World Bound: Ecuador

Learn Where the Kichwa Teach, Where Darwin Observed, and Where Youth Begin to Lead. The Adventure of a Lifetime Starts Here.

An Ambitious Climate & Cultural Leadership Journey: Ecuador in 21 Days

This immersive World Bound youth leadership expedition in Ecuador invites participants to challenge themselves, strive with purpose, and learn through experience, from the Amazon Rainforest to the Andes Highlands and onward to the Galápagos Islands. This is not tourism nor a volunteer hyped up experience. It’s project-based, place-based learning rooted in enriched experiences, nature, culture, and real-world leadership training. Participants work alongside Indigenous and local communities, engage in environmental initiatives, and develop practical skills through daily lived experience. Learning unfolds on riverbanks, mountain trails, village kitchens, homestays, research sites, and island ecosystems where evolution is still actively shaping life.

Why This Experience Stands Apart

• One country. Remarkable diversity.
  Explore Amazonian rivers, cloud forests, volcanic landscapes, highland communities, and the Galápagos—each offering a powerful lens on climate, biodiversity, and resilience.

• People-first learning.
  Learn with Kichwa community members and local educators through storytelling, cacao harvesting, traditional crafts, and conversations grounded in stewardship, reciprocity, and respect.

• Nature as the classroom.
  Paddle rainforest tributaries, hike Andean ridgelines, study endemic species, and take part in meaningful projects that connect ecology, culture, and leadership.

This is Ecuador—experienced deeply, responsibly, and with intention.

What You’ll Do

• Challenge yourself in wild places
  Travel through the Amazon, paddle its tributaries, hike high-altitude páramo—the Andes’ natural “water towers”—and explore volcanic terrain. Learn how ecosystems store carbon, regulate water, and support millions of people.

• Strive through cultural connection
  Live with Indigenous host families, prepare local meals, learn everyday phrases, and practice traditional skills such as weaving, carving, and chocolate-making from locally grown cacao.

• Learn from those leading change
  Meet community leaders, educators, and land stewards working in reforestation, river protection, food security, and youth education—people responding to climate challenges with creativity and care.

• Build real-world skills
  Develop expedition planning, navigation, risk awareness, public transit confidence, and storytelling skills. Create a short “Through-the-Lens” mini-documentary (2–3 minutes) to capture your journey and voice.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” — Charles Darwin

What You’ll Take Home

• Climate literacy that lasts
  See climate change firsthand—in glaciers, forests, rivers, farms, and communities—and understand how people are adapting right now.

• Cultural humility and connection
  Relationships built through respect, shared meals, and time on the land—because meaningful learning happens in relationship.

• Leadership with purpose
  Confidence, clarity, and direction—returning home ready to lead at school, in your community, and beyond.

Come with curiosity. Leave with courage.

DATES
Full trip (21 days): Aug 02–22, 2027

IF YOU HAVE A GROUP OF 8+ TEENS, WE CAN CUSTOMIZE AND CREATE A COURSE IN 2026 OR ANY TIME.

AGES 13–18 (co-ed)
Also available for 18+. Contact us if interested.

LOCATIONS
Ecuador: Quito • Otavalo • Cuicocha • Cochasqui • Cayambe • Cotopaxi • Galapagos, Napa River region.

PRICES (USD): $6999.00
*Prices do include flights to Galapagos
*We accept payment plans

Includes:
– Pre-course check-in (zoom conference with attendees)
–  Direct contact with our Duke of Edinburgh Award Centre
– 3 day community work project
– 24/7 instruction & support by Fireside and Ecuadoria staff
– Most meals
– All accommodation (eco-lodge, hotel, homestay)
– Private ground transportation
– Flight coordination for Ecuador
– Admission into all parks
– Horseback riding experience in Cotopaxi
– Snorkel the Galapagos
– Sightseeing tours of Quito and numerous villages and communities
– White water rafting and river canoeing experiences and gear

Does not include: Anything not mentioned above.

More info: office@firesideadventures.ca

Eva es una educadora ecuatoriana orgullosa y carismática que trabaja al aire libre y cree que proteger el planeta significa proteger y educar a la humanidad, especialmente a los jóvenes y adultos jóvenes. Sin embargo, sin voluntad, curiosidad, esperanza y bienestar social, esta misión se vuelve imposible. De esta visión, nació el Turismo Consciente como una de las alternativas más poderosas para lograr ese objetivo. Su propósito es mostrar a la gente su país y su continente en todas sus dimensiones, culturas y facetas. No somos perfectos, somos humanos, con deseos y debilidades, pero juntos formamos un equipo fuerte y resiliente. 

Además de su demostrada pasión y compromiso por brindar experiencias excepcionales, Eva es bilingue, ha viajado a numerosos lugares del mundo y se graduó recientemente de especialista en proyectos de desarrollo. 

Why This Course Is for You

This is the real deal—learning Ecuador by being in it. This is an immersive, place-based experience where culture, nature, and hope intersect. You won’t just talk about change—you’ll witness it, question it, and take part in it through daily experiences on the land and with the people who call it home.

As an Ecuadorian saying reminds us:
“La tierra no nos pertenece; nosotros pertenecemos a la tierra.”
(The land does not belong to us; we belong to the land.)

In short: this course blends Indigenous perspectives, hands-on climate learning, and meaningful adventure travel—so you return with practical skills, real relationships, and the confidence to lead with humility and purpose.

