Kyle and I have been best friends for 10 years now and he is the best travel buddy I could ever ask for. Kyle and I decided one day that we had been so blessed throughout our lives that it was time to give back. We wanted to go somewhere where we could really do a lot of good. Without Kyle, I never would have had such a great travel experience. We made our way, with some help from STA Travel, down to a little town in the Andes Mountain Range called Tambillo, Ecuador. We volunteered at Santa Martha Animal Rescue Center. You will see from the picture that the work wasn’t always easy but it was always fun. The Andean Spectacled Bear is an endangered species and there were 4 of them that arrived to their new home of Santa Martha. The center was a little unprepared when these grand guests arrived and so we had to make a new cage for them. We worked with cement and mud to create the base of their cage which was quite messy. When we weren’t working hard as volunteers we were able to travel around the whole country of Ecuador. We met an indigenous tribe that lived in the Amazon Rainforest and we saw Incan Ruins. We visited to the famous market town of Otavalo and we stood on the Equator. Culture shock was a huge factor but it was an amazing learning experience. It was my first time being so far away from home for such a long time, but Kyle helped me out with my homesickness. Kyle was my home when I missed my little town in Maine. Kyle was my family when I missed the support of my brother, sister, mom and dad. I’m so grateful to have Kyle by my side in our travels and for the incredible experiences we’ve had that I will never forget.