Biology majors with a knowledge of Spanish can study Spanish language, Ecuadorian culture, the natural history of Ecuador, and the ecology and environmental biology of the rainforest in the Ecuador program. Students travel to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and begin where they study with students in Beloit’s Spanish Program (www.beloit.edu/~oie/studyabroad/ecuador/index.htm) at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (www.puce.edu.ec), then spend two months in the rainforest at Reserva Biológica de Jatun Sacha (www.jatunsacha.org)and visit the Galapagos Islands.

The Jatun Sacha Biological Reserve was founded in 1986 out of the need to have a conservation, investigation and education center to host scientists and students interested in the tropical rainforests. It is located on the southern bank of the Upper Napo River, 450 meters above sea level. The station includes a reserve of 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of which 80% is primary tropical wet forest and the remainder is secondary growth. It is one of the most diverse areas of the world.