Blog

After two long, fun-filled days of rafting, we arrived at the riverside town of Misahualli and were greeted by a lovely group of capuchin monkeys perched in the trees. The monkeys have taken over the port, now nicknamed "monkey town" and leap from the roofs to the treetops, scrounging up any food scraps they can. Even though we were all tired and drowning in the heat and humidity of the jungle, we were taken aback by its striking beauty.  On our short walk from the river… Read more

On Monday February 29th, we began our rafting journey into the Amazon. We would raft for two days through class three rapids, totaling 40 Km on the Jatunyacu River, which means "big water" in Kichwa. Our guides briefed us on technique and safety, we divided into two boats and chose names, and after a couple wipe outs, we managed to enter the rafts and set off. We paddled just across the river where we unloaded to trek to a nearby waterfall. We hiked, climbed, and swam un… Read more

Baños is known as the adventure capital of Ecuador and we all got the opportunity to experience just what makes that statement true last week. With opportunities to go bridge-jumping, paragliding and canyoning, this week was very adventurous for all of us. All the exciting activities were well offset by 3 hours of Spanish class every morning at the Marco Polo Spanish School. After sitting in class all morning, it was nice to spend the afternoons exploring Baños through e… Read more

When the sun rose over the volcanic crater lake of Quilotoa, we were on Day 31 and almost halfway through our trip. We were staying at a hostel that had made the chilly night seem cozy, in our big blanketed beds and with our little stoves burning wood in the corner. The hostel was right outside the entrance to the very small town that thrives off of tourism. The crater itself has a 14 kilometer rim that takes approximately 5-6 hours to hike around, but also has hiking tr… Read more

After journeying from one country capital to another, I thought to myself, how can any of our home stays be better than the ones we've had? Is it possible to meet more amazing people? I was granted with 2 amazing home stays in Peru, and I doubted that anything would trump our time in Llachon or Cusco. However, when I was greeted by Guillermo, Alex, and Rumi in the rural community of Agato with some sort of indigenous ritual, I realized I was wrong. Alex and Rumi are a co… Read more

Hola from Quito! We just finished an incredible week staying in the community of Llachón on Lake Titicaca. Llachón, a land filled with incredible natural beauty, beautiful people and even slightly more beautiful stray dogs. This little village on the peninsula's southern tip is home to a wonderful and proud community rooted in tradition as well as love for one another. Before I get started on our adventures in this new place, it's important to understand the culture wi… Read more

¡Hola amigos! After months of anticipation, the Pacific Discovery South America crew met in Lima, Peru last week to begin our 2 month adventure through Peru and Ecuador. Bonding started right away with a 3-day orientation as we played games and our fearless and fantastic leaders Laurel and Caitlin prepared us for the trip of a lifetime. Excitement levels were high as we got to know each other while exploring ancient catacombs in central Lima and trying our first Peruvian… Read more

I’ve done a lot of thinking about community in the last few years. It’s inevitable when you work as a Pacific Discovery leader, sharing a room or tent with another person for months at a time, constantly shaping activities to fit the needs of a group, meeting a group of 16 strangers and seeing them slowly become family. Living and traveling in a small group of people turns into a social experiment, as my co-leader Lee likes to say. You recognize how your actions have a d… Read more

Having arrived directly from the bustling streets of Cusco, our new lives in the small community of Llachon seemed excessively austere at first. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by our temporary families and led to our modest accommodation for the week. All of us lived in huts, and only a few had running water on site. However, nothing could compare to what lay outside our doors - for one week, we were fortunate enough to live beside Lake Titicaca, the highest nav… Read more

Our first hostel name set the tone for the rest of the trip, “The Red Psycho Llama” greeted us alongside a very un-ironic Tsunami Warning upon our first day in Lima, Peru. Flights were delayed and missed but we still all woke up to each other in the morning. After a scenic flight from Lima to Cusco, we got a not-so-brief briefing about our upcoming trek to Machu Picchu on our bus ride to our next destination, “The Llama Pack” hostel in Urubamba. Soon enough, we became ju… Read more