Preparing for a Mission Trip to Ecuador

Lo que aprenderá

• Explain who you are visiting — the Costa, the Sierra, the Oriente and the Galápagos, and why each is a different trip
• Greet, thank and apologise in Ecuadorian Spanish, and use a handful of Kichwa courtesies
• Turn Ecuador’s changed security picture into concrete planning rules instead of anxiety
• Handle a dollarized cash economy without creating distortion or risk
• Speak respectfully about Catholic and evangelical faith, and about plurinational Ecuador and CONAIE
• Recognise the short-term practices that do harm — orphanage visits, photography, direct giving, staged community visits — and choose the ones that help
• Prepare for altitude, mosquito-borne illness, water, volcanoes and road travel before you fly

Contenido del curso

1. 1

   Prepare like a guest, plan like a host

   Why an Ecuador itinerary is a plan rather than a wish list, and the posture that makes a short visit worth hosting.

   6 min Cuestionario
2. 2

   Four Ecuadors on one itinerary

   Costa, Sierra, Oriente and Galápagos — what changes between them, and Quito’s altitude in one honest paragraph.

   7 min Cuestionario
3. 3

   Spanish, Kichwa and Shuar

   The phrases worth memorising, the Ecuadorian turns of speech, and why Kichwa and Shuar are not footnotes.

   8 min Cuestionario Escrito + interactivo
4. 4

   The security shift, turned into planning rules

   What changed in Ecuador since 2021, why you must read a current advisory yourself, and the rules that follow from it.

   8 min Cuestionario Interactivo
5. 5

   Dollars, markets and money that does not distort

   Ecuador runs on the US dollar — the practical consequences, and the giving decisions that quietly do harm.

   6 min Cuestionario
6. 6

   Faith, plurinational Ecuador, and the ethics of the add-on

   Catholic and evangelical Ecuador, the political weight of CONAIE, and the Amazon and Galápagos add-ons that need an honest look.

   8 min Cuestionario Escrito + interactivo
7. 7

   Staying well, and the pre-flight checklist

   Water, mosquitoes, volcanoes and the team checklist — including the screening step most groups forget.

   6 min Cuestionario Escrito + interactivo

Fuentes y lecturas adicionales

• U.S. Department of State — Ecuador International Travel Information
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — CDC Travelers’ Health: Ecuador
• Constitute Project / Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador — Constitución de la República del Ecuador (2008, rev. 2021) — Art. 2, official languages
• Human Rights Watch — World Report 2026: Ecuador — violence, states of emergency and Indigenous protest
• Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC), Ecuador — Estadísticas nacionales — Censo de Población y Vivienda 2022
• UNICEF — Volunteering in orphanages