July 20, 2024
Wow! What an unforgettable last two weeks. First off, we want to thank all of our students’ parents for entrusting us with their students and allowing us the opportunity to create all of the incredible memories and relationships that we did. It has been an absolute pleasure to travel South America with each and every student and watch them grow mentally, physically, and emotionally. This group was so special and it was so much fun to watch and be alongside them while they created the experience of a lifetime. Right from the get go, this group never lacked energy and there was never a minute without everyone together. Looking back on what we, as a whole, were able to accomplish puts the biggest smiles on our faces. Let’s not forget all the places we visited and the laughs, love, music, conversation, and people we met along the way.
As we call it in Moondance terms, our group was “norming and performing” almost immediately. Day one being a travel day made us rely on each other to maintain positive energy. Immediately off the plane everybody was so excited. The airport is where we met our guide Fabricio for the first island, San Cristobal – who nobody realized at the time would be responsible for so many memories and inside jokes. The wildlife assisted in really allowing everyone’s reality to set in about where they were and what they were doing. The next few days on San Cristobal would be full of adventure and snorkeling. Oh snorkeling. If there’s one thing that helped us really become closer it was sharing the experience of the freezing cold water while snorkeling. We had the best luck with wildlife too. The group’s good vibrations definitely helped bring in luck. A couple great meals later and one ~moderately~ bumpy boat ride, and we were on Santa Cruz.
I believe Santa Cruz is really where the group dynamic changed from friends to family. This island was a great time for us to learn to rely on each other and forced us to spend lots of quality time away from activities. The long walks around town, card games, shopping sprees, hammock hangouts, and beautiful beaches brought more profound conversations and plenty of down time for us to stock up on energy for the rest of our trip and helped create so many one of a kind memories. Some great body surfing and beach time helped make the island unforgettable. Though our time spent here was quick we were all so excited for the next island. An early wake up and another testing boat ride took us to Isabela. I think Isabela was a fan favorite for many of the students as well as Elizabeth and I. There was so much diversity in regards to both the places to visit and the wildlife to see. The town is very quaint which made everyone feel very welcomed and also comfortable walking around to explore. Our hotel was beautiful and right on the beach which meant smiles were worn 24/7. The smiles might have also been from the empanada stand next door that helped feed everyone’s obsession. Whether it was beach volleyball, getting food or just laying on the sand, the group was never seen without all ten students. After we spent our last morning surfing, we laid out for our final Galapaganian beach moments and then it was back to Santa Cruz. This boat ride was a challenge to say the least but with bumps, hard bathroom attempts and sea breeze in our faces, EGP 3B persevered and made it with no complaints.
The next morning we began our travel day back to mainland Ecuador where we stayed at Hosteria San Carlos. We had time for some hot tub and waterslide time before our dinner that night. We got perfectly cooked pizza and then a huge ice cream dessert. We told the students not to over buy because their eyes might be bigger than their stomach and John and Thomas made absolutely sure that no ice cream went to waste, what a sight that was! After a good night’s sleep we transferred to Cotopaxi for horseback riding… experiencing such a beautiful landscape in such a unique way was truly wild. It was great to see the smile on everyone as they embraced the Chagra lifestyle as they ran their horses through beautiful rolling hills in the nearby Hacienda, not to mention the weather. It is a very rare occurrence this time of year to have clear skies and see Cotopaxi in all of its glory. However, this group continued to bring good luck and we had a perfect clear sky view of it the entire duration of our ride. A long bus ride and nap was in everybody’s future as we moved to Baños later that day.
Baños was such an amazing place that held wonderful views, corner stores, markets, hikes and restaurants at every turn. Our first night in Baños was so much fun. We took some time to gather ourselves and wash the smell of horse off before going to dinner. Our first night we went to a super cool rooftop restaurant where people got all sorts of pastas, salads and steaks. The hotel also had giant Jenga and a pool table for entertainment. Weiler, Sophie, and I took down the boys in an absolutely thrilling game of billiards (we had no idea what we were doing), even still, Weiler aced the last shot on the eight ball to give us the W! After some sweet treats consisting of milkshakes and ice cream, we headed back to our hotel for moon-up and some late night stories shared between the group. Our next day was bliss. Sleeping in before a morning party held on a traditional Chiva to el fin de mundo and Casa De Árbol was a great way to start the day. The Chiva was a riot! Grier and Amelia showed off their great dance moves all the way up and down the mountain, needless to say, the vibes were through the roof! The end of the world overlook gave us the best view of the city and Casa De Árbol provided everyone with the opportunity to swing over the end of the world and get a sneak peek at our next day with a short zip line. Casa de Arbol gave us lots of laughs, one in particular that was a little… “fishy.” After swinging over the edge of the mountain, the students broke up and began to explore the other attractions, one of which was a balance beam that went over a koi pond. Nobody thought twice about it but all of the sudden we heard a splash and turned around to see a sopping wet Thomas standing just about waist deep in the water! To everyone’s surprise it was like he had known this would happen and had an entire clean set of clothes in his day pack, including underwear!
