Blog

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 Peruvia… Read more

Our adventure into the Amazon began with a couple hours of motor canoe ride, punctuated with a pair of toothy fish jumping into the boat to add a little spice to our journey. We pulled up to the docks of the peaceful Nicky Lodge just as dusk had fallen. The peace did not last for too long, however, as shrieks burst through the silence as some of the more skittish travelers noticed the plus sized insects of the rainforest passively co-habitating their living quarters. Hot… 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