SECTION 1:EL MUNDO KAYAMBI CULTURAL & ECOLOGICAL TOUR
(4 Days, Easy)

This tour visits the Indigenous Kayambi towns of La Chimba, on the flank of the Cayambe Volcano, and Pijál, overlooking Lago San Pablo.

La Chimba

La Chimba has historically been a center of indigenous resistance to colonization, going back to the invasion of the Inca and the conquest of the Americas by the Spanish. Today, the Kayambi residents live by farming and dairy production in the valley below the towering, snow-capped Cayambe Volcano.

A group of young people have joined together to develop ecotourism as an alternative to migration. They have formed an organization, Condor Huasi (House of the Condor), and established a hike to a natural hot spring with spectacular views of the Cayambe Volcano. They also have formed a folkloric group to perform traditional songs and dances of the Kayambi people.

Pijál

Pijál is a rural agricultural community of Indigenous Kayambi located at 2700 meters overlooking the Imbabura Volcano and Lago San Pablo (Ecuador's largest lake) in Imbabura Province.

In an effort to preserve their Kayambi culture and promote sustainable economic activity to combat out-migration, the residents of Pijál have formed a community tourism organization called Sumac Pacha. With the help of CASA Interamericana, Sumac Pacha has built eco-tourism cabins in a beautiful mountain valley on community land. These cabins serve as a center for hikes throughout the area as well as cultural programs and inter-cultural exchanges.

Day 1:
Participants are picked up at the bus terminal in Otavalo at 11AM (or from a pre-determined site in Quito). Beautiful 1.5 hr. drive to the Kayambi town of Yacuchimba (La Chimba) at the foot of Volcán Cayambe. Lunch. Walking tour of town with discussion of Ecuador's

Land Reforms and the Indigenous political movement. Early to bed. Homestays with families.

Day 2:
After breakfast with your host family we travel up the La Chimba Valley in trucks to the start of a two hour páramo walk to hanging volcanic hot springs at 3400 meters on the side of the Cayambe Volcano. After a box lunch and a delicious soak we walk back the way we came to waiting transport that takes us down to La Chimba. Those with extra energy can help their families with the afternoon milking of cows. After dinner with host families, we enjoy a noche cultural with traditional Kayambi dance, music and games.


Day 3:
After breakfast we say goodbye to our host families and travel by bus over the pass between Cerro Cusín and Volcán Imbabura to the Kayambi Village of Pijál overlooking Lago San Pablo. A one hour walk through a hidden mountain valley brings us to the community's Eco-Cabins at the base of Cerro Cusín´s towering cliffs where condor sightings are frequent. Relax the afternoon away at the eco-cabins or take a guided walk to sacred waterfalls, through high altitude cloud forest, and to the community's organic gardens and greenhouses. Solar showers. Dinner. Folkloric music and dance.

Day 4:
Breakfast is followed by a workshop taught by the local Women's Cooperative where we learn to use tortora, a reed from local lakes, to make a variety of mats, figures, and baskets. After our workshop we walk 1.5 hours to the shore of Lago San Pablo, Ecuador's largest lake, where we enjoy a boat tour and, finally, lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake before heading back to Otavalo by bus, arriving by 3 PM.


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

Does not include: extras, personal equipment or alcoholic beverages