Luxury Peru adventure vacation

Planet

Spend half an hour in Peru and you will see the huge amount of waste produced by disposable bottles of water. Recycling helps but is not the answer. What is needed is to reduce the amount of plastic produced in the first place. We have pledged to work to reduce the amount of plastic water bottles being used by travelers. Clients will always be provided with large containers of purified water from which you can refill your non-disposable water bottle. We also promote the use of UV filters, water bottles with in built filters and spend time trying to convince hotels we work with to make drinking water available, rather than selling plastic disposable bottles. This last point is quite a hard task as hotels and restaurants make a lot of money from selling throw away bottles of water.

Getting around in Peru can be self powered throughout your stay - you have so many alternatives that you can choose from including walking, hiking, rafting, kayaking, by stand up paddle board, horse riding - anything but sitting in a bus will reduce the impact that you will make during your visit.

Our supplier in Peru is a member of B Corps; these are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

People

The guides we use while out on the walks are all local to the area, not only do they know the routes very well and their knowledge is fantastic but we feel that it is important to create local employment from adventure tourism.

All porters are freelance. The fact many have chosen to work with our ground agents for over ten years, speaks for itself.
They are provided career progression opportunities – porter to waiter to assistant cook to cook.
The porters we work with are paid more than the wage stipulated by the authorities.
The porters are contracted by a designated Head porter and payment is made directly by the Head guide, thus avoiding any intermediaries or other possible conflicts.

The ground agents pay the porter’s Inca Trail fee and do not take it out of their wages.
Inca trail rules set a maximum load for porters – 20kg of company equipment and 5kg of personal equipment. Our ground agents abide by this and it is enforced by the Inca trail governing body at several weigh stations on the trail.
A large communal tent with carry mat floor is provided for porters to sleep in. It is not the clients’ dining tent.
The porters are provided with plenty of good food. This is not the same menu given to the passengers, but it is nutritious, abundant and what they are used to eating. They have their own cooking facilities so do not have to wait for the clients to finish eating before they get their food.
The porters are provided with transport from Ollantaytambo to the trail head and with return train tickets (with designated seat allocation) from Aguas
Calientes to Ollantaytambo. This is not deducted from their wages.

Only registered Inca trail porters (as Inca trail rules stipulate) are used – these have to pass several forms of ID, character reference and a letter of good health and to have attended an Inca Trail Porter Awareness course.
Each porter is provided with a uniform, a back support, a carrying frame and footwear. (Please note the porters often prefer their sandals.)
As good quality camping equipment is unavailable in Peru, we encourage clients to donate any excess outdoor clothes, sleeping bags etc directly to the porters.

Tipping porters is also encouraged and guidelines are provided at the pre-departure meeting. The tip is administered by the clients with assistance from the head guide whose tip is completely separate. Our tree planting is done above our porters’ villages. The porters are proud to participate in caring for their future.

If you would like to give a donation to a charity whilst in Peru then do look at Chicuchas Wasi – The Children’s Project. The charity’s focus is on providing free education; teaching academic skills to poor indigenous girls who are otherwise forgotten by mainstream education. One of our head guides was a student and is now a patron. The school can be contacted directly by visiting their website: www.chicuchaswasi.org