Field Studies Ecuador & Galápagos

Overview

With its breathtaking volcanic landscapes, impressive geographic diversity and warm, welcoming people, Field Studies Ecuador & Galápagos offers a unique Overland experience.

Our Ecuadorian adventure begins in the dynamic city of Quito, one of South America’s most vibrant colonial centers. We’ll start with two days of introductory Spanish classes, visits to the city’s famous historic center and afternoons volunteering with Quito’s underprivileged youth. Our weekend travel brings us north to the colorful artisan markets of Otavalo. There, we’ll enjoy striking views of the Imbabura Volcano and stay in group accommodations on the shores of the pristine lake of San Pablo.

Next, we’ll head into the Amazon, to the lush rainforests of the Napo region to experience firsthand one of Ecuador’s rich indigenous cultures. A highlight of our time in Ecuador will be our visit to Cotopaxi National Park, home to one of the world’s highest active volcanoes. From our mountainside refuge accommodations, we’ll head out on day hikes and rappelling adventures with our experienced guides. Our final challenge hike takes us above 15,000 feet to the base camp of Cotopaxi.

We’ll spend our final week on the famed Galápagos Islands. Our group will have the chance to see remarkably diverse wildlife, including the giant tortoises for which the islands are named. We will give back to the Galápagos by working with a local humanitarian organization on Santa Cruz. Then we’ll make our way back to Quito, where we’ll look back on four unforgettable weeks in this special South American country.

Highlights

• Explore the exciting urban culture of Quito
• Discover the wildlife of the Galápagos
• Live & serve in an indigenous village
• Hike in Cotopaxi National Park

Grade

For students completing grade(s) 9-12 in June 2012

Multiple sections are grouped by grades

Call us (413-458-9672) to check on current availability

Challenge Level

5 (1-10, 1 is easiest)

Start and End Location

Starts and ends in Quito, Ecuador

Accommodations

• In Quito, Otavalo and the Galápagos, we will be in simple group accommodations. Students will have access to kitchen facilities. Rooms are separated by gender and every room has a private bathroom and shower.
• In Cotopaxi National Park, we will stay in the mountain refuge on the southern face of Cotopaxi Volcano.  There is (cold) running water and flush toilets, and rooms will be dormitory style with matresses and sleeping bags.
• For our service project in the Cloud Forest on Pahuma Orchid Reserve, we will be in a cabin-style volunteer residence. There are showers and hot water, and there are two dormitory rooms with bunkbeds—one for the girls and one for the boys.
• For our time in the Amazon, we'll stay at Suchipakari Jungle Lodge.  We'll be in cabins of 3-5 students with flush toilets and (cold) showers.

Dates and Fees

4 weeks

Sunday, June 24 to Saturday, July 21

$6795 (airfare not included)

Itinerary

TRIP START 
To start off, we'll spend 5 days in the nation's capital of Quito. We'll stay in a youth hostel that was specifically designed for student volunteer groups. We'll take 3 half-days of introductory Spanish classes. This introduction and vocabulary will give us a good base for our travels and volunteer work over the next 4 weeks. We'll spend the other half of the day volunteering with a Foundation, Honrar la Vida, for young children from the marginalized neighborhoods of Quito.

After a few more full days of service at the Foundation we'll head off to the largest artisan markets of Otavalo. We'll spend that weekend exploring the fascinating cultures and traditions of the Sierra Norte region, visiting villages, trying out local cuisine specialties, and stopping by the "Middle of the Earth" monument.

COTOPAXI NATIONAL PARK
For four days we’ll travel to one of the world’s highest active volcanoes, the beautiful snow-capped peak of Volcán Cotopaxi. We will be based at the mountain refuge of Cotopaxi Cara Sur on the southern face of the volcano. Here, we’ll take a new day hike each day to the surrounding peaks and do a rappelling activity with our professional outfitter. For our final days, we’ll take a challenging hike up to the outfitter's high camp, the base for mountaineering expeditions of Cotopaxi.  

Please note that the hiking in this portion of the trip will be at higher altitudes than many students have experienced before. We will organize the itinerary so that our group is able to acclimate slowly to the altitude of Cotopaxi National Park. Our first week in Quito, at an altitude of 9,300 feet itself, will help to prepare our group for Cotopaxi. We will not make a summit bid, as it is a technically-advanced climb. We will, however, hike to our outfitter’s private High Camp (Campo Alto 4800m) to get an idea of the Cotopaxi experience.

CLOUD FOREST & THE AMAZON 
We'll travel just an hour and a half outside of Quito to reach the lush, green cloud forests and the Pahuma Orchid Reserve. Within the reserve, we'll learn about the world-famous variations of orchid flowers from Ecuador and take hikes to beautiful waterfalls. Our service project will include making trail signs and guided maps for visitors to enjoy for years to come.

