Yelith's internship at Adore Ecuador Travel

My name is Yelith and I was an intern at Adore Ecuador Travel from August 2019 until January 2020. I spent about 5 months in the office and ended my internship promoting Ecuador during the week-long holiday fair Vakantiebeurs 2020 in The Netherlands. It was a pleasure working with the 4 amazing Adore Ecuador Travel colleagues and living in the capital of Ecuador. Now that my internship has come to an end, I would love to share my stories with you about my time in South-America.

Working at Adore Ecuador Travel

Since Adore Ecuador Travel is founded by Margot and Anouk— both of whom are Dutch— it was very appealing to me to go to the other side of the world, for the first time. What I really liked at the beginning, were the Spanish classes that Adore Ecuador Travel provided for me. This way I was able to learn the language and get to know the locals a little bit more, before I started working in the office. From the first moment on, the work atmosphere was really good and everyone welcomed me with open arms. I didn’t feel like I was the new one at the office. At work almost everyone speaks Spanish, English, and Dutch of course. Because of an Ecuadorian colleague, who only speaks Spanish, we tried more often to only speak Spanish with each other. This was actually a great way to practice and improve my Spanish which is something you really need in Ecuador. I also continued with Spanish classes with my teacher Luz.

Even though working in an office was new to me and I needed to get used to it for a while, I really liked my job. This because Margot and Anouk gave me so much freedom when it comes to planning your own to-do list throughout the week. Also because they are truly open for new ideas and receiving feedback from there colleagues. When you have new ideas or improvements, they always will give you an honest opinion about this.

I really liked the diversity of the job and the things I was allowed to do. Not a day has gone by where I had nothing to. For example, I worked on the different social media platforms, made reservations with providers, sent emails to clients and I worked on the website. During my internship I found out that communicating with clients through e-mail was not my strongest skill. Luckily there was always someone who could help me with this. The thing I liked the most was helping optimize the website for a better reach for potential new clients. This was and is something that needs to be improved more. I also loved to help my colleagues with the sales, not always by keeping contact with clients but also with all the other things that need to be done in order to continue the sales process.

Home in Quito

Before I came to Ecuador, Margot gave me some options about long-term accommodations and host families in Quito. Because I wanted to live with more students from abroad and close to my work I chose to stay in the St. Gallen Haus student house. During my 5 months in Ecuador I lived with 9 other international students in this big house near the office. The house is actually a hostel for long-term stays and it’s only 20 minutes walking distance from Parque Carolina, where the office of Adore Ecuador Travel is located.

It’s also located in a really nice part in the north of Quito, a little higher up on the mountain than our office, which means it has an incredible view. The rooftop of the house was definitely one of my favorite spots, especially when it was sunny outside. In the weekends in which we didn’t travel, my roomies and I would chill on the rooftop and enjoy the sun, trying to get tanned or in some cases sunburned. You shouldn’t underestimate the sun here on the equator! A lot of places are really close by and you can do it all by foot, if not taking an Uber or taxi is not expensive at all.

At night we often went to Plaza Foch, located between the Carolina Park area and the historical center. Here you can find plenty of bars and clubs where you can enjoy nightlife with friends. Bungalow 6 is a bar/club where a lot of international students and tourists from all over the world go for a dance. This place is great if you want to meet locals who can speak English or other foreigners like myself who work or travel around Ecuador. In the historical center you will find much more old buildings and locals selling food on the streets, which gives an authentic feel of the city.

Traveling in Ecuador

Because of my work I was only able to travel around in the weekends. Luckily, Ecuador has many feriados which are national (or local) holidays. Even if a holiday falls on a day in the weekend you will get one extra day of during the week. This meant I was able to travel to places that were too far away for only 2 days’ time. Like I described before, Margot and Anouk are really great to work with. If you discuss your plans for traveling around in advance they are super flexible to give you some extra days off. This is the reason I could make my greatest wish come true, which was to go to Colombia someday. I am still very grateful I could go here.

Since I have been to the Amazon – which was my favorite trip— I recommend you to visit this amazing place as well. At first I didn’t really want to go, but when some people told me about their experience in the jungle I changed my mind. If you want to read more about my trip to the jungle, go and read my other blog about Cuyabeno!

Besides the jungle, I also went to the Cotopaxi volcano, Quilotoa lake, Baños, Mindo, the coast and Otavalo. These are all places you want to see when you are traveling around Ecuador. Every place is so different from each other but all very beautiful. If you are looking for an internship with a lot of opportunities to develop yourself, challenges and travel possibilities in an beautiful country, this is definitely the one you are looking for!

Written by: Yelith