Voluntourism is an awkward word but what it means is incredible. It adds the idea of volunteering to the concept of tourism. It’s a great way to add some substance to your travels. Beyond just visiting and seeing a place foreign to you, you now have a chance to get your hands dirty and contribute to a community and a people less fortunate than you. This is a rewarding and authentic way to see the world.
I was privileged to join a number of American teens this summer as they traveled to Peru to build a classroom. There are many voluntourism companies around the world and the one we were working with is called Peru’s Challenge. In 2002 founders Jane and Selvy started a program to work with rural Peruvian communities to help them build a sustainable infrastructure. Peru’s Challenge works with the community to establish a 3-5 year plan to address education and utilities. In our case, we were helping with the education side of things by building a classroom in the small village of Miskiuno near Cusco. In other instances, Peru’s Challenge builds greenhouses, aqueducts, sewage systems and more. They also provide social services to help the community apply for government assistance, train teachers for the school, teach community members how they can use the greenhouses to grow and sell food and flowers as well as weaving and other textile skills to take products to market.
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The Inca City
Urubamba, Machu Picchu, Peru
Posted by Cameron on 20 June 2009
There are only two ways into Machu Picchu. By train and bus or by foot via the Inca Trail. We went with the former option and were on a 5.15am train from Ollantambo to the portal town of Aquas Calientes. If you’re taking the Inca Trail, there are a few options. Either way, you get off of the train or bus a few kilometers before Aquas Calientes and start walking for either 2 or 4-5 days (depending on the speed of the hiker).
Once we got off the train we dropped our stuff off at our hostel and headed up a peak called Putucusi. This is a 2,500m peak that is across the Urubamba River from Machu Picchu and offers a neat side view of the Inca city. The 500m climb is steep and it includes a number of built in log ladders that go up through the thick lush rainforest foliage covering the nearly vertical slopes. The sun was starting to appear on the opposite slopes from where we were climbing and it stayed nice and cool in the shade of the mountain under the thick canopy early in the morning.
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Lares Trek
Urubamba, Lares, Peru
Posted by Cameron on 18 June 2009
The Lares Trek was a short and sweet start to our adventure in the Peruvian Andes. It was just three days long and with the elevation only between 3,500-4,500m it gave us a nice gentle chance to acclimatize. We started with a three hour drive with a short stop in Calca to hit the market. Our guide, Guido, suggested we get some small toys or trinkets to give to the kids we’ll come across along the way. This was good advise as it provided a chance to give the kids a bit of joy and some nice photo-ops. The trek did start on a peculiar note however… we started at a hot springs. Usually, I would think this to be something to put at the end of a trek, but we didn’t put up much of a fuss.
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Fountain of Youth
Antankallo Falls, Matucana, Peru
Posted by Cameron on 14 June 2009
 The next morning, Sunday, was an early one as we were due to be at the Church at 7.30 to receive the nearly 30 people, mostly kids, joining us for a hike to a beautiful waterfall up in the Andes. This was the inaugural event for the Peruvian DiscoveryBound Chapter started by Giorgio and Brenda. I met with Giorgio in January when I was last in Peru and gave him one of the DB Handbooks. He had been working to energize the Christian Science youth base by teaching Sunday School and providing Sunday School Challenge events beyond the classroom. DiscoveryBound brought the structure he was looking for and the support he needed to take it to the next level.
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Arriving at 1am on Friday in Lima was no deterrent from having a full weekend. After a nice sleep to 9am, Girogio’s father gave me a ride into the shop to see the boats he was building. Two 58-foot catamarans which have taken on a nearly finished shape sat side by side. One did not yet have the roof of the main cabin and aft deck mounted yet, but I got to see that get put in place. Giorgio and a crew of about 20 men, all of whom were pulled from their specific project on either of the boats came together to lift, move, flip and place the last lid on the boat.
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Peru Prep
Los Angeles, California, United States
Posted by Cameron on 11 June 2009
Double checking when departing for a trip like Peru is key. I nearly walked out of the house without my Marmot rain jacket. That would have been a bummer up on the mountain. I’m sure I could have rented one, and since I’m renting plastic boots, crampons, an ice axe and a harness as it is, they may have thrown it in for free… maybe.
But as I was doing my final FINAL sweep, I noticed I hadn’t packed my toothbrush! Agk! So, I threw it along with some paste and floss and a small bottle of Dr. Brawners in my “Toothcase” that I got from my dentist. I then promptly set it down and probably left it behind.
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Tags: packing, peru, schedule, travel, trek
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Peruvian Peaks
Ausangate Trek, Cusco, Peru
Posted by Cameron on 9 June 2009
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Tags: camping, climbing, llama, peru, trekking, Video
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Cañón del Colca
Colca Canyon, Cabanaconde, Peru
Posted by Cameron on 7 January 2009
With nearly 24 hours of recovery after the Chachani climb, Forrest and I headed to the bus station in Arequipa at 6am to spend most of the morning on the bumpy and swervy roads to the small town of Cabanaconde on the lip of Colca Canyon. Once we arrived, we figured it was too late to head down into the canyon for a day hike, so we checked into a hostel right in the central plaza and went for a hike around town.
The next morning we packed up and made our way into the canyon expecting a long and hard day of going down and coming back up the 1000m under the pounding sun. Little did we know there was a great place to spend the night down along the river at the base of the canyon. We were happy to take our time and lounge around the spring fed pool, sleep in grass huts and make the steep and long ascent in the relatively cool hours of the morning in the shade of the eastern wall of the canyon that we were climbing.
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Climbing above 6,000 meters (nearly 20,000 feet) is nothing that should be taken lightly. Even if the actual vertical of the climb is just over 1,000 meters (3,500 feet).
I arrived in Arequipa, Peru after three weeks of skiing up in the Colorado Rockies. I was camped at about 9,000 feet and would get up to 12,000 feet on some days while skiing. Granted, I took the chairlift, but I convinced myself this was sufficient time to be ready for a climb to 6,000 meters. I was nearly right.
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