Gen Z Amazon Explorer

Unstuck, Empowered, and Inspired: Your story begins here

Get The Award for this trip!

An empowering wellness adventure that helps Gen Z grow into the young leaders of a sustainable future.

Join us for a one-of-a-kind adventure where we will explore Ecuador, one of the most naturally and culturally diverse nations on Earth. Whether it’s eating hand-made empanadas in the bustling artisanal markets of Quito or learning farming and crafting traditions from the Quechua people, whether it’s hiking the towering Andes or rafting through the mighty Amazon Rainforest, each of us will encounter perspectives, experiences, and people that will change our lives. Sights you’ve never seen, flavours you’ve never tasted, music you’ve never heard; all of this and more awaits in Ecuador!

DATES
June 25–July 9, 2025

AGES
18–25 (co-ed)

LOCATIONS
Quito (Ecuadorian capital), Otavalo (largest Indigenous settlement in Ecuador), Cuicocha (lagoon), Cochasqui (archaeological site), Cayambe (volcano), Cotopaxi, Napa River region.

PRICES (CAD)
Regular price: $5799.00 + GST
(contact us to learn about our subsidies)

Non-refundable deposit: $1000
*Prices do not include flights to and from Ecuador

Includes:
– Pre-course check-in (zoom conference with attendees)
–  Direct contact with our Duke of Edinburgh Award Centre
– 24/7 instruction & support by Fireside staff and VCAWC therapists
– Most meals
– All accommodation (eco-lodge, cabins, homestay)
– Private ground transportation
– Flight coordination (flight not included) for Ecuador
– Admission into all parks
– Cotopaxi horseback riding experience
– Amazon river rafting experience
– Tree planting, organic farming, and artisan workshops and volunteer experiences

Does not include: Flights to and from Ecuador, anything not mentioned above.

More info: office@firesideadventures.ca

Our commitment to Gen Z

When young people talk, we listen.

At Fireside and VCAW, we hear it again and again: Gen Z doesn’t want a meaningless, touristy holiday where fun comes at the cost of local people and ecosystems. That’s why our Gen Z adventures are designed to be authentic, community-based travel experiences that are socially and environmentally conscious —aligning with what Gen Z travellers value most.

Here are just a few ways that Fireside instructors and VCAW therapists work together to create wellness adventures that align with Gen Z’s values:

• Personal Growth through Adventure: There is no catalyst for self-discovery like an adventure. As we journey from the Amazon to the Andes, we’ll share in outdoor skill-building, leadership training, and self-discovery practices. You’ll return home not just with incredible memories but with a new sense of confidence, resilience, and purpose.

• Supported Self-transformation: This journey is guided by Jeff ‘Willy’ Willis, founder of Fireside Adventures, and Matty Devenish, co-founder of Vancouver Counselling and Wellness Centre. Willy and Matty will use their combined decades of experience to support participants in embracing the adventure, reframing challenges, and envisioning their next chapter with clarity and hope.

• Authentic Connection: Join like-minded young adults from around the world as you undertake this adventure together, forming bonds that won’t end when you go home. You’ll also connect with the Indigenous Cotacachi people through an extended homestay, learning their language, traditions, and way of life while discovering the importance of community and shared stories. You’ll start as a visitor and leave as a welcome guest and familiar friend.

• Make an Impact: Join hands with local Indigenous communities to protect the environment through reforestation and organic farming projects, all while deepening your understanding of climate change through the Fireside World Bound Climate Change Curriculum.

• Access to Post-trip Community: Part of this journey is making sure that self-discovery carries forward into your life at home. When you return, you’ll stay connected with both Fireside Adventures and VCAW. Whether it’s additional counselling, Fireside’s Youth Centre program and internship opportunities, or further counselling with VCAW, we will be there to support you even after the adventure ends.

“Our people are protecting everyone on the planet when we protect our territories” — Unnamed Ecuadorian Indigenous Leader

You won’t want to miss these experiences

Together with our Indigenous partner Equator Face, and other partners such Huasquila Eco-Lodge, we will explore and discover the wonders of Ecuador. Here are just a few adventures we’ll have along the way:

• Explore the Amazon Rainforest, travel along peaceful rivers, bathe under glittering waterfalls, and hike the Ecuadorian highlands! All while surrounded by monkeys, manatees, sloths, and so much more!

• Ride through the Andean highlands on horseback, taking in epic views of jagged peaks and volcanoes while learning about this unique and awe-inspiring ecosystem.

• Meet face-to-face with the wildlife of a unique ecosystem that may not live to see 2030 due to loss of habitat from climate change and deforestation. Then, deepen your understanding of these organisms’ environmental and cultural significance from experts and Indigenous knowledge keepers.

• Learn traditional cooking, crafting, and even hunting skills from Indigenous Amazonian knowledge-keepers.

• Travel back in time as we begin the adventure in Quito - inhabited by kingdoms and empires for 10,000 years.

Our Pioneering World Bound Climate Change Curriculum 

While this experience is not a World Bound expedition, we won’t be avoiding the conversation going on - both in Ecuador and at home - about climate change. This conversation will be informed by our World Bound Climate Change Curriculum, which we have run successfully in Japan, Ecuador, Italy, and the Yukon.

Don’t worry, we aren’t going to bombard you with dark and gloomy discussions of a climate change apocalypse. And no, we aren’t going to give you fluffy affirmations and take you on a journey of false hope. We certainly aren’t going to bore you with international policies that have no relevance to reality. What we’re going to do is give you what you want and need: meaningful skill-building and leadership training from outdoor leaders and Indigenous educators that will truly prepare you for real, hands-on climate activism.

We do this through our World Bound Curriculum, a set of place-based, outdoor-oriented educational modules that will inform this expedition. This curriculum is driven by our five World Bound Pillars, described below. For more detailed information about the curriculum, please visit our World Bound Curriculum page.