Guild Expeditions

Go farther than you expected.

Give more than you thought you could. Return with a different perspective.

The journey

There are easier vacations. This isn’t one of them.

Getting to Verde Sumaco is part of the point. You leave the office, then the city, then the road, then cell service. By the time you arrive, everyone has left their titles somewhere back on the bus.

01
The busOut of the city and down from the Andes.
02
The rickshawA rough, bouncing ride to the river’s edge.
03
The canoeHours upriver, sometimes through heavy rain.
04
No signalFor the next few days, the only thing on your calendar is the work in front of you.

“Four hours on a boat, like, what in the heck?”
Mark Mabey · Expedition participant

Canoes on a brown river in the rain, seen from above

Volunteers in rain gear loading into a long canoe

Participants taking a photo from the canoe

City lights through the airplane window at night — 01Fly in by night

Landing on a small regional airstrip — 02A regional airstrip

Clouds settled between the peaks of the Andes — 03Over the Andes

A dirt road through the jungle seen from the front seat — 04The dirt road

A rickshaw driver on his motorcycle cab — 05The rickshaw

A boatman poling the canoe through the river current — 06Then the river

By design

Hard to reach, on purpose.

“It needs to be difficult to get to, and it needs to have no cell phone service.”
Chad Booth · Guild Expeditions program manager

The community

Where Ecuador’s Andes meet the Amazon.

About 300 people live in Verde Sumaco, without electricity and hours from the nearest city. It is a community with its own language, dances, crafts and traditions, and its own plans for the future. Guild teams come as guests and as coworkers.

Verde Sumaco village surrounded by rainforest, seen from above

An elder of Verde Sumaco with traditional face paint

An elder of Verde Sumaco lit by afternoon sun

“Verde Sumaco, it’s a chapter in my life… I have friends, and I love this place.”
Sixto Tuston · Community partner, Ecuador

~300people living in Verde Sumaco

~4 hrsby canoe, after the bus and the rickshaw

11expeditions to Verde Sumaco

450+people who have made an expedition like this one

A river winding through unbroken rainforest — Rainforest, as far as you can see

Verde Sumaco from directly above, beside the river — The village, from above

Homes tucked into the forest above the river — Homes at the forest’s edge

The community gathered under the covered court

A mother carrying her baby in a pink sling

Guild volunteers walking through Verde Sumaco to the job sites — Heading out to the job sites

Wide aerial of Verde Sumaco surrounded by dense brush — Verde Sumaco, in the brush

The kids

A young boy of Verde Sumaco looking into the camera

A girl making a bead bracelet with a volunteer

A smiling girl in a traditional beaded collar

A Guild volunteer laughing as a girl hugs her

The same girl, grinning, with a toy bubble wand

Two girls posing beside a volunteer in a Guild Expeditions shirt

A Guild volunteer pointing beneath the Ecuadorian flag

“I saw young women… who were excited to help us work.”
Nora Guerra · National SVP, Community Lending

“The kids… have a special place in my heart.”
Lauren Vogas · Regional Salesforce Consultant

A volunteer having his face painted in the village — A welcome in red face paint

The work

Here, even the concrete comes by river.

Cement arrives by canoe. Villagers, new hires and vice presidents form one line from the riverbank up the hill and pass it hand to hand. Nobody asks who outranks whom.

Villagers and Guild volunteers passing buckets up a hillside — The bucket brigade, from the river up the hill

Cement arriving by canoe — Cement, delivered by canoe

Mixing concrete beside the medical center

Volunteers walking the concrete path to the work sites

The bucket brigade

A long line of villagers and volunteers passing buckets of concrete down the hillside — Concrete, passed hand to hand

Three women of Verde Sumaco laughing as they pass a bucket of concrete

“I pushed a wheelbarrow, full of cement… I was completely out of my comfort zone.”
Nora Guerra · National SVP, Community Lending

The medical center

Volunteers laying the foundation beside the medical center

Volunteers and villagers digging and leveling beside the medical center

Villagers and volunteers loading the concrete mixer

Volunteers shoveling sand into the mixer

A volunteer in a Guild Expeditions shirt at the mixer

Built by earlier expeditions

Aerial view of Verde Sumaco with the covered stadium Guild built and other buildings — The covered stadium Guild built, and the buildings around it

Health

The medical center

A shaded place to wait and be seen. Volunteers poured foundation and floors, painted walls and hauled material so a visiting doctor can come more often.

