Peru: Learn, Serve & Immerse

Arrive Lima in early morning, and transfer to flight to Cusco. and transfer to Ollantaytambo (Ollanta for short)

Flight: 1.5 hrs. / Drive: 1.5 hrs.

Upon arrival, we will have lunch in Ollanta and take time for a nap or rest after a long day of travel. In the afternoon, we will visit and be given an introduction to Awamaki and will learn about our service project. After our visit, we will do a scavenger hunt of the city. We will end our day with dinner at the hotel.

Hotel: Overnight at Apu Lodge or similar hotel in Ollanta

After breakfast at the hotel, we will walk in Ollanta with a mini Spanish lesson. We will eat a Peruvian lunch at a restaurant in Ollanta. In the afternoon, we will learn about woodcarving and basket weaving and have the opportunity to meet a Quechua children’s book author, Roland Castillo.

Roland Castillo is a well-known scholar, teacher, and author of Quechua – Spanish language and cultural translation. During a visit with him, we learn about cultural differences between Spanish or “western” ways of thinking and Quechua understandings. The group will also get the chance to hear Roland read part of one of his children’s books that communicate across language and culture.

Dinner at hotel  restaurant

Hotel: Overnight at Apu Lodge or similar hotel in Ollanta.

After breakfast at hotel, we will drive about an hour and a half to Patacancha, a Quechua village in a nearby valley above Ollanta where Awamaki works with women in a textile cooperative. We will visit the community, observe a traditional weaving demonstration and try our hand at making a bracelet. The community of Patacancha is located in the mountains above Ollantaytambo at about 3800 meters (12,500 feet) above sea level.

Lunch will be provided in the home of one of the weavers. After lunch, we will learn the basics of basket weaving from local artisan Pancho Carbajal. Pancho’s family has been weaving baskets for generations. Meet the family and get comfortable in the patio for your lesson. Take off your shoes; much of the work is done with your feet! During your 4-hour workshop, you’ll make a beautiful huaman pita woven Peruvian basket to take home. It makes a great gift – if you can bear to part with it!

In the late afternoon, we will head back to Ollanta and will meet our homestay families. Awamaki’s Homestay Association consists of thirteen local Ollantino families, all of whom have years of experience hosting tourists and Awamaki staff and volunteers. They cook food in a clean and healthy manner, help guests improve their Spanish, and provide a local, insightful experience to travelers. Accommodations vary from living in the center of town to living on the outskirts of town near the family’s organic farm. You may be with a small family or a large one with lots of children and, often, cuy (guinea pigs)!

Dinner and accommodations with homestay families

Breakfast with homestay families. Today we will begin our service project in support of the women artisans of this community. We will have lunch on site and continue with work through the afternoon. Service project will be determined by what the needs are at the time of our trip.

Dinner and accommodations with homestay families.

Breakfast with homestay families.

Today we will continue our service project. We will have lunch on site and continue with work through the afternoon.

Dinner with homestay families

Breakfast with homestay families. This morning we will have our second development discussion and this time, we will look at impact stories. We will have the opportunity to learn from a Peruvian staff member at Awamaki about her work with the women artisans through a Q&A session.

Lunch with homestay families.

Visit and enjoy cultural interactions with students at the Kuska School, a sustainable multi-cultural farm school in Ollanta. The school opened its doors with a mixed group of nine 1st and 2nd graders from various backgrounds. Families at the school are from Peru, Latin America, Europe and the United States.

Dinner at hotel / restaurant

Hotel: Overnight at Apu Lodge or similar hotel in Ollanta.

After an early breakfast, we will take a train to Machu Picchu, a World Heritage site and one of the most impressive legacies of the Incan civilization.

Train: 1.5 hours to Aguas Calientes, then bus up to Machu Picchu.

After a tour of Machu Picchu, we will have the opportunity to hike around the ruins, relax among the stone walls and grassy nooks, and take in the magnificence of the site. A bus takes us back down the mountain to Aguas Calientes to catch our train back to Ollanta.

Aguas Calientes, also known as “hot springs” or “Machu Picchu Pueblo,” is a town known for its location in a deep gorge under the Machu Picchu ruins. Closest to Cusco and enclosed by rugged cliffs, a towering cloud forest, and large rivers, this town is a bit isolated from the rest.

Dinner at our hotel

Hotel: Overnight at Apu Lodge or similar hotel in Ollanta.

Breakfast at our hotel.

Enjoy a host family celebration and traditional earth oven lunch.

Dinner in Cusco.

Hotel:  or similar

Breakfast at hotel, and leisurely morning to pack up before flying out later in the day. Enjoy some time to explore the Inca capital and important historical sights before departing for airport for flight to Lima with layover.

Evening flight home to Seattle

At Global Family Travels, we believe that the most powerful way to learn is through first-hand experience.  We let the country and its people be your teachers. We supplement your experience with reading lists, informal discussions, and a pre-trip orientation which includes information on the culture and history of your host country, helpful words and phrases and cultural “do’s and don’ts.”

Learning themes and experiences unique to this tour include:

•        The Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

•        Learn about economic development theory and understand firsthand how Awamaki applies them to their community work; and 

•        Experience the Patacancha indigenous culture and traditional weaving.

•        Learn firsthand about ancient Quechua culture by participating in a rural homestay with a local Quechua family and enjoy a hike with them to the highland lake deemed sacred by the local people

Our service project, facilitated by Awamaki, allows you to give back to the community that hosts you and teaches you. Awamaki is building a center so that the women have a space from which to run their business. Currently, they store materials, equipment and inventory divided among the homes of all the women. They don’t have a dedicated space to work, meet or hold trainings. The center will give them this space. It will also give them a storefront so they can sell directly to tourists. The center will help launch them from a loose association of artisans to a successful business capable of engaging directly with global markets. 

In the Andes, traditional, low-tech building methods are used and our service project will include the use of tools such as picks, shovels, hammers and wheelbarrows to help this community build the center.  On the service project site, our tasks could include the following: 

•       Move gravel in a wheelbarrow

•       Dig a ditch or hole for a foundation

•       Pass rocks in a line

•       Lay rocks or concrete blocks to make a wall

•       Mix adobe mud for wall stucco 

•       Stucco, plaster or paint walls

•       Strip bark off logs

•       Manually mixing concrete

While on the trip, we will be immersed through the service project, working alongside the members of the community in the various building tasks, playing with the local children, or helping out in the kitchen learning how to prepare traditional Peruvian lunch dishes. We will eat lunch in the service community, immersing ourselves in the local culture, foods, and living spaces.   We will also spend two nights with a host family, living as they do, helping to prepare meals and participating in the daily routine of the house. You might be asked to help feed the animals, or gather plantains from their backyard. We will have the opportunity to practice our Spanish, create relationships with people from a different culture, and experience global issues in a way that changes how we think and act when we return home.