SECTION 2: ANDES TO CLOUD FOREST CULTURAL & ECOLOGICAL TOUR (5 Days, Easy)

This tour visits the Indigenous farming town of Peribuela, on the flank of the Cotacachi Volcano, and Pucará, nestled in the lush cloud forest of the Intag River Valley on the western slope of the Andes.

Peribuela

The centerpiece of Peribuela´s community tourism initiative is the Bosque Primario Peribuela, a 1040 hectare stand of old-growth, native Andean forest. This is one of the last patches of ancient, high-altitude forest left in the Andes and contains many endangered tree species like Pumamaqui and Guatze, dozens of orchid species, and abundant bird-life. The forest also serves as an important habitat corridor between remnant patches of mountain forest ecosystem and the high altitude páramo grasslands.

Within the forest, the community has constructed a large choza (traditional Andean grass roofed structure) that can accomodate large groups for meals and presentations, and two interpretive trails that community guides use to teach visitors about the natural history of the area.

Peribuela has a fantastic performance group that presents folkloric dance, music and theater. The community is also initiating a native-species tree nursery designed to provide stock for regional reforestation projects.

Besides learning about the culture, history, and ecology of the region through informal talks and presentations, we will participate in a minga -or volunteer work day-- assisting in Peribuela's native species reforestation program.

Pucará

Nestled at 2081 meters in the cloud forest-swathed mountains of the western-slope Andes, the town of Pucará serves as the gateway to the sub-tropical Intag River Valley and the Alto Chocó cloud forest: one of the world's ten most bio-diverse ecosystems.

While in the Intag Valley we will talk with youth, activist, and community groups on a variety of subjects including sustainable development planning, politics, small scale agricultural models, and cooperative enterprise programs.

The tour culminates with an agro-ecology tour of the region, visiting farms, community managed forests, and permaculture projects and a hike through the Alto Chocó cloud forest with a natural history guide.

Day 1:
Participants are picked up at the bus terminal in Otavalo at 11AM (or from a pre-determined site in Quito). 1 hour bus ride to Peribuela. Lunch and welcoming. Afternoon walking tour of the community and its 12 pre-Colombian Caranqui tolas, or pyramids. Dinner and brief talk explaining the history of the community and the tourism project. We stay in a remodeled hacienda that has been converted into a simple and charming hostel.

Day 2:
Breakfast. Morning walking tour of the native forest with licensed natural history guide. Hot lunch served to us in forest. After lunch we help plant trees as part of the community´s reforestation project or volunteer with another community project. Dinner at the hacienda. Noche cultural with traditional dance and live techno-cumbia music.

Day 3:
After breakfast and goodbyes we travel 1 hour by bus to the beautiful crater lake of Lago Cuicocha where we enjoy a trout lunch and natural history boat tour before continuing 2 hours down the western slope of the Andes to the village of Pucará. Community members greet us with a welcoming ceremony, live music and dance followed by a guided tour of Pucará's Eco-Pueblo Project and sustainable development initiatives. We end our day by greeting our host-families. Housing is provided through a home-stay program that allows students to live and share with local families. This also provides extra income to community members. Dinner with host families.

Day 4:
After breakfast we embark on an all-day Agro-Ecological Tour of some of the area's sustainable development projects and organic, fair-trade coffee farms, lunching at a permaculture farm and ending the day with a 1 hour walking descent down into the Intag River Valley. We spend the night at volcanic hot springs at the cooperatively run eco-tourism complex in Nangulví. Soak in hot springs; nice dinner; cold beer.

Day 5:
Breakfast; walking tour of Alto Chocó reserve; lunch at reserve; return to Otavalo by bus arriving by 5 PM.


Includes: all food, lodging, guiding, instruction, park fees, in-country transport, guides and activities.

Does not include: extras, personal equipment or alcoholic beverages