Opportunity

The women’s center

Before, the women of the village had no shared space of their own. Now they have a place to gather, teach their dances and crafts, and support one another.

Water

Where there’s water, there’s life

Clean water is a basic need. Verde Sumaco’s old water source was contaminated, and families had no clean water to drink or wash with. Now they have it: earlier expeditions helped build a cistern system, plus school bathrooms, drainage, canoe ramps and river stairs.

“Water is life, and everyone needs good life.” — Sixto Tuston

Community-led

“It’s our responsibility to continue, because it’s our project.”
Sixto Tuston · Community partner, Ecuador

Guild assists. The community decides what gets built and keeps building after the canoes leave. In Chad Booth’s words: “We want to give them the tools… that they need to be self sufficient.”

For executives, VPs & managers

Why leaders pay their own way.

Expeditions are participant-funded. Nobody is sent; everyone chooses to spend their own money, vacation days and comfort. The leaders who have gone describe the return in practical terms.

See talent the office never shows you

You watch people handle heat, rain, hard labor and the unfamiliar, and you see who steps up.

“I was able to identify their leadership skills from this trip.”
Nora Guerra · National SVP, Community Lending

Get time with leaders, and give it

When everyone lives under the same conditions, conversations happen that would never fit on an office calendar.

“It’s a fun, even playing field to get to know executives.” She came home having committed to four young women to become a future mentor for them.
Nora Guerra · National SVP, Community Lending

Build a national network of real friends

Loan officers, operations, sales and leadership from across the country, bonded by the same canoe ride.

“Not, I’ve got a coworker… I got a buddy. We went to Ecuador together.”
Chad Booth · on client referrals across markets

An investment, not an expense

Being stretched outside your comfort zone makes you a more empathetic leader when you get back to work.

“I am so proud of the money I spent.”
Nora Guerra · National SVP, Community Lending

Guild volunteers working the cement mixer beside a stack of cement bags

What your team sees

“She brings the tide in, and she’s raising every boat in the harbor.”
Mark Mabey · on traveling with SVP Nora Guerra

When a leader shovels sand, pushes a wheelbarrow of cement and sleeps in the same camp, employees notice. Nora Guerra: “I had so many planning meetings while we were mixing cement.”

I want to lead from the field

Hear from a participant

In their own words.

Five people who were there. Tap a card to hear them tell it.

Nora Guerra

National SVP, Community Lending

I feel like I left a piece of my heart at that village.

Chad Booth

Program manager · 15 Ecuador expeditions

The value is so much greater than any sacrifice you’ve made to do this.

Lauren Vogas

Regional Salesforce Consultant

I didn’t realize the level of humility I was going to receive.

Mark Mabey

Participant · traveled with his daughter

This experience will last forever.

Sixto Tuston

Community partner, Ecuador

If the ladies are empowered, they can change the village.

What you’ll remember

Not the bus ride. The people.

“You’ll never even mention the bus ride or the heat… You’ll talk about how much fun you had.” — Chad Booth

The honest cost

It will ask something of you.

Nobody pretends this is easy. You pay your own way, and someone at home or at work covers for you while you’re gone.

Your own money
Your vacation time
Long travel days
Rain, heat and insects
Basic accommodations
Hard physical labor
No cell service
Time away from family and work

“There are a million more reasons why you should go.”
Lauren Vogas · Regional Salesforce Consultant

Is it worth it?

