Join me on the sweetest trip you will ever take: Our Ecuador Chocolate Expedition! On this trip, we will learn about cacao growing and chocolate making from passionate farmers who are committed to preserving Ecuador’s renowned arriba nacional cacao varietal using sustainable agricultural practices, as well as industry experts about the craft of processing some of the world’s best cacao. While we see Ecuador through a chocolate lens, we will also enjoy the country’s many nat

I started to have second thoughts about traveling to Ecuador with our kids, ages 5 and 8, when it was time for the kids to get their travel vaccinations. It was with the first painful scream that I then wondered what on earth are we doing!? We were leaving the country in a month, flying on an airplane for over 15 hours, and bringing our kids to a country where they had to rely on their mother’s college Spanish to get them through and their father’s crazy, offensively defensi

Playing soccer, or futbol, is a wonderful way to bridge cultures, particularly when there is not a common language involved! In 2015, we kicked off the summer with our first soccer exchange in Nicaragua, where we stayed with local families, built a soccer field and taught soccer classes in Chacraseca, a small community outside of Leon. Our team worked hard for 3 days to build the multi-purpose field, which will be used for both playing soccer and as a community gathering pla

We arrived in Ecuador on April Fool’s night, our guide Juan met us after our flight. Colorful orchids, giant ferns and epiphytes were a few of our favorite cloud forest sights. Hummingbirds amazed us as they hovered and fed and butterflies kept landing on Bryce’s head. We zoomed on zip-lines high above the cloud forest floor And after each rope swing Bryce and Viv wanted more. Rafting through the rapids, we laughed in delight When Eduardo shouted “seguro” we held on tight. We

Enjoy our blog post on Ecuador by photographer, Lisa Merrill, who is the trip leader of our Ecuador: Culture, Nature & Photography 2018 Summer trip: Just 10 steps from Sachatamia Lodge in Mindo, Ecuador, we began our hike through the glistening cloud forest, stopping to play, laugh, wonder and photograph. Returning to a delicious lunch and a flute-playing guitarist made the day that much more special. I smile as I remember these and other amazing experiences and adventures