Home > Youth Leadership Programs > World Bound: South America
Two countries, two awe-inspiring ecosystems (Andes and Amazon), three cities, and ONE adventure to bring them together
Our most ambitious Climate & Cultural Leadership Course yet: Ecuador + Colombia in 21 days!
Ready for a once-in-a-lifetime mash-up of wild nature, vibrant cities, and real community connection? This course moves from the Amazon Rainforest to the Andes and into the urban energy of Quito, Bogotá, and Medellín—so you experience South America’s diversity through a climate and culture lens that actually changes how you see the world (and yourself).
Ecuador + Colombia are calling—let’s go learn on the land, in the city, and with the people who call these places home.
Why this hits different:
Two countries, one purpose: Explore Ecuador’s cloud forests, crater lakes, and snow-capped volcanoes—then jump to Colombia’s coffee highlands, wax-palm valleys, street-art corridors, and community-led innovation.
People first, always: Travel with Indigenous and local guides—not just past them. Learn Kichwa words in Amazon communities, try artisan weaving and cacao, and hear powerful stories of climate action and social transformation (think Medellín’s neighborhood revitalization and Bogotá’s bike-centric culture).
Wild + urban balance: Paddle tributaries that feed the Amazon, ride horses beneath volcanoes like Cotopaxi, and trek Andean ridgelines—then compare that with metro lines, cable cars, markets, plazas, and music scenes that show how cities adapt to heat, floods, and growth.
What you’ll do:
Go deep in nature: Navigate rainforest trails, rivers, and high-altitude páramo (the Andes’ “water towers”), learning how ecosystems store carbon and supply water to millions.
Live the culture: Stay in homestays with Indigenous families, help cook local meals, pick up everyday phrases, and learn maker skills, including weaving, carving, and chocolate-making.
Meet change-makers: Sit down with climate and social-justice leaders—from reforestation teams and river guardians to youth educators turning neighborhoods into hubs of creativity and hope.
Build real skills: Expedition planning, navigation, risk sense, city transit savvy, storytelling, and a “Through-the-Lens” mini-doc (2–3 minutes) that captures your journey and voice.
What you’ll take home:
Climate literacy that sticks: You won’t just hear about climate change—you’ll see it in glaciers, forests, and streets, and learn what communities are doing right now.
Cultural humility & connection: Respect, reciprocity, and real friendships—because the best memories are made around kitchen tables and campfires.
Leadership you can trust: Confidence, purpose, and a plan—so you return as a World Bound Climate Adventurer ready to lead at school, at home, and in your community.
Come with curiosity. Leave with courage.
Your Fireside team
Eva Sarango: Fireside South America Representative and World Bound Instructor
DATES
Full trip (21 days): July 19 - August 08, 2026 (14 days Ecuador/7 Days Colombia)
AGES 13–18 (co-ed)
Also available for 18+. Contact us if interested.
LOCATIONS
Ecuador: Quito (Ecuadorian capital), Otavalo (largest Indigenous settlement in Ecuador), Cuicocha (lagoon), Cochasqui (archaeological site), Cayambe (volcano), Cotopaxi, Napa River region.
Colombia: Bogota, Medellin
PRICES (CAD)
*Prices do include flights to and from Ecuador/Colombia from Vancouver/Toronto
*We accept payment plans
Early Bird Rate: $9459.00 + GST (ends December 1, 2025)
Regular Rate: $10,459.00 + GST
Includes:
– Pre-course check-in (zoom conference with attendees)
– 14 days Ecuador and 7 days Colombia
– Direct contact with our Duke of Edinburgh Award Centre
– 24/7 instruction & support by Fireside staff
– Most meals
– All accommodation (eco-lodge, hotel, homestay)
– Private ground transportation
– Flight coordination for Ecuador/Colombia (reach out to us to learn how to coordinate your flights) to Canada.
– Admission into all parks
– Horseback riding experience in Cotopaxi
– Sightseeing tours of Quito, Medellin and Bogota– White water rafting and river canoeing experiences and gear
Does not include: Anything not mentioned above.
More info: office@firesideadventures.ca
Eva is a proud and charismatic Ecuadorian outdoor educator who believes that protecting the planet means protecting and teaching humanity, especially youth and young adults. However, without willpower, curiosity, hope and social well-being, this mission becomes impossible. From this vision, Conscious Tourism was born as one of the most powerful alternatives to achieve that goal. Her purpose is to show people her country and her continent in all its dimensions, culture and faces. We are not perfect—we are human, with desires and weaknesses—but together, we form a strong and resilient team.
In addition to her proven passion and commitment to providing exceptional experiences, Eva is bilingual, has traveled extensively around the world, and recently graduated as a development projects specialist.
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.
Clara Kirby, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Leader and South America Advisor
“I went to Ecuador as a participant a few years ago, and it ignited my passion for outdoor education. Now being able to run that same trip means I can give new Fireside kids the same amazing experiences and learning I had?”
Why this course is for you
This is the real deal, a firsthand learning from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Colombia’s Medellín. You’ll travel with Indigenous and local guides, build outdoor and leadership skills, and meet the people turning climate challenges into community-powered solutions. It’s an immersive, place-based journey where culture, nature, and hope connect. In this experience, you don’t just study change, you experience it.
Along the way, you’ll see why Bogotá and Medellín are global examples of urban transformation. Bogotá champions people-first mobility with expansive bike networks, vibrant public space, and a culture of car-free Sundays that reclaims the city for community. Medellín’s Metrocable gondolas, hillside escalators, libraries, and green corridors link neighbourhoods once cut off by terrain and history—proof that thoughtful design and social programs can spark opportunity and real hope.
In short: this course blends Indigenous perspectives, hands-on climate education, and one-of-a-kind adventure travel so you return with new skills, real relationships, and the confidence to lead.
Your World Bound Mission: Becoming Resilient, Knowledgeable, and Adaptive Adventurer
The challenge of climate change is a global and personal one, so a climate activist or concerned citizen must become comfortable venturing into new environments, connecting with local cultures, and learning the languages, perspectives, and values of the people they meet.
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, Bogotá, and Medellín. 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 Skyline — Culture × Climate
Indigenous & local knowledge: Learn with Kichwa hosts in Ecuador and community educators in Colombia about how people read rivers, forests, and seasons to adapt with courage and care.
Urban leadership: See why Bogotá (ciclovía, bike networks, people-first streets) and Medellín (Metrocable gondolas, hillside libraries, green corridors) are global examples of climate-smart, community-centred change.
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 South America gives you firsthand experience—Amazon to Medellín—where climate education, culture, people, and adventure meet. Come curious; leave courageous.
