Ecuador is a land of marked contrasts where wood-burning stoves and thatched roof dwellings, iPods and cell phones co-exist. Where the rarest of species live on an isolate of islands 600 miles off the coast. Where Galapagos fishing and farming activities threaten the very existence of an extraordinary island eco-system.

Evidence of Ecuador's human cultures dates to c. 3500 B.C. Civilizations rose and fell until the region became part of the Inca Empire in 1463, and a few decades later, following the usual pattern of Western colonialism, came under Spanish rule.

VISIONS Ecuador offers dramatically different environs: traditional Andean villages, small towns and larger cities, and the Galapagos Islands--foremost among UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. We live primarily in a small city surrounded by smaller agricultural communities where service engages us on agricultural, environmental, sustainable, economic, artistic and social fronts.

For three and a half weeks Patate is your home, a town of roughly 12,000 in Central Ecuador's Tungurahua Province. Patate lies between Ambato, the capital of Tungurahua province, and Baños, a tourista center (the "Gateway to the Amazon") and, after Ambato, the most populous city in the province. The region's intensely rich soils yield a diversity of crops, earning Tungurahua Province the epithet "dinner plate of Ecuador." The surrounding views are breathtaking, with cloud formations that seem to dance above the mountains.

The service projects are a mix, to be sure. Ecuador participants have constructed preschools, kiosks for central marketplaces, community cisterns, traditionally built ethnographic museums, and potable water systems. We teach English, arts and crafts and sports to school children, have prepared greenhouse space for communal gardens, assisted reforestation efforts, and helped families milk cows, feed coy and rabbits and harvest crops.

We will work, side by side with our hosts, in both Patate and an outerlying farming community situated on one of the many agricultural hillsides. We eat meals with Ecuadorans, join their pastimes and festivities, play street soccer, have spontaneous lessons in traditional scarf weaving and embroidery, making quimbolitos (steamed pudding wraps made with cheese and raisins), traditional dance and music.

Andean exploration includes strolls through marketplaces in Ambato and Otavalo, sojourns at Banos Hot Springs, treks to coves and waterfalls, hikes to mountain vistas that will take your breath away. After departing Patate, before flying to the Galapagos, we tour the historic capital of Quito.

Our final days unfold on the Galapagos on San Cristobal, the first of the Galapagos Islands that Darwin studied. You will discover wildlife treasures and accomplish some service, too, with the scales tipped in favor of exploration. We get close up to blue footed boobies, giant Galapagos tortoise, sea turtles, sea lions, fur seals, iguanas and penguins, bright red Sally-Lightfoot crabs, Darwin's finches, and more. Our all-day boat trip includes stops for snorkeling and hiking. Galapagos partners are the Ministerio de Agricultura and the Parque Nacional for whom we may clear invasive plant species or assist in coffee planting.

Participants in this language immersion program must have minimum two years of classroom Spanish or equivalent proficiency.

* Tuition includes roundtrip airfare from Quito to the Galapagos.

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