October 21 - 31, 2007
In 2004 many PAC Tour riders took on the project of raising money for a new school deep in the Amazon Rain Forest 20 kilometers from the jungle city of Iquitos. The remote village where the school was built is very basic and without modern services. Over $20,000 was contributed to buy the materials need to build a seven room school for 350 children.
Now the school is up and going. There are 14 teachers who teach the children in a revolving schedule during the day. The school and village still need many items such as books for all ages and classroom supplies.
This tour to the school will be to deliver more supplies and help work at the school where needed. This tour will expose us to the remote areas of Peru and we will meet the local people as friends, not as tourists.
This tour is adventure travel intended for outgoing and energetic travelers. Our motels will be safe and clean with air continuing and color television. However we will travel into the back country in four wheel drive vehicles to areas not seen by many people from the United States. There are several english speaking guides who will join our group for this tour.
A highlight of the tour will be traveling by boat for three days down the Amazon River. This boat is kinda like if Carnival Cruises meets Humphrey Bogart and his "Africa Queen". This is a public boat that makes the 40 hour trip down river to Iquitos and the 60 hour return trip every week. The boat is about 100 feet long and has three decks. The lower deck is filled with cargo like bags of rice, beans and bananas. The middle deck is a big open room where people can attach hammocks and pile their supplies. The upper deck has ten cabins and more open space. We will be staying in cabins on the upper deck. Each cabin has 2 bunk beds or 4 beds total. We will have 2 people per cabin which will allow extra room to store your bike and gear on the upper bunk bed. There are bathrooms and showers in a separate area near the cabins. You should bring your own toilet paper and towel.
We have several options depending on the boat schedule. We should know an approximate departure time the night before...plus or minus 6 hours. It is best to hang loose and see how the boat freight loading plans are going. The boat could depart at 10 AM if they donšt have much to load or they could depart at 8 PM if the loading is busy. Either way we will have several things to do in Yurimaguas during the day. There is a great street market two blocks from our hotel which is always a fun place to visit. We also have the option to cycle or drive to some of the areas along the river.
The boat will be filled with local families traveling with small children, chickens and people sleeping in hammocks. Now is a good time to get to know the boat and your neighbors. A late night cookout is planned under the stars on the open deck. Traveling by riverboat at night in the jungle is an experience you will always remember.
When our boat arrives in Iquitos we will stay at a nice hotel and have time to visit the local night life. The next day we start our work at the school. Several of the teachers will meet with us to go shopping for classroom items. There are several office supply stores and book stores in Iquitos that have the necessary materials we need for the school. At the school we will meet daily with the students and share our experiences from the United States.
In 2004 there were 12 people who went on this tour and helped build the school. After the tour everyone said meeting the children and people of the village were the highlights of the tour. This is a difficult concept to explain to Americans who rarely meet life changing people during their vacations. The emotional attachment our group will feel for the people we meet will stay with us. If you want to ever experience those feeling either of these tours to Peru are for you.
|
Riverboat and School Builder's Tour Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 |
|
