Live * Study * Connect * Protect * Grow
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Live * Study * Connect * Protect * Grow *
Cloud Forest Institute in Mindo, Ecuador
Where education meets adventure, and conservation begins with connection.
Are you a student, worldschooler, gap year traveler, or school group seeking...
A wildly beautiful place to live and learn?
A community of co-learners, creators, and changemakers?
An education rooted in real ecosystems, real cultures, and real impact?
Welcome to Cloud Forest Institute—a living classroom in the heart of the Andean Chocó cloud forest.
Education
Conservation
Community
At Cloud Forest Institute, we believe the future will be built by those who choose to live differently—closer to the Earth, and closer to each other. In the cloud forests of Mindo, Ecuador, our programs forge deep connections: to the land, to community, and to your own untapped potential. The future is calling. Step into the forest—and help shape what comes next.
Education
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Our curriculum is grounded in the local ecology and global relevance of the Andean Chocó bioregion. With flexible, customizable modules, we design individualized learning experiences that support each student’s interests, goals, and stage of growth.
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We specialize in custom travel courses for high school and university groups. Collaborate with us to design:
Field-based curriculum aligned with your academic goals
Student support services including logistics, housing, translation & facilitation
Service learning, language learning and cultural exchange
Expert talks, ecological excursions, and place-based immersion
Let us host your next study abroad, outdoor semester, or cross-cultural intensive in one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
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Key Learning Tracks:
Bioregional Ecology of the Andean Chocó – A place-based curriculum exploring watersheds, wildlife, forest dynamics, and human-nature relationships.
Immersive Service Learning – Spanish Language & Cultural Immersion, Afro-Ecuadorian and Indigenous Perspectives, Environmental Monitoring and Regeneration, Environmental Justice
Personal Wellness & Resilience – Daily movement and mind-body practices plus tools for emotional health, creative exploration, embodiment, and balance.
Sustainable Living & Earth Skills – Tropical Permaculture Design, Food Forests & Agroecology, Natural Building with Bamboo & Earth, Off-Grid Living & Appropriate Technologies.
Intentional Community Development – From visioning and governance to economics and cultural integration—learn how to form, organize, and grow regenerative communities.
Custom-designed programs are available for schools, universities, worldschoolers and gap year students.
Conservation
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Our conservation work is rooted in reciprocal relationships with local stewards and ecosystems. We leverage funding and build partnerships to protect, regenerate, and reforest the Chocó Andino cloud forest region.
We collaborate with:
Local landowners and farmers to restore degraded land
Indigenous and rural communities for knowledge exchange and co-management
Visiting students and volunteers to participate in hands-on conservation efforts
Every student, traveler, and community member contributes to the living ecology of the place—not just as learners, but as guardians of its future.
Community
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Mindo: A Growing Eco-Conscious Community
Mindo is not an “eco-village” in the strictest sense, nor is it an intentional community” by formal definition. It is a real town—vibrant, diverse, growing—nestled in one of the most biologically rich regions on Earth: the Andean Chocó cloud forest.
With tourism, conservation, and sustainable living at the heart of its local economy, Mindo’s character is distinctly eco-focused.
Even as development pressures increase, a strong environmental ethic runs through the community. Many residents are committed to preserving the natural beauty, cultural traditions, and ecological integrity of the region.
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At the gateway to the Andean Chocó—a global biodiversity hotspot—you’ll find Mindo: a vibrant, walkable town where waterfalls, cloud forest trails, colorful birds, and artisan chocolate create a daily sense of wonder.
Mindo is home to over 500 species of birds, including the famous Cock-of-the-Rock, and hosts one of the world's largest bird-watching competitions each year. Beyond birds, the town boasts orchid gardens, butterfly farms, and homemade chocolate tours—all nestled within misty, enchanted forests.
Cloud Forest Institute has partnered with the Mindo community for over 30 years, cultivating trusted relationships that help make this village a safe, welcoming, and inspiring place for students and lifelong learners alike. With easy access to Quito’s international airport, healthcare, and countless opportunities for discovery and service, Mindo is the perfect place to live, learn, and explore the magic of the cloud forest.
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At Cloud Forest Institute, we believe that learning should leave a positive footprint.
