolutely amazing and we already have plans to go back tomorrow morning for breakfast. 

Back at the hotel we showered and rested for a little while before Kana, Ella, Olga, and Elise started up an intense game of Jenga, making us late for dinner for the second night in a row. Carlos brought us to an Italian restaurant called Leoni Pizzeria. While looking over the menu we made sure to speak exclusively in terrible Italian accents which we found hilarious but our waitress looked unammused. We ordered a pizza for the table to start before our entrees came and although this was Italian cuisine the portion sizes were very Ecuadorian, meaning they were absolutely huge. Dinner was delicious and the table was filled with laughter the whole time. We all left very happy and full.

On the walk home from dinner Ella called Maddy, an Ecuador tech lead and our EWB social media manager, to wish her a happy birthday! We all said hi, even Carlos whom she had never actually met. We ended off our night by journaling and writing thank you notes to Carlos, Mario, and Adam. 

Although we are sad to be leaving Ecuador tomorrow we are excited that we will have almost a full day to explore Quito before going to the airport. Stay tuned to hear all about it!

About an hour into the ride, we stopped at a lookout point overlooking a beautiful lake called Yombo. Back on the road, we enjoyed stunning views of Cotopaxi, one of Ecuador’s most famous volcanoes.

Our first destination in Quito was Mitad del Mundo (the center of the world), where the equator runs through (or so we thought…it was actually 8 seconds north). There’s a huge monument marking the spot, and we had fun taking photos and exploring the museum inside before climbing to the top for an incredible view. We also had lunch there—and Carlos and Mario ordered a whole fried guinea pig for the table! I tried it…but it wasn’t for me (and I couldn’t help thinking about my third-grade class pets, Snowy and Vanilla!). Others who tried it seemed to enjoy it, though. We finished our time there with some ice cream before heading to our next stop.

Next up was La Basílica del Voto Nacional, an incredible church with amazing architecture and colorful stained-glass windows. We climbed all the way to the top—which included some steep steps to reach the very highest point—but the view was worth it!

Afterwards, we squeezed in some last-minute shopping at the artisan markets. Many of us picked up mini alpacas made from real alpaca fur, Olga and Kana bought cozy blankets, and Sam grabbed a poncho for the plane ride home.

For dinner, we headed to a little food court with all kinds of options—from tacos to sushi to grilled meat skewers. After one final meal together, it was time to go to the airport. Saying goodbye to Adán, Carlos, and Mario was hard—we’ve grown so close—but we’re hopeful we’ll see them again soon, whether for implementation or just a visit!

We are now sitting at our gate eating some focaccia from the bakery this morning waiting for our flight.

This trip was truly special. We had the opportunity to work with and meet such an incredible community, as well as explore and learn about Ecuador alongside an amazing group of people. Our travel team became a tight-knit group of friends, and we were welcomed by so many generous and kind individuals, including the community members and people like Carlos, Mario and Adán. As I finish writing this newsletter from the airport on our way back to Tufts, we’re all sad to leave. However, we’re excited to get home and continue working together and with the people we met to create a lasting solution—and soon return for implementation.

We’ll check back in from Houston!

We made it to Galveston at around 8:45 and headed for the beach. We walked along the shore and some rocks to see a nice view. We also looked at the seawall which Brad explained was built after a large hurricane came through the area and caused lots of damage in 1900. After walking along the beach we drove around the surrounding areas of Pelican Island where Brad talked to us about the oil refineries and some work stories (one of which involved transporting fingers by helicopter). We also learned how to designate which ships were used to carry oil, grain, or cargo. After our fair share of driving into authorized personnel only parking lots and views of the refinery we went back through Galveston to our next stop …. BUC-EE’S!

This was different from the one we went to on the way to Ecuador as it was massive and we even got to meet Buc-ee in person (Ceci would have loved it). After roaming around the store and making some souvenir Buc-ee pennies, we made our way to Killen’s BBQ for lunch. Bergen, Kana, Olga, Ella, and I shared some pulled pork, ribs, chicken, and brisket with sides of coleslaw, beans, Mac and cheese, and rice. Everything was delicious and nothing was left behind. After lunch we made our way back to the airport as Brad’s flight was two hours earlier than ours. Unfortunately, our flight got delayed until 7:30 so in the meantime we became very familiar with Terminal E of the Houston Airport, played many rounds of Dutch Blitz, and reminisced about our time in Ecuador even though it was just yesterday. Finally, we were on the plane back to Boston. 

It is hard to put into words how much this trip has meant to me but I am excited to continue working on this project with everyone for the Malta Pura Community. There are so many things that I may never experience again: hiking in the Amazon jungle with the delightful background noise of Mario’s screams, hearing Carlos order food in an italian accent, eating worms with Kana and Sam, seeing Ella bond with her bestie Juniper, helping Ceci try to find a sloth, sharing delicious Ecuadorian priced pastries, counting hundreds of fecal coliforms, joining locals in the hot springs, playing soccer with the kids from the community, and, most importantly, getting to know the community and culture directly from the people and forming a lasting connection. 

None of it would have been successful without this amazing group put together by Kana and Olga. I also want to again thank our mentors: Brad, who drove us all around Houston and gave us advice when needed, and Sam, who always asked the best questions as well as being so supportive and down for anything. From the late nights playing salad bowl and journaling to the early morning canoe rides and long days with the community there was never a dull moment. I also want to take a moment for the seniors, Olga and Kana (our favorite PLs), Bergen (a former Project Lead and President), along with Ella (my co-tech lead from MIST and Social Chair) who have all committed so much of their time and effort towards this project which can be easily seen through every part of this trip and will continue during their senior year! Although this is the last update, our hard work continues this semester with Ceci joining Olga as a new Project Lead as we search for the best solutions for the Santa Estefanía de Malta Pura community! Thank you all for following us on our journey, your support makes these trips possible!

Best,

Elise