I went on the 3 month trip to Ecuador and Peru with the Galapagos add on in January-March 2018. I had the most amazing time on my gap year and would definitely recommend. The people on my trip were amazing company (13 of us doing the whole 3 months) and the camp leaders were always so welcoming and friendly. The food there was surprisingly always fantastic- shout out to the local chefs Theo and Sonya! The projects we worked at were always varied and we felt we were being useful at all times (projects included: building church benches, painting the playground, cementing the health centre, digging septic tanks, creating a medicinal garden, building a greenhouse, chalking and meshing Adobe walls and teaching). The Maestroes in Ecuador were particularly friendly and would teach us their techniques for cementing, plastering, painting and grouting. Teaching the school kids in Peru was also very fun. This programme is amazing as all the camps in Ecuador (we went to 4) are really nice and all the camps in Peru (went to 3) have amazing views. You also get to visit local towns and cities between camps so you really have the opportunity to explore and get to know the country. This gap year programme is great because you get a lot more freedom than the school trips I imagine. The galapagos add on was great as we got to snorkel with sharks, turtles, sea lions, rays and see the marine iguanas and tortoises. I highly recommend this add on despite the extra expense. Of course the salkantay trek at the end to see Machu Picchu was equally as amazing and definitely one of the many highlights of the trip. This trip was during the rainy season which meant that Ecuador was hot and humid but Peru was dryer. Both countries had heavy rainfall during certain times of the day. However this meant the countries were lush and beautiful. I would recommend doing the trip for the whole 3 months. A lot of people who came with us for 2 weeks to 2 months ended up extending their trip once they were there anyway. There are things you might need to get used to like the bugs (BRING MOSQUITO REPELLENT PLEASE), camping, toilets and weather but you will soon get used to all of this. By the end of the trip no one was scared of spiders anymore! My only regret was that the 4/5 month trip including Costa Rica and Nicaragua was not yet available for me to go on. So please consider this programme and happy travels!! 💗