Ecuador Photo Essay

In the summers of 2015, 2016, and 2017, I had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador with a mission team from my high school. We would spend two weeks in the capital, Quito, and in the jungle regions about six hours away in a place called Maderos. We partnered with a local church to do manual labor on their farm, which fed the kids of the remote communities, and put on Vacation Bible School programs. The trips changed my life and I love the photos that I took there, they remind me of so many amazing memories. Here are my favorites, I hope you enjoy!

xx, Hannah

View from Basilica del Voto Nacional in Quito

After leaving the city, the landscape we saw every day looked a lot more like this.

This is the Rio Coca, it was very close to one of the church's remote sites. One day, boat rides and a two hour hike took us to a village deep in the jungle to share the Gospel.

While we were there, the kids were in school. They would finish up, and hang out with us until the sun went down, either listening to VBS programs or playing soccer and other games. Their smiles are infectious!

They adored having their photos taken!

In the remote regions, it's not uncommon for children to take care of their younger siblings. The church we partnered with worked to keep these kids in school and keep them fed if their parents were absent.

Every morning started with a cup of amazing Ecuadorian coffee! I don't like coffee, and I still put loads of sugar in it, but it was delicious! The whole group would take pounds and pounds of the beans back home with us.

Right outside where we ate our meals in Maderos was this huge grapefruit tree! One year, we got to help harvest it and tasted fresh juice.

This is Lago San Pablo, a lake near a city called Otavalo that's north of Quito. We made a detour there one year and it was so beautiful!

Because of the tropical climate, beautiful plants bloom all year round and nearly daily rainstorms keep them happy