We'll also travel into the Amazon to the region of Napo. Here, we'll encounter unique wildlife, stay in a jungle lodge along a river, and learn about the indigenous cultures of this region. We'll work with a Quechua community to improve their school buildings. Leaders of the community will teach us about their resources and traditional artisanship. We’ll learn basic phrases and have a chance to see the traditional dances and customs of this culture.

THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
Our final week brings us to the famed islands of the Galápagos are located 700 miles off the coast of mainland Ecuador. To reach them, we'll take an approximately 2-hour domestic flight from Quito. Our exploration of the islands will be land-based. We'll visit a different island each day, heading out from our home on Santa Cruz Island. Our tours will allow us to experience the wildlife of the Galapágos - animals only found here on these islands. Among many others, we'll discover giant tortoises, sea lions, birds, land and marine iguanas, and tropical fish.

We'll also have the chance to give back to this amazing place. Partnering with Galapagos ICE, we will work with the local population on Santa Cruz Island, helping to maintain and improve facilities and also working with the schools' recycling initiatives.

We'll also visit the Charles Darwin Research Center to learn about their work with the breeding and protection of the Galápagos giant tortoise species.

TRIP END
After our adventure off the coast, we will head back to Quito for a final dinner and celebration of all that we accomplished in our four weeks in Ecuador.

Trip Details

Service Hours: 

40 hours of service

Photos

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Before You Go

• Enrollment Forms
• Expectations, Cell Phones & Electronics
• Prepare & Pack
• Travel Information
• Mail Stops
• Helpful Reminders

Apply Now

Thank You for Choosing Overland!

HOW TO APPLY

You have two choices. You can apply online with a credit card by clicking the link below.

Apply Online

Or you can download the 2012 Overland Application as a PDF (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Then mail your completed one-page application and $795 deposit check to:

Overland
P.O. Box 31
Williamstown, MA 01267

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Overland
63 Spring Street
Williamstown, MA 01267

Applications are reviewed in the order in which they arrive at our office and we cannot hold spots over the phone.

WHEN TO APPLY

We receive our first applications in September; there is a steady flow all fall and then most programs fill in January and February. Some programs fill earlier; and others may have space available until later in the spring. Please call our office (413-458-9672) to check on availability.

WHEN WE RECEIVE YOUR APPLICATION

If your first choice is available, you will receive a phone call and an email containing our Enrollment Forms. If your first choice is not available, we will call you to confirm that your second choice is acceptable. If neither your first choice nor your second choices are available, we will call you to discuss options.

PAYMENTS & REFUNDS

A deposit of $795 is due with your application. Full payment is due on March 1st. For applications received after March 1st, full payment is due within 30 days of receipt of our confirmation email. Please note:

• If your child’s program choices are not available, your deposit will be returned in full.
• We do not accept credit cards for the final balance, only for the deposit of $795.
• If, upon our review of your child’s Enrollment Forms, the offer of a spot is withdrawn by Overland, a full refund of all payments to Overland will be made.
• If, at any point in the admissions process we determine that you have provided incomplete, misleading or false statements, we will withdraw the offer of admission and no refund of any payments to Overland will be made.
• If you withdraw your child before March 1st (notice of the withdrawal must be made in writing), $295 of the deposit is refundable.
• If you withdraw your child after March 1st, there are no refunds for any reason whatsoever (including, but not limited to: voluntary withdrawal, illness or injury, summer school, security concerns or any other reason).
• If your child leaves a program after it starts, there are no refunds for any reason whatsoever, including, but not limited to: voluntary withdrawal, illness or injury, dismissal by Overland (due to discipline, behavior, lack of fitness or motivation, etc.), security concerns or any other reason. Any costs incurred by Overland related to an early departure are the sole responsibility of the parents.

WAITING LISTS

We will notify all waitlisted applicants of their status in April.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

ADMISSIONS

No other organization is more committed to putting together great groups of good students—students who are positive, enthusiastic, motivated, eager and considerate. To do this, over the course of the spring we ask the parents of every enrolled student to provide us with important information about their child including a detailed school reference and information from a physician on the student’s physical condition and medical history. In addition, every student completes a personal statement and our expectations and rules form. If, as a result of this process, we have concerns about one of our enrolled students, we will contact the parents and make an appropriate decision about the student’s participation. If the offer of a spot on a trip or program is withdrawn by Overland a full refund of all payments to Overland will be made.

