While some people were relaxing at home or on the beach during spring break, a group of students and faculty members were exploring the ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands. Lasting 10 days, they got to hop from one island to another, climb into a volcano and see many different species of local animals. The purpose of this trip was to provide students with an educational experience for spring break, as well as creating many memories to be remembered for the rest of their lives.
“There was this one place where we hiked up a mountain, and there was a lake. The lake was inside an inactive volcano, and we got to hike up the mountain which was really cool,” junior Logan Cochran said.
One of the places that they got to visit was called El Junco Lagoon. This freshwater lake was formed thousands of years ago, creating a popular tourist spot. What sets this lake apart from others is that its surrounding walls used to be a volcano. Students had the chance to visit this stunning place and a few other breathtaking locations.
“My favorite parts of the trip were the beach days and the free time, where we got to explore the island. We got to find coffee shops and small stores and try all kinds of new foods while we were there, all in our free time,” senior Gabrielle Culberson said.
While this was an educational trip, students were given plenty of free time to explore wherever they wanted and find hidden areas throughout the islands. It also allowed them to learn more about the culture in Ecuador by tasting some of their well-known dishes.
“It was beneficial for AP Spanish just because there are very few English speakers in Ecuador and the Galapagos, so I got to practice my Spanish speaking a lot,” Cochran said.
This trip allowed students to further expand and apply their knowledge in their science and Spanish classes. As Cochran mentioned, Ecuador is primarily a Spanish-speaking country, allowing them to gain more experience utilizing those skills somewhere outside of the classroom. This trip was also beneficial for all science classes, but specifically environmental science. Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands are filled with ecotourism locations, letting students see what they were learning about in class, right in front of them. For some students, this was just a fun location to spend their spring break, but Culberson took it as an opportunity to ensure her plans for the future were what she really had in mind.
“This trip taught me that my choice to go into environmental studies/science was the right decision,” Culberson said. “It also taught me a lot about traveling because this was my first time outside the country.”
This trip allowed for a lot of “firsts” in students’ lives. As Culberson mentioned, this was her first time outside of the country. But just as other families this spring break, they also faced issues when it came to flying out of the airport, due to the recent government shutdown.
“On our connecting flight back, going from Quito to Miami and then Miami to Atlanta, at the Miami airport, we had to wait an hour in TSA security check customs, and we almost missed our flight,” Cochran said.
The shutdown of the government has been causing all kinds of travel issues, with some resulting in delayed, canceled or even missed flights. Even though they had to wait in lines and cram into an airport with thousands of other people, they eventually made it home from Ecuador, bringing home life-lasting memories along with them.
“I would live in the Galapagos if I could. Even though there are obvious worries, such as water quality and food availability being so small islands, they are outweighed greatly by the beauty of it all. The air felt cleaner, the sky felt clearer, and the water was the prettiest I had ever seen,” Culberson said. “Every island was just a two-hour boat ride away from the others. The people were really nice, and everything was walkable. It also felt like you were more connected with the earth being there because you would be walking down the streets, and animals would just come up to you.”