For volunteers interested in working in the Cloud Forest will have a great experience working directly in contact with nature. The schools are two and a half hours by car from Otavalo, in the small villages of El Goaltal and Las Juntas. Buses leave from Ibarra every day.

Volunteers for this program will live in a house located in a farming village which is very comfortable and accommodating, located 20 minutes from the two schools. Each volunteer will have three meals a day, a private room, and hot water. There is also laundry service included. Every Friday, volunteers will have the option to stay the weekend in Otavalo and admire the largest Indigenous Market in South America, or stay and explore the beautiful communities near by.

The duration of the volunteering project is a minimum of 4 weeks if proficient in Spanish. (2 weeks in Otavalo before beginning project- 6 weeks if learning Spanish).

Project Volunteer’s Life In The Cloud Forest

The volunteers who work with the project in the Cloud Forest will have the unique opportunity of work directly in contact with the nature. After you finish your 2 weeks Spanish lessons you will spend the weekend in Otavalo and Monday morning you will be driven in a private car to the village of El Goaltal. After you are settled in your cabin, we will walk to the school and you will be introduced to the teacher and kids.  You will help the teacher with formal classes, starting with English, and then plan the classes for the next day with your teacher.
Each class size can range from 5-10 children. Lessons range from basic literacy and numbers, educational reinforcement, to help with homework, learning English, games, sports and other activities.
Each month you will be able to enjoy different special events. You will celebrate each child’s birthday which falls in that month. Birthdays are an exciting day of the month for all the kids in the school. Celebrations normally consist of buying a present to the birthday boy or girl, and some candy or food is bought to complete the table. You will choose the presents in your school and plan out activities for the birthday celebrations.
In the afternoon you can spend time planning the following day’s lessons, walking around the place, enjoying the paths in the mist forest, visiting the waterfalls, or just relaxing.
Friday is the last day of school for the week, and if the volunteer wishes to visit Otavalo (this is optional), there is a bus available at 12 p.m. at the village of Gualchan. A 45 minute hike is necessary to reach the village. Normally, there are no buses or cars available in the village, but sometimes, with a little luck, you can flag one down for a quick ride. If volunteers prefer leaving on Saturday, there is available a bus very early in the morning at 5 am. The bus travels from the cabin and goes directly to the bus station in Ibarra. From Ibarra you will travel by bus for 30 minutes to Otavalo. There is only one bus to el Goaltal. This bus leaves from Ibarra at 1 pm every day and returns at 5 am at the next day. If the volunteers decide to stay there, they can explore the area or villages around.

Volunteers involved with this program have the option to enjoy and live near the beach! The school is located in a town called Playas de Tonsupa, close to the city Esmeraldas. Esmeraldas is located on the Pacific Coast, 5 hours west of Otavalo. Volunteers will be living in houses 5 minutes from the beach. Each person has their own private room, and three meals a day. The meals are typical Ecuadorian meals, which includes shrimp from the Ocean! The schools are located 5 minutes from where the houses are located. The duration of the volunteering project is a minimum of 4 weeks if proficient in Spanish. (2 weeks in Otavalo before beginning project- 6 weeks if learning Spanish).

Volunteer’s Life In The Coast

This program is located in the Pacific Coast, in the Esmeraldas Province, in the town of Tonsupa. After you finish your 2 weeks of Spanish lessons you will be driven in a private car to the coast. You will depart Saturday, early in the morning, and after 5 hours, you will arrive to the cabins located only 5 minutes from the beach! Here you will spend a relaxing weekend at the beach, and Monday morning we will do a short hike to the school and you will be introduced to the teacher and kids. You will help the teacher with formal classes, starting with English, and then plan with your local teacher the classes for the next day. There are two Schools available very close to the cabins, Zoila Ugarte de Landiva, and  Ernesto Alban Mosquera.
In the afternoon you will spend time planning the following day’s lessons, walking along side of the beach, enjoying the pool or just relaxing. On weekends you can explore the area visiting the busy beaches of Atacames or Same.

The duration of the volunteering project is a minimum of 4 weeks if proficient in Spanish. There is also an option to have classes in the mornings for more weeks if desired by the volunteers while teaching the children in the afternoons.

Project Volunteer’s Life in Otavalo

Volunteers will fly into Quito on the first or third Saturday of each month, where the project manager will be waiting to take you to the hotel in Quito for one night. After breakfast the next day you will depart to the “Intiñan Museum” located north of Quito in the equatorial line at 00º, 00’, 00’’ (calculated with g.p.s.) Here you will be lead on an interesting tour where you will learn about archaeology and astronomy of the equatorial solar culture. You will also have the unique opportunity to watch the Coriolis´ centrifugal forces on a sink where the water falls opposite North of the Ecuator! After the tour, we will stop on the way to eat a typical lunch, and then arrive in Otavalo. In Otavalo you will be introduced your host family. Volunteers who chose any of these programs will have two weeks of Spanish lessons, five hours per day.
The first two week in Otavalo will be spent taking lessons and acclimatizing to the altitude. The volunteers who need to learn Spanish will take one-on-one lessons for five hours a day for two weeks.

The Project work is from Monday to Friday. The first day you will be picked up by a minivan or truck that will take you directly to the community you are designated to work in. Classes start at 8a.m and finish around 1 pm.
The kids break for a mid-day snack at 11am which we provide the food for. The mothers of the students take turns to prepare the food. At the end of the school day, the minivan will pick you up, and bring you back to Otavalo. In the afternoon, volunteers can spend time planning the following day’s lessons, spending time learning more Spanish, or just relaxing.

The volunteers who work in Motilon Chupa will begin their day with a short hike of 45 minutes from the drop off point of the minivan or truck. The hikes are on mud roads and are fairly easy up and down terrain through the indigenous communities. The walk to the school is very nice with amazing views. The short hike is a really nice way to start the day!

The days are spent teaching a specific grade of children, or helping the local teacher with formal classes- which can include English, math, reading, writing, grammar, science, geography, art, physical education and more. The days consist of morning classes, broken up by the lunch break. The volunteers work with the local teachers to plan the class for the next day.

Each month you will be able to enjoy different special events. You will celebrate each child’s birthday which falls in that month. Birthdays are an exciting day of the month for all the kids in the school. Celebrations normally consist of buying a present to the birthday boy or girl, and some candy or food is bought to complete the table. You will choose the presents in your school and plan out activities for the birthday celebrations.