mygapyear

WHAT ABOUT TAKING A GAP YEAR?

Welcome back, readers.  This is the final posting in our three week series.  We have explored myths about gap years, what happens to an individual's academic journey and finally, we want to share stories from some of our current gappers.  Below is an entry from a gapper who is travelling in South America.  Our clients have traveled all over the world and Canada.  Blogging is a great way to say in touch with family and friends while abroad.  mygapyear values the unique opportunity blogging can add to an individual's gap year experience.  It is a great tool to capture learning, stories and a fun way to stay in touch with family and friends. 

Part Three:  What could you do on a gap year? 

Blog excerpt from a current blogging gapper!

Hey all—

I am proud to say that we have all returned safe and sound to civilization after two amazing weeks in the Amazon. All a little dirty and smelly, we can't help but be proud of all the hard work we’ve accomplished. 

Our first week was spent in the small village of Campo Cocha and our second week was spent just up the river volunteering at a rain forest reserve run by the Arajuno Jungle Lodge. 

In Campo Cocha, we lived with local families in quite rustic conditions. These local families were Quichua, the indigenous people to this region. 

Our mornings were spent working and spending time with our families while our afternoons were spent running a "kids camp" for all the children of the village

Standing in the Buttresses of the ¨Tree of Life¨

. The work that filled our mornings included: collecting cacao and opening the fruits with a machete to collect the coco beans inside, chopping wood, fishing, collecting yucca and plantains, panning in the river for gold, and much more. 

After a hearty lunch of some variation of yucca and plantains, we set off to go to the center of the village to run the kids camp.  Some of us had to walk as far as a kilometre and a half (about one mile) each way. 

We ran the kids camp by doing a different theme of activities (arts, sports or science) each day. Whether it was painting wacky pictures with water colours, kicking a ball around a soccer field with 30 very enthusiastic and energetic little ones, or having slime fights, the kids always had us laughing and having a great time. 

After being exhausted from hard work in the mornings and chasing after kids all afternoon, we would return back to our host families to help prepare dinner and spend time together. We happily collapsed into our beds every night for a much deserved sleep. 

            A week flew by, and after a tearful goodbye with our families, we boarded a small motorized canoe and travelled up the river, deeper into the rain forest, to the Arajuno Jungle lodge for a week of ecological conservation work. 

Upon arrival, we discovered that our lodging was not nearly as rustic as our experience in Campo Cocha village had been

 Another Woman of the Village

Comments!

. Tom, the former Peace Corps trainer who owns and runs the lodge, had outfitted the beautiful hardwood and thatched roof buildings with nice furnishings, including a hammock for almost everyone in our group, a TV with a selection of DVDs, a stereo, and an ipod player --  all completely run by solar power. Even his water system was run by rain water he collected in reservoirs. It was truly an ecologically sustainable palace. 

However, pleasant lodging aside, our work was just as physically demanding as it had been in Campo Cocha. Tom, who works tirelessly to restore the Yellow Spotted Turtle populations of the river, had us chopping up bamboo with machetes, planting bamboo on the riverside and hauling bags of sand from a beach up to his enclosure of Yellow Spotted Turtles to provide them with sand to lay their eggs in. With four and a half hours of work every morning, we were all thankful to have our lazy afternoons of curling up in a hammock with a good book. 

            But now our time at the Arajuno Jungle Lodge has ended, and our time in the Amazon rain forest in general, and we are off to the bustling markets of Otavalo. It’s hard to believe that our time in South America is almost over and we’ll be seeing you all soon.

But until then—

Hope all is well back home.




Thank you for joining us on our three week exploration of taking a gap year.  Next week, we will begin a new series.  Please join us as we explore the foundations of  successful gap years.