Abroad Must-Haves: Ecuador Edition

Electronics

• Portable charger
  • Better to be the friend with the portable charger than the one asking for it constantly... 

Books

• Journal
  • If you're into writing in a journal or want to give it a try, studying abroad is a great time to practice.
• Any of the following are some of my and my friend's recs:
  • Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut; if you like satire, it's a great story about the archipelago
  • Floreana by Margaret Wittmer; an interesting account of the wild antics that occurred during the first Galápagos settlement on the island of Floreana
  • Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer; a beautiful, necessary collection of essays interweaving Indigenous North American environmental knowledge with mainstream science
  • The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan; a look at history through the lens of four types of human desire that reflects how we cultivate and consume plants

Travel Items

• Carabiners
  • Great for your backpack when hiking or traveling. Helps to be able to hook on a water bottle, dry bag (see below!), towel, or anything else you might need.
• Dry bag
  • Excellent for the Galápagos, since you can go swimming almost daily. With a dry bag, you can keep your suit in your backpack without ruining your laptop, other clothes, books, etc. Also helpful for the cloud forest, Amazon rainforest, and anywhere else it rains.
• Bag for weekend trips
  • Something small and comfortable to carry while walking is a great item to bring. Lots of weekend trips that require light packing.

Clothing

• Hat, beanie, baseball cap, bucket hat, etc.
  • Perfect for staying warm on a hike or windy boat ride, blocking sun, and throwing on if you have a bit of bedhead... The weather is so variable in both Quito and the Galápagos, so hats are such a staple for a bit of warmth. My program in the Galápagos is filled with boat and ferry rides, which get so windy. Hats are great to keep your hair out of your face!

Self-Care

• Hot sauce
  • Maybe I know a lot of hot sauce lovers... If you enjoy a bit of spice, definitely bring some of your favorite sauce! They serve a hot sauce called ají at most restaurants, but spice preference is super personal and heat level varies by restaurant. Many of my friends would say this is good for the soul!
• Snorkel
  • If you're going to the Galápagos for more than a few weeks (AKA for the semester like me), having your own snorkel is worth it. There's plenty of time to hop in and swim after class, and you can see fish, sea turtles, sea lions, and more in so many places nearby to the university. Such a therapeutic activity if you like to swim.

General

• Coin purse/wallet with space for coins
  • We use coins nearly every day here, which is uncommon in the US, at least. Personally, I'm always digging through my backpack for coins, so I would definitely have benefitted from bringing one.