That's why our student services—lodging, guiding, transportation, meals, and experiences—are contracted directly with long-time local residents and their family businesses.
Rather than relying on short-term mass tourism models, we work to strengthen the fabric of Mindo’s community by channeling student-driven economic activity into partnerships that are extended, sustainable, fair, and regenerative.
By choosing heritage local providers, we help to create lasting economic benefits for the people who have stewarded this land for generations.
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While Mindo itself grows organically as a town, our learning community is intentional in both philosophy and practice.
Students and visiting educators are introduced to principles of intentional community development—cooperation, shared stewardship, ecological mindfulness, and social responsibility.
Through service learning, skill-building, and immersive study, we explore together how these practices can support healthier, happier, more resilient communities.
In sharing these methodologies, we aim to contribute seeds of collaboration and ecological sensitivity that can enrich the future development of Mindo and other places our students go on to serve.
Our hope is that through conscious participation, we not only learn from Mindo—we help strengthen what makes it extraordinary.
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Cloud Forest Institute acknowledges with deep respect the sovereignty, ancestral wisdom, and enduring cultural presence of the Indigenous peoples of the Andean Chocó bioregion and the broader Ecuadorian landscape. We recognize that our work takes place on territories that have been stewarded through generations of reciprocal relationship with the land, its waters, and all living beings.
As an international community of learners, educators, and practitioners, we are committed to fostering environments of shared inquiry and intercultural exchange that do not appropriate, reinterpret, or commodify Indigenous ritual, ceremonial, or spiritual traditions. We affirm that these traditions remain the intellectual, spiritual, and cultural property of the communities from which they originate.
Any inclusion of cultural knowledge, practices, or ceremonies in Cloud Forest Institute programming is conducted in direct partnership with Indigenous individuals, elders, or community leaders, who serve as facilitators, teachers, or collaborators. In these cases, our role is to provide a respectful platform for cultural expression and dialogue, with explicit consent, appropriate attribution, and fair compensation. These partnerships are based on long-term relationship-building, mutual benefit, and cultural sovereignty.
Cloud Forest Institute’s educational philosophy is rooted in the belief that ancestral knowledge and contemporary innovation must work in concert to address the complex challenges of our time. We strive to elevate Indigenous voices as essential to global sustainability, and to ensure that all participants in our programs engage with cultural traditions in ways that are informed, ethical, and relational.
This commitment is foundational to our mission and will be reflected in all program design, communications, and institutional partnerships.
Building Cultural Bridges: Welcoming a New Chapter of Learning in Summer 2025
We are thrilled to announce the Cultural Bridges Program, launching in Summer 2025 in proud partnership with Bridge Charter Academy!
After a 9 year hiatus from leading service-learning and ecological immersion experiences in Ecuador, we couldn’t be more excited to welcome a new generation of students ready to connect across cultures, languages, and landscapes.
The Cultural Bridges Program invites students to step out of the classroom and into the vibrant life of Mindo, Ecuador—gateway to the Andean Chocó Cloud Forest. Here, learning won’t be confined to textbooks: Spanish language skills will come alive through everyday conversation, hands will get muddy planting in community gardens, and hearts will open to the rhythms of cloud forest life.
This program represents the heart of what Cloud Forest Institute stands for:
Building real relationships. Practicing service grounded in respect. Learning by doing. Growing by giving.
Together with Bridge Charter Academy, we've designed a transformative field experience where students will:
Immerse themselves in Spanish through service projects and cultural exchange
Participate in ecological stewardship, contributing directly to community conservation efforts
Experience daily life in an Ecuadorian cloud forest town known for its biodiversity, hospitality, and creativity
Develop a Learning Portfolio, documenting their reflections, growth, and Spanish language practice
The Cultural Bridges Program is more than a travel opportunity—it’s a chance for young people to become global citizens, to deepen their sense of connection to the planet and to one another.
In a world that feels increasingly divided, we believe that building bridges—not walls—is the path forward. This program plants the seeds of empathy, curiosity, and courage in the leaders of tomorrow.
We can’t wait to share this journey with our first cohort of Bridge students—and we are just getting started. 🌎🌿
Stay tuned for updates, photos, and stories from the cloud forest as the Cultural Bridges Program unfolds.
The adventure of a lifetime awaits. And the first step starts here.