Our month on the beach in San Jose, Ecuador with ten other families was one of the best times we have had traveling. It was not what we expected, but it was magical.
We booked the trip through a company that over-promised, under-delivered. Luckily, the groups of families attending the meetup are amazing. All the families stepped up to create a fun and engaging worldschooling program. It was more work than any of us anticipated, but maybe that made it more fulfilling. We made friendships that will last.
Our friend Tonja took charge and created round table discussions for adults and kids. Other parents organized soccer games on the nearby soccer field with local kids. Michael bought a slip and slide. We also helped each other figure out meals, laundry, taxis, shopping, etc. we all bonded during the month.
The brochure for this meetup looked better than what we received. There was no communication leading up to the meetup. Michael created a survey for the families to fill out to get to know each other before arriving. There was no formal welcome.
We were promised good internet and working space for parents. There was no dedicated working space. Many of us had to buy Claro cards because the internet could barely support web surfing. The internet was not adequate for working, and most families work while traveling.
One of our hosts also gave us trouble about using the communal kitchen promised to us in the advertisement for the trip. She wanted it only open between certain hours in the day. It made it stressful for parents to make sure they could feed their kids when they were hungry. Our hosts did not understand that worldschoolers cannot afford and do not want to eat every meal at a restaurant.
Two weeks into the trip one of the host families left without saying a word. They packed up their bags and drove away. We later got a Facebook messenger communication stating the reasons for their leaving, but it could have been handled better. We never heard from them again.
The hosts tried to tell us we owed more money to pay a service charge included in the contract with the hotel. We already paid it in our fee for the trip. When we confronted them about it, they lied straight to our faces. It is bizarre how poorly this trip was thrown together.
The company that created the worldschool meetup did arrange Spanish classes, surf lessons, and some cultural activities. The chaos surrounding those activities was annoying. Schedules changed without notice, no details were given about immersion activities until they were happening. We had to book Lucas and Henry’s surf lesson for the first two weeks because of a lack of communication.
The saving grace for what was planned is that the teachers and presenters for those activities were great. Our Spanish teachers from Outdoor Ecuador Spanish and Surf School kept classes fun and interesting. The surf instructions are great with kids. The hosteria staff is kind and hardworking. The manager, Morena, always had a smile on her face. We are thankful for their hard work to make our stay memorable.
One day a local craftsman showed the group how to make Tagua necklaces. Tagua is a nut from a palm tree. The kids learned how to sand, buff, polish and etch the nut. Lucas and Henry have cool necklaces from that demonstration. The other cultural immersion activities were weaving, music and cooking.
Other than those activities, we barely saw the hosts. They made little effort to hang out with us or help us plan anything else (there was a lot of downtime). When we voiced our concerns, our hosts became defensive and told us we should be grateful for what they were doing.
The company should not bill themselves as worldschooling trip organizers. They do not know the first thing about what a worldschooler is or what worldschoolers expect out of their travels. I hope they will learn from their failure, but I doubt they will.
Sometimes things don’t work out the way you thought they would. Our time on the beach in Ecuador was not how we envisioned it. It ended up being phenomenal because of the families that attended. We made strong bonds with them, and we already have plans to see many of them again.
We also fell in love with another dog. He showed up one day out of the blue, and he was blue, so we called him Blueberry. All of the families adopted him for the month. He ended up getting adopted by an Ecuadorian family at the end of our stay. We will always remember our pal Blueberry.
We will be hesitant about signing up for any other worldschool events, but we are excited to try to make our own, more informal worldschool meetups happen. Our experience at this meetup has energized us about the possibilities ahead of us on our world schooling journey.
