Hi, Tiernan and Kayla here, two of your four student leaders for the week!

Ayllui is Quicua for ‘Family’ which is exactly how we spent our time in Peguche, just outside of Otavalo. I'm going to talk a little bit about our homestays and classes during Peguche. We had four different groups: #1: Sky, Alice M. and Nayeli. #2: Balin, Alice E. and Samanta. #3: Leila, Kayla and Steven. #4: Erick and me. It was really cool because each of our families were vastly unique from one another and we all had very different experiences. For example, Erick and I lived with Mama Suca, a grandmother who is famous within the community of Peguche. She was an amazing cook and treated us like her sons (she even called us "Hijo"). She taught us some Quicua, which is the native language of Ecuador, and when I had a headache one afternoon she cleansed my spirit with a family ritual involving an egg…

Hello everyone this week I (Steven) led with Alice Yvonne and Balin. For this part of my blog post I want to start by thanking everyone who supported me (and us) along the way because this week was amazing. We left Peguche teary eyed and arrived at a place called San Antonio de Pucará located in the Intag Region which is a cloud forest. When we first arrived, we were greeted by the whole community - and had a celebration as a very nice generous welcome! The town was decorated, we played group games, and witnessed the young members of the community perform two wonderful dances...

Written By Saul & Caroline

Student Leaders Saul and Caroline coming at you one last time. This week after our relaxing retreat weekend we took a boat to San Juan where we took Spanish classes in the morning and activities like bee tours, horseback riding, kayaking, and enjoying the beautiful view of the lake on a beach.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have much of an internet connection while in the Amazon Rainforest. So this is a pretty late blog post. However, me (Steven Menefee) and the other student leaders of the week - Leila and Samanta wanted to share a little something about Ecuador’s slice of the Amazon Rainforest with its beautiful sunny days where you feel like you can touch the heavens and of course beautiful rainy days where it feels like a love movie…

By Aaron, partner program admin

By Khi’Aura

I fall more in love with us woman , more and more as I’m in Senegal! Since I’ve been here i can see why we call it the motherland.

7:00 am. The sun is shining in my room, the roosters are doing their hourly call as I’m slowly waking up, hearing mother nature from a close distance and a far. After an hour of just listening to all the sounds through the wind, birds chirping, goats screaming, donkeys making this annoying/funny sound that reminds me of my younger sister, cows mooing so soothing and calmly, babies crying from a distance and mother from all over the village pounding their bissap getting breakfast ready, etc…

By Senegal Instructor

Hello yak-universe!! We have arrived in Thies and students have been in homestays here for about a week. Because it is Ramadan (Ramadan Mubarak to all celebrating!) or Koor in Wolof, students have been breaking fast or ndogou and experiencing this very important time of year with their host families…

Written By Maddie & Matt

Maddie and Matt here! We’ve had a jam-packed week with lots of fun and lots of aches. We started off in Pachaj working on reforestation with the Chico Mendes foundation.

By Team Senegal, Participant

On our last night in our rural homestay in Temento Samba, the group gathered after sunset under the two mango trees behind the program house, the place we nicknamed the “AC room”, and reflected on our “enchantments” in Senegal to make sure that we maximize them in the final weeks of the program. Two days ago, we shared our enchantments with each other again, and this time typed them out for you! (NB: Asterisks indicate multiple folks being enchanted with the same thing.)

By Balin, Nayeli, and Alice M

Hola! Me llamo Balin, (some sick bilingual action for you right there), and this is a blogpost being written in the Amazon about Banos. Forgive the delay as we do owe this blog post some photos. The leaders of the week were Balin, Nayeli, and Alice M. The blog will also be in three parts, each written by a different leader.

HOMESTAYS IN BAÑOS

I think for a lot of us Banos was a very very welcomed break. Banos exists in a perpetual Portland spring weather all year round. Theres also no bugs! And chips! And restaurants! Lots of things to be grateful for. Banos…