Authentic experiences in the land of the Incas
You are interested in social projects and community based tourism in South America? Then get yourself ready and discover authentic impressions of the fascinating land of the Incas. Today’s guest blog by Kaya Herkersdorf from viventura gives a foretaste for authentic Peru tours and genuine travel experiences.
Kaya is editor of the South America blog at viventura, a CSR certified South America specialist for sustainable tours in small groups. Kaya used to travel over two years in South America and collected her most precious experiences “off the beaten track”. For her, Community Based Tourism means to dive into the environment and culture of the local communities and support them to also profit from tourism.
Learn more about special encounters, joint cooking evenings with the locals and memorable impressions:
Green Group Travels – Authentic experiences in the country of the Inka
What comes to your mind, when thinking about your last vacation? Is it snowcapped mountain peaks and endless forests, a paradisiacal white beach in the warming sun – or maybe a certain moment that gave you an insight into another world?
In our opinion, it is the encounter of people that makes traveling precious. Some experiences with strangers shape our memories more than the most beautiful landscapes. To board a plane, get out somewhere else and capture the highlights of the country in photos is not sufficient to really arrive.
A Peru traveller reports about her nicest experience:
“At Lake Titicaca we could see how potatoes are cultivated even over 3.900 meters. The local women collaboratively prepared a delicious dinner of trouts and sweet potatoes, after which none of us had to go to bed hungry or freeze in bed. On the next day, the joint breakfast in the small village Capachica was something special (…), here two worlds collided: on the one hand a time lifestyle without running water, on the other hand a small TV in the straw hut – and we suddenly in the middle of it.”
Slow Travel and community based tourism are becoming more popular. For us it is important that travellers and locals profit equally from tourism. All tours are exclusively executed with local partners and tour guides. Next to Peru’s famous tourist attractions such as the hike on the Inka trail to Machu Picchu or the visit of the mysterious Nazca lines, there are other special and deeper impressions to really immerse into the Peruvian culture.
Thus, travelers are at times accommodated with farming families or visit social projects. They cook together with the hosts, sleep at their accommodation and learn more about the local everyday life. Interested families take turns in participating in the host family program, so that everyone in the community can accommodate guests. For many travelers, this exchange with the local community is the most formative moment of their Peruvian journey. They get an insight of foreign ways of living and can discover how traditional handicrafts are made or how a typical regional meal is prepared. They do not only want to take home pictures of places, but memories: a smile, a hug, a piece of Peru in the form of a new recipe or melody.
A journey to Peru should not only be a journey, but an experience. A possibility to dive into another culture and not only get to know the country better, but also the people – and ideally the life itself.
