Study Spanish and Experience Indigenous Culture
On this program you can study for a week in one of the indigenous communities that Yanapuma Foundation works with. If you wish to find out about life in Ecuador's different ecological regions - Pacific coast, Andean sierra, and Amazon rainforest, you can stay with your teacher with an indigenous family for a week in each region. This is a fascinating cultural experience as well as being a great way to practice your Spanish.
Activities are planned to complement the classes to fill the week with interest and excitement. The basic program includes opportunities to take part in local activities and explore your surroundings. Each community offers extra optional activities with varying costs.These might include hiring a guide, or horses, or a motorized canoe. If you are interested in these offerings you can arrange them directly with the community.
Please note that living conditions can be quite rudimentary when staying with an indigenous family, and this is part of the overall experience of immersing oneself in another culture. Some adaptation is required but we have found that the experience is mostly overwhelmingly rewarding for students.
Click here for a list of things to bring, and here to read our Norms of Conduct for visiting an indigenous community.
The communities:
Chichicorumi
The community of Chichicorumi lies beside the Napo River in the Amazon region of Ecuador, close to the town of Tena. A cultural center “Kamak Maki” is a site for rescuing and preserving Kichwa culture and plant knowledge, run by a local family. Yanapuma works with this center, sending groups of volunteers and individuals to help in the development of the museum and botanical gardens.
A week here offers a great chance to learn about traditional Kichwa culture and to interact with some of the small animals of the area (different species of monkeys, cuchuchos, boas, etc) which roam around freely. Optional activities include jungle hikes to waterfalls, panning for gold, swimming in the river, visits to other villages and a butterfly farm, and options such as white water rafting in Tena.
Estero de Plátano
The small community of Estero de Plátano is located on the Pacific coast in the southern part of the province of Esmeraldas. Originally inhabited by the Chachi culture, the population is now mixed with mestizos and black descendents of a slave ship that ran aground, resulting in a unique cultural blend. This area is one of the last remaining places where the rainforest still reaches down to the sea; a unique environment in which part of the population lives by farming small plots of yucca, plantains, and cacao in the jungle, and others fish in the ocean. The area offshore has recently been declared a marine reserve in recognition of its unique ecology and relatively undamaged status.
Activities include spending time on the beach, hiking to waterfalls and other places of interest, and other options such as going out with the fishermen. It is also possible to watch whales here between July and November as they migrate along the coast.
Yanapuma Foundation is working with this community on the development of crafts production, health, education, and appropriate tourism. A week in Estero de Plátano offers a fascinating insight into another culture and way of life that is under threat.
Bua de los Tsa’chila
The community of Bua is one of only 7 remaining villages of the Tsa’chila culture, located in the low tropical foothills of the Andes on the Pacific side. Originally a forest-dwelling people, their unique and distinctive culture is undergoing a renaissance through a group of families that run a cultural center “Shinopi Bolon,” which is where students stay when they take classes. Here students can learn about the Tsa’chila culture and explore a small reserve that contains some of the original primary forest that once covered the entire region. The center also attracts animals of the region that are brought there by locals such as boas, sloths, and iguanas that used to be hunted. These are looked after prior to being released into the wild again.
Yanapuma works with this community in agriculture, reforestation, education, health, sanitation, and leadership and organizational training. A week spent learning Spanish in Bua offers a great chance to learn about this unique culture and to see how Yanapuma works with the Tsa’chila towards sustainable development.
Chilcapamba
The village of Chilcapamba is situated near Otavalo, in the Andean sierra north of Quito. The population live by farming, with pasture for cattle, as well as fields of onions, cereals, maize and potatoes.
A week spent studying Spanish here is a great opportunity to appreciate the culture and way of life in the Andes. In addition there will be opportunities to visit the famous market town of Otavalo, the beautiful Cuicocha Lake, and nearby towns such as Cotocachi, famous for its leather goods and other handicrafts, and one of the more ecological and progressive small towns of Ecuador. The program ends on Friday after classes in the morning, and you can either return to Quito with your teacher, or stay around the area for another night to visit the famous Otavalo Market on Saturday, its busiest day and the day of the livestock market where alpacas, llamas and cuy (guinea-pigs) are on sale.
