Hello! I'm actually writing on behalf of my 18 year old son who is currently taking a gap year, living with a host family in Guayaquil and volunteering at a community based art and music school called Clave de Sur. He has been there since August '23 and will return back to the US in July '24 to attend college (we live in Philadelphia). He has had a good experience living with a lovely family. However, the neighborhood has many safety concerns, even before the recent unrest. His host family is, thankfully, very protective and he's basically advised not to go anywhere on his own. But that means he is he is fairly isolated and his social opportunities are limited.
We are trying to help him find some additional opportunities. He has pretty strong Spanish fluency and he's a very friendly person who gets along with most anyone and isn't afraid to try new things. The host family owns a motorbike, but is not wealthy. He has used Uber to get different places, but has limited resources and feels bad constantly asking his Ecuadorian family and friends to accompany him. He is an avid fisherman and brought some gear with him to Ecuador but hasn't had opportunity to do much fishing. He is also very into rock climbing and music and pretty much up for anything.
Forgive me if this isn't the right forum for this kind of thing, but I'm writing to see if anyone has any good advice for things he could safely do to have fun, meet new people and have new experiences in Ecuador, particularly within range of where he is living in Guasmo Sur, Guayaquil. Thanks for any suggestions!
