Day 7: Into the Andes!

Hey! Its Courtney and today is day 7 of our trip to Ecuador! I was nominated to do the blog today because it’s my birthday and this is probably the best place to spend it! This morning, we left Sinchi Warmi, which was pretty difficult because of how beautiful it was there and how great the staff took care of us!

They taught us so much about the Quichuan Community and their way of life!  It took us a while to say our goodbyes but eventually, we started our four-hour bus ride to Banos! Our ride through the mountains was beautiful. We saw lots of small communities along the way!

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During our trek we learned about the influence of large corporations and companies have on small villages.  This was really shocking to me because some of the companies that had this kind of influences on these communities were companies that ran businesses in our own communities.

We finally got to Banos at about 1:30pm and dropped our stuff at our hotel and headed out for lunch. I was surprised after lunch with a little birthday celebration with some delicious cake that Milton, our guide, had picked out for me. After lunch, we headed off to go for a hike to see the Tungurahua Volcano and the city of Banos.

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On the trail, we learned about all the volcanoes that were in the area, how their presence impacts the community and we were also shown a few different types of plants and flowers. At the end, there was a massive statue of Mary and a very large staircase that we had to walk down. By the time we got back to the hotel it was about 6:00 and everybody was exhausted so we went for dinner at this adorable little Swiss restaurant and walked around town for a little bit. Afterwards, we all had a pretty early night after that!

Courtney Savoie, Westview Secondary

Next up is Day 8: The Devil's Cauldron

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