Laurel Landrum, a beloved Spanish teacher at CHS, has been planning the Ecuador trip since March 2023, inviting all CHS to attend, regardless of Spanish-speaking capabilities.

On June 17. 2023, a plane will leave DTW, heading to Ecuador.

After 10 days in Ecuador and two days of travel, students and chaperones will fly back on June 27.  The trip costs $4,100 and will cover everything from transportation and hotels to meals and tourist activities. Regarding the registration period, it’s open until Feb 15. 2024.

“Yes, it’s a lot of money. However, it’s really good value,” Landrum said. “I think taking a similar trip with your family would cost a lot more. For the amount of stuff that they pack into those 12 days, it’s a good value.”

The ACCI company, running the trip, also offers lots of ways to financially support their customers. They’ll recommend personal fundraising opportunities, scholarship competitions and even ideas for group fundraising.

Anyone is welcome to apply, but only 29 people will be able to attend the trip in total. The minimum number of people that Landrum will take is 6, and past that point, she won’t consider the trip.

 “I only need six to be able to go,”  Landrum said. “29 is the most but 17 is good. We can get three chaperones to go if I get 17 Kids, so I think that’s a good number.”

Landrum begins with the idea that traveling is one of the most important things in life. That was the fundamental inspiration for this trip.

“Being able to experience the way other people live and to learn how things are done in other places is eye-opening and gives people perspective,” Landrum said. “I think sometimes it’s daunting to think about going as far away as South America but when you have it as a student tour, it’s more controlled so it feels a little bit easier to go.” 

Furthermore, she noticed that the most expensive part of the trip was getting there and June had the lowest price, which permits the students to stay there for almost 2 weeks. Landrum had been comparing a multitude of other trips and packages for students, but Ecuador seemed to be an excellent fit. 

“I picked Ecuador because it ticked all the boxes,” Landrum said. “It’s got the cultural museum part, exchanges with communities that live there and then it also has the fun stuff like the thermal baths, waterfalls, snorkeling, and a canopy tour.”

From going to an indigenous community – who runs a rose farm – to archaeological ruins, the trip is packed from start to finish with activities that’ll provide lifelong memories. 

“I wanted to make sure that we would get the most out of Ecuador,” Landrum said. “So it’s mostly a tourism trip where we’ll do some cultural exchanges.”

To start the trip off, students will first land in Quito, the capital and historic center of Ecuador. You’ll find yourself in a special type of museum that has a variety of activities that can only be done near the equator. You’ll also see exhibits that mainly focus on the native tribes of Ecuador. Then, students will experience the cultural exchange with the Ecuador rose farm residents. Afterward, students will be in Banyoles, where welcoming thermal baths and waterfalls can be found with a canopy tour. During the tour, there will be a zip line going straight through the canopies. Of course, it’s always an option to take the zipline. Next, is a hike up a volcano and more natural activities before students arrive at Riobamba town. Afterward, a 5-hour bus ride will lead students to the town of Cuenca.

“It’s a colonial town,” Landrum said. “The activity there is to go visit the villages that are around Cuenca and each of the villages has their artisanal craft. They do silversmithing, so they have special bracelets that they make there that are specific to their region. We go to another place where they do weaving and I guess they do tutorials, so you can learn how to do textile weaving.”