The community of Estero de Platano is situated on the cabo San Francisco in the province of Esmeraldas in north-west Ecuador. The village lies in a beauiful bay in one of the last remaining areas where the original rain forest stretches down to the sea. It is about an 8 hour journey from Quito.

The community lives from small plots of yucca, maize, plantain, cacao and coffee, cultivated in the jungle and fishing. The area offshore has recently been created as a marine reserve, but there is a long way to go before this becomes a reality.

There is a local school with 120 children right beside the sea, and a small health subcenter staffed by a regular doctor and a nurse.

Yanapuma is just starting to work with the Estero de Platano in 2008. Our current projects are:

• Helping to develop tourism, working with a group of families who initially are hosting visitors in their own homes. We aim to help them develop various touristic activities around the ocean, beach and jungle.
• Waste management and recycling: We are working to set up a recycling project in the community and to educate children about these issues. There is some movement in the local municipality to work on waste and recycling. It is relatively easy to set up a project in the community, but if there is no way of removing the collected material the whole project will fail.
• Legalization: We are helping two local groups, involved in tourism and in the production of crafts, to become legal entities in order to comply with state regulations which are complex and not designed for taking into account the limitations of people in isolated rural locations with minimal education.
• Health promotion: We are in contact with the local doctor and nurse to help with suitably qualified individuals who can work with local families and in the school on health, hygiene, nutrition, etc.
• Spanish classes: In order to encourage tourism in Estero de Platano we have made it a destination for our "traveling classroom" with the option to spend a week or more studying Spanish in this beautiful location.

Volunteering/Cultural Exchange Opportunities

Long-term volunteers are welcome to teach English and help out in the local school, and those with appropriate experience to help in the medical center with health promotion, screening, etc. As we start to expand our work there we also need researchers to gather basic information about the community and others to help in the areas of agriculture, sanitation, water, etc.

Estero de Platano is a great place to take part in our Cultural Exchange program. Visitors are welcome to spend a week or more with the community, experiencing their very laid-back lifestyle, and exploring the beach, jungle and ocean.

Click here  for general Volunteer Information

Click here to read our Norms of Conduct for visiting an indigenous community