In Bolivia non for profit - part II

The owner of our hostel in Sucre recommended to us a non-profit company organizing treks around town - Condortrekkers. We didn’t even know one could do trekking around Sucre, and we decided to check it out.

Condortrekkers was founded by an Australian a few years ago with the mission to develop tourism around Sucre, while at the same time ensuring that the communities around Sucre receive some benefits from the business. While the organization heavily relies on volunteers from around the world, the founder makes sure that volunteers are only there to support the guides. All the guides and some administrative staff are Bolivians, and the long term goal is to have the organization entirely run by locals.

Condortrekkers organizes great hikes in the region (more on that in the moment) but as I said it also ensures that the profits trickle down to the villages around town. For example the organization provides school supplies and sport equipment to the communities. Recently they visited the communities to give the children supplies of tooth brushes and tooth paste and conducted "tooth brushing workshops" for them. Apparently it was a lot of fun.

We went on a four-day trek with Condortrrekkers. It was a new experience for me because for the first time I was completely self-sufficient. We were carrying on our backs all the camping equipment, food for four days, water purifiers and even a "wild toilet set" (don't ask for details). Let's be honest - the backpacks were heavy, especially on the first day (Marc and I roughly evaluated that they weighed no less than our own backpacks, at 16 kilos).

The hike was beautiful. On our way we passed through ground with all possible colors, from yellow to purple. We saw some indigenous wall paintings a few thousands of years old. We walked through a crater. We saw real dinosaur footprints (it is a transcendent experience, bringing one back in time). We bathed in a waterfall (believe me, we needed that bath) and we culminated the whole experience in natural hotsprings on the last night of the trip.

All of that above was amazing. But what ensured that this trek was one of the best during our year-long trip, was the cultural experience. Our guide was absolutely fantastic and even managed to beat the great guide we had in Chile. We spent a lot of time talking to him about Bolivia, Canada, Poland, culture, history, politics, food, love and life in general. Actually, we got along with him much better than with our own group (ask Marc the details about our trek companions, if you want to hear him rant. Some highlights of his speech will include youngsters bringing a 1.5 liter whiskey bottle on the trek and then complaining that the backpack is too heavy :-) ).

Our guide was not only a delight to talk to, he was also our portal to the local communities. He seemed to know the inhabitants of all the villages we passed on the way. He stopped to talk to villagers and give them small gifts and he introduced us to many of them. It was a unique experience because indigenous Bolivians are not very willing to talk to strangers. And even if they were, most of them only speak Quechua anyway. Our guide even brought the whole group to visit his friend's house in one of the villages, where we were treated with chicha, a very sour alcoholic drink made from corn. It will not become my drink of choice but I'm definitely glad I tried!

And of course we made obligatory stops in the villages supported by Condortrekkers. It was quite a sight to see all the local children (usually very shy) run towards our guide and volunteers. We visited two schools, tried to learn some words in Quechua and, of course, played some soccer - the most universal way to bond with children around the world!

We walked about 15 to 18 km every day. We climbed over 1600 meters in altitude and descended over 2700 meters. And twice during breaks I chose to chase the ball instead of sitting down and resting. And believe me, I would do it all over again, even if I had to go with the same group (not so sure about Marc, though ;-)