From there, we took the Chiva back down the mountain to our hotel. A taco lunch and town exploration led to finding the enchanted forest of Banos and the local chocolate factory where we tried chocolate ranging from banana and pineapple to ginger and guava and everyone got a little sweet treat of their choice. Then we took the kids shopping around and finally it was back to the hotel that we had made home for some naps, reminiscing, and of course more laughs… those never stopped coming! On our last night we had a salsa dancing lesson and traditional buffet! Once everyone started to work up a sweat we had a great break and got some awesome drinks including frozen juices, bubble tea and more. Then it was back to more salsa. Boy was it a workout, we definitely earned our meal and boy was it good. Before our meal the hosts crowned a salsa king to the best male dancer. In my eyes, it was a landslide with Jackson taking home the award, he was a natural! For our dinner we had a buffet with chorizo, sausage, pork belly, chicken, steamed veggies, rice, potatoes, corn, salad, and apple pie empanadas for dessert. It was arguably the best meal of the trip and gave us lots of energy for a great dance party where everyone showed their moves off. Night fell and we were all exhausted but couldn’t wait to zipline the next morning.
For our last morning activity in Banos we visited Parque Aventura San Martin for some zip lining and rock climbing through an incredible canyon. After the first zip line we traveled across a swinging and bouncing bridge that I think pushed most people out of their comfort zone. The rock climbing was an intense climb on the face of a 100m ravine. This was one of the most intense and uncomfortable parts of our trip. I was extremely proud of Andrew throughout this section. I was behind him during the climb and he seemed so comfortable but about halfway through, he turned to me and said “this is terrifying.” I chuckled and then continued to watch him absolutely crush it, no complaints. The final zip line was meant for a duo which led to great laughs and pictures. Some zipline rock paper scissors games were played too! We had an incredibly long bus ride back to Tababela for our final stay and to prepare for our last day of activities before the airport. We all napped and saved up every last bit of energy for our final night.
On our last night we hold a banquet for the students, which is just our final hoorah as a group. Banquet is a great Moondance tradition where every group puts a little twist on their night. For our banquet we decided to cross dress for dinner and our activities afterwards. The boys looked absolutely stunning in their tennis skirts and LuluLemon athleisure, while the girls cleaned up real nice in their camo, baggy shorts, and southern tide gear. Kate was able to pull one of the infamous “Thomas fits” which brought a smile to everyone’s face. After a great dinner in town we went and got our desserts before the real festivities began. We started with some face painting and body paint that quickly led to a pinata out in the field at our hostel. We then played a quick game of toilet tag before our last moonup. The way we closed our moonup was with a giant dance party that we wish would have lasted forever. While Jackson might have one salsa king, I think that Georgia made her case for the best dancer in the group as she showed off all her tiktok dances and moves for the group. This morning we visited the hummingbird sanctuary first and then spent the afternoon laid out at the Pappallecta hot springs. A great and relaxing closing to an even better trip.
This group has embodied what it means to be a part of Moondance, creating everlasting relationships and meeting new people, trying new things, becoming vulnerable, and finding comfort in the uncomfortable. We are so proud of this group and cannot wait to stay in touch and see where life takes them because we are sure that they can go anywhere they want. This has been such an incredible group of people in such an incredible place, everyone always says it’s the people that make the place, but when the place is as cool as Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, it just makes everything that better. Good luck to each and every student in your future endeavors, we are so certain that you will go far. Parents, once again, thank you again for putting your trust in Moondance.
Cheers!
Elizabeth + Martin
July 8, 2024
Hello Ecuador + Galapagos Families!
We heard from our leaders last night that all the students have landed safely in Quito and the group is headed to their first activity! The trip is off to a great start and we can’t wait to share more updates from their adventure.
Please remember our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will be posting trip updates throughout the next two week! This will allow you to follow along with the trip. You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