Lifeworks teen summer community service and adventure summer camps and programs.

ActionQuest, the global adventure travel arm of our organization, and Lifeworks collectively offer two 21-day programs, and one 28-day "Plus" program in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. The nature and feel of the programs is fairly different, so it's best to consider them separately.

Session 1, otherwise known as the Darwin voyage, students earn approximately 40 hours of community service in the Amazon and the Galapagos with increased touring and adventure activities split between mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Adventure activities include white-water rafting, horseback riding, hiking, and scuba diving. Students tour all the best this country has to offer, from the Amazon basin to the high Andes to the capital Quito and, of course, the Galapagos Islands.

Session 2 students earn 100 hours of community service with time spent in the Galapagos, Amazon and Andes. With this increase in community service time, students leave having greater immersed themselves into the culture and ecology of the Galapagos, and with a deeper understanding of some of the complex issues this amazing part of the world faces. Session 2 students work hard, but also play hard with afternoons and weekends spent snorkeling with sealions, playing soccer with local children, and touring some of the most famous sites in Ecuador and the Galapagos.

Our Ecuador and Galapagos Plus program is for those Session 2 students interested in the best of both worlds, 100 hours of meaningful community service work and the adventure activities of Session 1. After participating in the activities of the Session 2 program, students extend their stay and have an action packed week of white-water rafting, horseback riding, hiking, soccer playing, and much more in the high Andes of mainland Ecuador.

(^Back To Top^)

The Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands programs are two of the smaller programs we offer. We maintain a 5:1 student to staff ratio with a maximum of 14 students per program.

(^Back To Top^)

Most nights will be spent in comfortable, clean, and safe hotels or hostels. Session 1 students spend some nights on board a Galapagos Islands motor-yacht and an Amazon "flotel" during their touring. Lifeworks has longstanding relationships with many local hotel owners, who consistently provide warm, welcoming hospitality and delicious food! Feel free to give us a call for more information on this year's accommodation.

(^Back To Top^)

Lifeworks maintains a 5:1 student to staff ratio for this program. Our staff travel with the students full-time, available to the students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Lifeworks students also work closely with our community service partners in the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon. For many of the adventure activities, we additionally hire local guides and naturalists, ensuring authentic experiences with the highest safety standards. Take a look through the Staff FAQs section for more information on our Lifeworks staff.

(^Back To Top^)

Depends on where you are! The high Andes can get quite cold, the Amazon quite warm and rainy, and the Galapagos Islands somewhere in between. We'll be sending you more information on what to expect (and pack!) after acceptance into the program.

(^Back To Top^)

Of course! However, the quality and availability of phone systems in Ecuador varies greatly depending on where you are. Phone calls from the Galapagos Islands can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Phone calls from the Amazon are often unreliable or unavailable. Phone calls in Quito and parts of the Andes, on the other hand, are often cheap and good-quality. We mention this so parents understand there may be occasions where insisting on a phone call is not feasible. Please note, though, Lifeworks staff make every effort possible to provide students opportunities to reconnect with people back home. In the unlikely event of an emergency, staff are always in possession of an emergency cell phone and keep consistent contact with our Sarasota main office.

Many of our students find that their cell phones work in parts of Ecuador as well. However, personal calls can be distracting during program activities and disrupt the group from its goals. For this reason, staff collect cell phones after students call home for the first time on arrival day. We will readily make phones, public and cell, available to the students at appropriate "free time" portions of the itinerary.

(^Back To Top^)

Phone calls generally must be paid in cash to the phone centers, although it is sometimes possible to use a local calling card.

(^Back To Top^)

The easiest way is for students to place a quick call home to let Mom and Dad know what's going on! Sometimes this doesn't happen though, so we also have a trip update system in which, at the end of each day, the "leader of the day" journals the day's activities and stories in our "program log." When time and local internet service is on our side, we type up student entries and post them, along with photographs, on the Lifeworks website. On certain occasions, we are able to post podcasts as part of these blogs as well.

(^Back To Top^)

Mail service is not particularly good in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Letters are often very slow to be delivered and are frequently lost. For this reason, students are unable to receive mail while on the program. However, just because you can't send any letters doesn't mean that you shouldn't get any yourself! Insist on a postcard from your student from every major location. Even if it just says -- "Hi! I'm swimming with the sealions and you're not! -- HA HA -- love you! -- gotta go!" At least you can look at the pictures and dream...

In the 18th century, a post office barrel was placed on the island of Floreana in the Galapagos for use by the English whaling vessels. The idea was for the crew of the outbound ships to deposit any mail for home in the barrel; inbound whalers would then pick up any mail that was destined for their part of the world. You can do the same -- leave a postcard or two and pick up any mail from your home area, which you can then post when you get back. This system is typically at least as fast as the regulated postal service!

(^Back To Top^)

Most hotels and hostels in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands have internet capability. Staff also provide students time to visit local internet cafes, so it should be possible to stay in touch this way.

However, internet in certain parts of Ecuador can be slow and unreliable. We mention this so parents understand there may be occasions when insisting on an e-mail is not feasible.

Please note, though, Lifeworks staff make every effort possible to provide students opportunities to reconnect with people back home.

(^Back To Top^)

As required and recommended vaccinations often change for countries around the world, please visit the CDC's (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website at www.cdc.gov and check with your physician or a travel health professional for the most up-to-date information regarding vaccinations for Ecuador. Please allow plenty of time before your trip (CDC suggests 4-6 weeks) to see your health care provider..

(^Back To Top^)

Students come from all points of the compass, so coordinated air travel is of vital importance. For this reason, we ask that all students flying to Ecuador book through Reservation Services International as they regularly obtain the best fares available, arrange group seating, and provide close monitoring on travel days in case of flight difficulties. As airlines often change their schedules, Lifeworks cannot be responsible for the coordination of air flights that are not booked through Reservation Services International.

For those booking through Reservation Services International, a Lifeworks representative will meet the group at Miami International Airport to help with this transfer. In most cases, this representative will also be a guide for the program and will fly to Quito with the group. Additionally, it's often possible for us to help families connect with other families in their area to coordinate students flying together on the domestic portions of their itineraries.

The in-country, round-trip flights, Quito to Galapagos and Quito to Amazon, are not available through Reservation Services International, so Lifeworks will organize this directly with the airlines and bill parents separately (typically $540).

For more information on flight itineraries and travel information, please contact...

Leah Hernandez
Reservation Services International
1.800.329.9000
(Texas +1.281.528.7727)
leahctn68@hotmail.com

(^Back To Top^)

We require all of the students to fly together on a specific flight to Quito. For this reason, using frequent flyer miles, though not impossible, is sometimes difficult for the international portion of the itinerary. Please contact our travel coordinator Leah Hernandez for our flight information to see if it qualifies for your frequent flyer program.

(^Back To Top^)

Please visit the Ecuador section of the U.S. Department of State's, Bureau of Consular Affairs travel.state.gov website or contact the Ecuadorian Embassy in your home country for the most up-to-date information regarding passports and visas. At the time of this writing, U.S. citizens need passports with a remaining validity of at least 6 months after their arrival date in Ecuador. Tourist visas for U.S. citizens are issued upon arrival.

(^Back To Top^)