Eighth Grade Trip to Ecuador

by Virginie de Haugoubart
The eighth graders finished the year on a high note by traveling to Ecuador a few days before Commencement this past June.  They enjoyed being together and were eager to discover a new country.

They spent time in the Intag Cloud Forest region of the Andes (one of the most bio-diverse in the world), discovering the wonders of primary and secondary forests, and also discussing with ardent environmentalists and community leaders the disastrous consequences of mining in such pristine areas.  They straddled the Equator line near Cayambe and hiked around Cuicocha, a caldera, and up the high altitude grasslands and shrublands of Mojanda to the summit of Fuya-Fuya.  They visited Azama, a remote Andean village where St. Bernard’s counts many friends, and played soccer with the locals.  The girls, richly clad in traditional costumes, danced to traditional music.  They visited a rose plantation where they learned about the flower export business, the environment, and labor laws of the country.  They saw how Andean musical instruments were made, and they shopped at the Otavalo Indian market, the second largest in South America.  They visited the Tahuantinsuyo shop of Miguel Andrango, Ecuador’s most famous weaver, and got to see the master cleanse, disentangle, and spin wool as his ancestors did hundreds of years ago.  It was a trip full of wonderful adventures, and good humor and camaraderie made the trip all the more enjoyable.
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