Time spent at project: 1 month

Home Country: Belgium

This volunteer project is all about coffee! You will meet the families of small scale coffee farmers and will actively get to know the coffee farming process. Actively because you will hike over spectacular Inca trails towards the coffee farms passing coffee fields where they have cultivated coffee for generations. The villages are all situated close to Machu Picchu so you could combine your volunteer work with a visit to the spectacular lost and sacred city of the Incas. Read the following testimonial of a former volunteer at this exciting ecological project!

This project was better than I could even imagine! I met some amazing families and learned a huge amount about coffee, fruits and most of all the style of life of a Peruvian family! The moment I arrived in my first family (that lives in Huayopata – about 1 hour away from Quillabamba), I was greeted with a huge hug and offered jugo de platano y papaya (banana and papaya juice) fresh from their garden! That basically describes the whole stay! You will help the family with the work on the farm, anything from watering the plants to cutting a banana tree down! The food you will eat here is all fresh, whether it comes from their farm or the local market. The coffee is amazing! Everything is organic. The family was very warm, in fact I became part of their family and I hope I will be able to go back. They will make you love the Peruvian culture.

After two weeks I moved on to another family (that lives in Lucmabamba – 45 minutes away from Santa Teresa), again a very warm welcome accompanied by gourmet coffee, i.e. THE best coffee that exists! This village is slightly higher so a bit colder and a bit more difficult to work on the farm but also different products; coffee of course, avocado, yuca and so on! You will help the family with their work there. Be prepared to walk quite a lot! Other than the work, you can explore the area, it is very interesting. You should visit the thermal baths of Santa Teresa, do zip line or hike to an undiscovered Incan site with a view across the valley to Machu Picchu! Whatever you do this project is amazing! You get a taste of the Peruvian life and of the best coffee you will ever have! I strongly recommend this project!

Contact Volunteer Work Latin America at info4@volunteerworklatinamerica.org to get more information on this and other volunteer projects or to sign up to volunteer!