It is Really Happening!!

The realization that I was actually going to be doing Kroka hit about twenty times while I was visiting at the end of April.  I would look at the other kids and imagine us in the jungle, walking into an indigenous village or looking out from the top of Cotopaxi and a blossom of excitement would burst through me.  In three months I will be beginning the incredible journey that I have been preparing for for so long.  THREE MONTHS!!!  It feels like forever and nothing at the same time.

Visiting Kroka was even better then I had imagined.  The farm, the instructors and the 8 other kids who could make it were all awesome.  We slept in sod cottages which were small but beautifully made with windows and little wood stoves.  It was cool to look around at all the different yurts, cottages and buildings that had all been built with the help of Kroka students over the years.  I hope our semester gets to work on a fun project that will make Kroka an even more amazing place.  Just being there for a weekend our group dug 6 new blueberry beds and planted 24 maple trees which will last for many years.

The more I learn about Kroka the more amazing it seems.  When I decided that I was going to go, most of what I knew about the Semester was simply the adventure of traveling to another country and exploring the extreme climates of glaciers, rivers and rain forests.  Then I learned more about the cultural and craft side, how we were going to be visiting indigenous tribes and learning about their crafts and traditions.  Besides the culture and adventure this will be a serious high school semester with science, history, art, music, theater.  There will even be contradancing!  

The more stories I hear about the Ecuador Semester the more excited I get.  Lisl and Mathias told us so many things that aren't advertised on their website and they are keeping so much more secret so that we don't have too many expectations when we get there.

When I step off the plane and into the Ecuadorian air it will be an amazing moment because of the hundreds of hours of work and labor, and all the donations and support that will have made it possible.  I can't wait for that moment.

Clayton