EXPECTATIONS

Our programs are wholesome, structured experiences with strong leadership and high expectations of students’ behavior. Overland students are expected to be enthusiastic, positive, motivated, helpful and supportive of each other. Overland students understand that smoking, using any tobacco product, drinking alcohol or using any drugs (other than prescribed medications) is strictly prohibited. In addition, our students are expected to adhere to our no phone calls and no electronics policies.

COMMUNICATIONS

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU: We are committed to providing extraordinary support to the parents our students; to that end; the Overland office is staffed from 8am to 10pm seven days a week during the summer (after office hours our answering service provides emergency coverage). Our leaders in the field are in touch with our office regularly; they carry cell phones and/or satellite phones.

NO PHONE CALLS: Overland's programs offer the opportunity to strengthen independence and self-reliance. To maximize these benefits, we do not permit phone calls to or from our students (except in the case of an emergency). All students who fly to their Overland program will call home on arrival (using a leader's cell phone) to confirm that they have arrived safely. At trip end, students who fly home will call home (with their leaders' assistance) from the airport before departure.

EMERGENCIES: Parents can be assured that when it is important that a student talk with his or her parents, we will make sure that they are in touch as soon as possible.

CELL PHONES: Cell phones are not permitted on any Overland program. We understand why some parents would like their children to carry a cell phone with them on their flights to/from their Overland program. If you feel like it is necessary to send your son or daughter with a phone, we recommend that you purchase an inexpensive prepaid cell phone. Experience has shown us that despite taking precautions, a significant number of the cell phone we collect will be lost, damaged or stolen. Therefore, we take no responsibility whatsoever for phones brought by students and collected by our leaders at the start of a program.

NO PERSONAL ELECTRONICS

We do not permit personal electronics on our programs except for cameras. Students should not bring electronics with them on their flights. Electronics brought by students will be mailed home upon arrival at the student's expense.

MEALS

Each group buys, prepares and eats all of its meals together. The students, with their leaders' supervision, prepare all meals. While food is always plentiful and nutritious, meals reflect the limitations of group cooking and the students' preparation skills. While it is not possible for us to provide separate meals for vegetarians, vegetarians can expect to eat the same meals as the rest of the group but they can have the meat portion withheld. It is impossible for us to accommodate vegan or kosher diets.

FOOD ALLERGIES: If your child has a food allergy, please contact our office (413-458-9672) to discuss an appropriate placement as some of our programs are better equipped to handle food allergies than others.

REFERENCES

Please call or e-mail us at references@overlandsummers.com us for a list of references in your area or for a specific program.

OVERLAND GROUPS

We run multiple sections of most programs and take great care in putting together groups. Please see each program description for age and grade requirements. In the case of multiple groups, the groups will be further divided by adjacent grades.

TRAVELING WITH A FRIEND

We encourage students to come on their own. Traveling with one friend, however, is permitted (we do not accept groups of three). We will allow no more than two friend pairs per group, and these slots will be allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. We will not consider a request to travel with a friend until both applications and deposits are received. If you would like to travel with a friend, please write his or her name on the application.

PREPARING & PACKING

Comprehensive pre-program information and packing lists are available on our website. On each program page, click "Before You Go" and then "Prepare & Pack".

TRAVELING TO & FROM YOUR PROGRAM

Each program description provides start and end locations; families are responsible for making travel arrangements to and from these locations. Overland’s leaders will be on hand at the arrival and departure airports to provide supervision and assistance.

ADDITIONAL COSTS

Transportation to and from the start and end locations, spending money and personal gear are not included in the program fee. Overland provides group gear; students provide all personal equipment including bicycles, backpacks and sleeping bags. Students on bicycle touring trips in New England and Nova Scotia can rent bicycles and panniers from Overland.

ACCREDITATION & LICENSING

Overland is fully accredited by the nationally-recognized American Camp Association—a distinction earned by few of our peers. The ACA accreditation process reviews our overall program quality and our maintenance of over 300 safety standards. In addition, Overland is licensed by the Williamstown, Massachusetts, Board of Health and complies with 105 CMR 430.000 Chapter IV.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

We recommend that all Overland families opt in to our travel insurance program since after March 1 all payments to Overland are non-refundable for any reason whatsoever (prior to March 1, $295 of the $795 deposit is refundable). For complete information about the travel insurance please go to: www.tripmate.com/wpF434B.

FINANCIAL AID

In 2011, Overland awarded over $95,000 in financial aid (an increase of over 45% from 2010). Awards range from $500 to $2,500 and generally cover between 10% and 50% of the program fee (excluding equipment and transportation costs). Visit our financial aid page to learn more.

WE’RE HERE TO HELP

Please don’t hesitate to contact us: 413-458-9672.