The Galapagos Islands: A once in a lifetime exerince I would highly reccomend!

Before my trip I was nervous, but by the first full day, I was so glad I went! My group connected quickly, and we all built our teamwork skills early on when we worked at Rancho Primicias and helped clear land for Giant Tortoises. We painted a mural at a school, which turned into a bit of a paint war, learned salsa from some very patient and kind professionals (we then proceeded to break out into salsa dancing every spare minute we got), and snorkeled with sea lions! Our guide Wilson taught us to dive for sand dollars and toss them to the sea lions, who would then play with them and balance them on their noses! In the evenings we did leadership activities, and had a mock debate about a real issue in the islands, and often broke into smaller groups to have meaningful discussions led by our mentors. The downsides for me were that I felt some social exhaustion from being around so many people all day every day, doing activities without many breaks, and I didn't like a lot of the food. There's only one option, so if you don't like it, that's it. I brought some snacks from home, so that helped, and the mentors did a check-in after the first week where we could put in any requests we had. However, what they can do is limited. Be ready to try lots of new foods and eat them even if you don't like them. Despite and also because of these issues, I feel that I grew as a person, a friend, and a leader. Several months later I am still in touch with my roommates from the trip, and will always remember the meaningful lessons from my mentors, who were incredibly supportive and welcoming.