“The value is so much greater than any sacrifice you’ve made to do this.”

Chad Booth · Guild Expeditions program manager

“The things that a lot of people fear aren’t based in reality. They’re based in Hollywood.”Chad Booth

“You’re not gonna be left stranded. The group is gonna look out for you.”Mark Mabey

“I was really scared… it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”Nora Guerra

“It’s just a spider. Let go, live.”Lauren Vogas

Off the clock

Gold in the river. Jenga after dinner.

Base camp is where everyone lives for the week: shared meals, long talks, and a Jenga tower that grows every night. One day is set aside for the river and the gold pans.

Base camp

Gold-panning day

Volunteers wading into the river with gold pans — Gold-panning day on the river

The group climbing out of a long canoe at the riverbank

A canoe poled across the river beneath the trees

Evenings

Sixto Tuston laughing beside a towering Jenga stack — Sixto, our local guide, at the Jenga tower

Local guides and Guild crew crowded around the Jenga tower — Guides and Guild crew

Volunteers serving themselves dinner at base camp — The base camp cafeteria

Chad Booth talking with the group under the shelter — Chad Booth, program manager

“It’s a new friends. It’s like a family.”
Sixto Tuston · Community partner, Ecuador

“I got to experience the Amazon jungle, and then now… we’re in this amazing lodge.”
Nora Guerra · National SVP, Community Lending

What changes

The work stays with the community. The experience stays with you.

For the community

InfrastructureClean water, a medical center, a women’s center
OpportunitySpace for crafts, culture and new income
OwnershipProjects the village chose, and keeps building
MomentumProgress that continues after volunteers leave

For you

PerspectiveYour everyday life, seen from the outside
HumilityShowing up to serve, without control
LeadershipSeen, tested and grown in the field
RelationshipsFriends across the company and across cultures
Memory“Written in my journal.” — Mark Mabey

Chad Booth talking with the expedition team on the last night

“You did all of that for somebody that can never repay you… And that changes you.”
Chad Booth · to participants on the last night

Where next

The best sign of success: they don’t need us anymore.

After eleven expeditions, Verde Sumaco is leading its own progress. So the next Guild expedition goes somewhere new, with a new community and new needs. No two are the same.

“They don’t need us anymore, so we’re looking for our next adventure.”
Chad Booth · Guild Expeditions program manager

A river winding through the rainforest canopy

Woven baskets hanging in afternoon light

Clouds drifting over the forest below the Andes

Put me on the list for the next one

“You can’t wait. You can’t put it off.”Mark Mabey· wishes he’d come sooner

Every expedition ends. Its impact doesn’t. The work stays, the experience stays with you, and the next canoe leaves without you unless you put it on the calendar.

Join the next expedition

A Guild Expeditions case in a canoe heading upriver at sunset

Before you go

The journey starts at your door.

Before you ever board the bus, a wooden-crate box stamped Expedition to Ecuador shows up at your door with a sticker that says it all: “Your gear is here!” Watch one get unboxed.

I want my kit

Before you sign up

What to know.

It’s participant-funded.You pay your own way. Leaders who go call it an investment in themselves and their teams.
You can bring family.Employees have brought a family member along. Mark Mabey brought his 19-year-old daughter: “My favorite part was watching my daughter try and speak Spanish.”
You’ll be taken care of.Experienced leaders, food, lodging and medical support are part of the plan, even in remote places.
Every destination is different.The next community, its needs and its projects will be its own.
Put it on the calendar.“If you don’t, years go by.” — Chad Booth

Make the journey.

Tell the Guild Expeditions team you’re interested, and you’ll hear about the next destination, dates and costs as soon as they’re set.

I’m interested in the next expedition

Questions first? Call or text Chad Booth, Guild Expeditions program manager: (801) 201-0559

Guild volunteers walking into Verde Sumaco