Your Mission: Becoming a Resilient, Knowledgeable, and Adaptive Adventurer

Climate change is both global and deeply personal. Responding to it means learning to move thoughtfully through new environments, listen to different worldviews, and build connections across cultures.

This course is for young people ready to challenge themselves, strive beyond comfort, and learn through experience—developing the adaptability, awareness, and leadership needed to navigate an uncertain future with confidence and care.

Introducing our Ecuadorian partners!

The magic of the Ecuador portion of this trip is only possible thanks to our lovely friends from Huasquilah Amazon Lodge and Equator Face Travels. With their help, we can experience the beautiful country as more than tourists, making authentic and meaningful local connections while leaving the country better than when we found it.

Huasquila Amazon Lodge

Founded by Pablo Marañon and Bastienne Paliz, Huasquilah specializes in offering inclusive and immersive Amazon experiences by combining nature exploration, environmental education, sustainability, and authentic cultural connections. Their work is guided by an understanding that Indigenous perspectives bring generations of knowledge on sustainable living and nature conservation, providing valuable insights to help address climate change.

Huasquilah is committed to working with youth through a climate action lens. This includes teaching young people about climate change through hands-on activities like rainforest hikes, reforestation projects, and cultural exchanges with local Kichwa communities, helping them understand the importance of sustainability and conservation for the future.

Equator Face Travel

Equator Face is a passion project that is 21 years in the making, founded by Diego Orlando Fueres Túquerres - a member of the Otavalo people with long generational ties to agriculture and the Andes - and Huaita Sisa Morales Males - daughter of Indigenous artisans dedicated to the traditional craft of textile weaving. Their mission is to connect youth with the local communities to transmit the ideals instilled in them by their cultural traditions and families.

Equator Face promotes healthy eating by transmitting the Andean diet to new generations, strengthens organic polyculture in family crops to preserve the quality of the land and food, advocates conscious care of humanity's most valuable resource: water, and conveys to all people the feeling of caring for and practicing their beliefs, values, traditions, art, music, literature, and more.

Our World Bound Learning Experience

This is a real-world learning journey—from Amazon headwaters and Andean cloud forests to the urban innovation of Quito. We’re not here for doom or fluff. We’re here for skills, culture, and action—guided by outdoor leaders and Indigenous/local educators—so you can lead with confidence in a changing world.

We build this through the World Bound Learning Experience Objectives: place-based, outdoor-oriented modules that shape every day of the expedition. 

It’s all anchored by five World Bound Pillars below. 

Pillar 1: Selva to Treetops — Culture × Climate

• Indigenous & local knowledge: Learn with Kichwa hosts in Ecuador about how people read rivers, forests, and seasons.

• Rural & urban leadership: See why Quito to Sinchi Warmi are working towards teaching foreigners not only about the truths of their challenges but insights into why resilience, learning skills and families make Ecuador one of the most incredible destinations. .

• Mindsets that matter: Practice minka/minga (collective work), reciprocity, and “repair/reuse” thinking, turning values into daily decisions.

• You gain: cultural humility, climate literacy that sticks, and a clearer sense of how real communities make resilience.

Pillar 2: Field Classrooms — Rainforest • Cloud Forest • Páramo • Volcanos • Cities

• Amazon & rivers: Paddle/trek near tributaries that feed the Amazon; study canopy, soils, and freshwater systems.

• Cloud forest & páramo: Explore the Andes’ “water towers” and how high-altitude ecosystems secure drinking water for millions.

• Volcanic landscapes: Hike beneath volcanoes (e.g., Cotopaxi region) to connect geology, risk, and renewal.

• Cities as ecosystems: Navigate metros, cable cars, and public spaces; map heat islands, trees, and stormwater routes.

• Skills: map reading, route planning, observation journals, low-impact travel, and situational awareness—useful anywhere.

Pillar 3: Give & Belong — Service, Homestays, Community Exchange

• Homestays: Live daily life with host families and learn language basics, cooking, market negotiations, and maker skills (weaving, cacao).

• Service you can see: Support locally led projects (reforestation, riverbank care, agroecology) requested by the community.

• Peer-to-peer: Share community-style circles and youth meetups; build friendships that outlast the trip.

• You feel: belonging, responsibility, and the confidence to listen first and contribute well.

Pillar 4: Lead the Journey — Life, Social & Leadership Skills

• Outdoor & travel: campcraft, kitchen systems, risk management, river sense, city transit mastery.

• Culture & communication: survival Spanish + Kichwa phrases; protocols for respectful hosting/guesting; storytelling.

• Focus & reflection: guided mindfulness, team briefings, conflict skills, and a Through-the-Lens mini-doc (2–3 minutes) that tells your climate/culture story.

• Outcome: self-efficacy—knowing you can plan, decide, adapt, support your team, and lead with integrity.

Pillar 5: Keep the Flame — From Insight to Action

• Your plan: convert observations into a realistic climate-action plan for home/school/community.

• Your network: stay connected through World Bound mentors, partners, and youth networks across the Americas.

• Your pathway: align with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and explore internships or advanced roles on future programs.

• Result: momentum. You return with skills, allies, and a roadmap—not just memories.

Bottom line: World Bound Ecuador gives you firsthand experience—Amazon to Galapagos—where climate education, culture, people, and adventure meet. Come curious; leave courageous.

Video Tour: The Places We’ll Go