Not many trips end with the feeling of having made a significant difference to real people with real needs. But I recently returned from such an experience in a remote community in northern Peru. A friend introduced me to the tour, which is part of a larger travel company’s sustainable ecotourism offerings, in December. The notion of helping and meeting other people living in a different culture appealed to me a lot.

Our group consisted of 3 travelers from Canada (Heather, David and myself) and a tour guide, from Socio Adventures. The purpose of the trip was to build a brick and mortar stove for a family that currently cooks everything over an open fire.

The stove itself saves lives

The World Health Organization reports that indoor air pollution from acrid smoke rising from these indoor fires is associated with one death every 20 seconds in the world’s poorest countries. The brick stove removes smoke and reduces the amount of wood required to burn by 50 percent.

Our hike began when we flew from Lima to Cajamarca, a city in northern Peru. Ben and Celida, representatives of a small outdoor adventure company called Socio Adventures, met us at the airport. There was a little time to experience the city before the next phase of our journey. Cajamarca is considered one of Peru’s hidden gems and the main square is the place where Francisco Pizarro’s men captured the Inca Atahualpa in 1532 and brought down the Inca Empire.

Music and mountains

The word “adventure” took on a new meaning when we left Cajamarca on a bus for a 7-hour trip to a smaller northern community known as Chota. The non-stop Peruvian music on the bus was a backdrop to the many stops along the way to allow people to hop on and off with their wares, as well as the vendors coming on board to sell something to eat or drink.

It may also be that the music was intended as a distraction from scary moments as we drove down very narrow roads and hairpin turns in the high altitudes of the Andes (and occasionally we had to stop because children had built rock statues in the middle of the road .) The mountains are quite impressive in places and you want to have your camera handy to capture some of the beauty on film.

Differences enchant

When we finally got to Chota, I immediately realized that people were intrigued by our differences and were looking at our white faces and / or our gray hair. We stayed one night at the El Angel hotel which was very close to the main town square and the local market. However, it wasn’t until the next morning that we realized that the large square behind our hotel, visible from the tall windows of our room, was actually the prison yard!

Our dining experience that night at a nearby restaurant was our first experience of authentic Peruvian food. Corn, potatoes, rice are the mainstays of a meal and there were many interesting options and combinations of these with different sauces, vegetables, herbs and chicken on the menu. The “cuy” (guinea pig) is a specialty in Peru and of course it was also offered.

Early the next morning, we hopped in a taxi truck for the last part of our trip to the community of Cadmalca, a 45-minute drive from Chota. Our luggage and two of our travelers chose to ride in the back of the van to enjoy the scenery and have direct contact with a couple of passengers who “got on” on the road for a short trip to their community. It took us a moment at our destination point to realize that there was no way to our Lodge and that we would be climbing the green slope with luggage in hand.

However, Mercedes and Enrique, local Socio Adventures staff, were awaiting our arrival and immediately collected our bags and led the way for us. A group of curious children also appeared to greet us and we began our introductions to the families of Cadmalca. Ben and Danielle provided strategic interventions with Spanish / English interpretation, and I quickly saw that language was not going to be a barrier to making connections with these receptive people.

The Blue Lodge was a welcome sight! I was expecting some fairly rustic accommodation, but this brand new building had a large dormitory room on the ground floor that housed the men and a lovely large room with a wooden floor, double bed, 2 singles and a sink on the second floor for the women. We were all thankful for the ceramic tile bathroom complete with a great shower with hot water; lavatory; sink; Electric plug.

Safe dining room

One of the main concerns of people traveling to a third world country is how to avoid illness. Tips include: don’t drink the water or ice, avoid raw vegetables and salads, stay away from seafood, only eat fruits that need to be peeled. At Cadmalca, the special needs of travelers are built into the accommodation. Sterile water is available for drinking. The food is prepared in a sterilized kitchen by a young woman named Felicita who had attended a cooking school in Lima. Their menu was well balanced and consisted of delicious Peruvian dishes.

Starting construction

After lunch we began to build the fireplace for the stove in the courtyard of the Lodge. No experience was required. They gave us good instructions and diagrams and help from Mercedes and Ben’s consultation. The fireplace was built with corrugated tin (which had to be flattened and then bent in a circle and riveted closed). The next morning we walked higher in the fertile Cadmalcan Hills to our family’s home: Nestor and Georgina and our assistant, Absilon, carried the finished fireplace.

We all feel excited and maybe a little nervous. Nestor showed us the old kitchen shack and the blackness of the walls and ceiling from the smoke. He then showed us a new adobe room that had recently been specially built to house the new stove.

The building materials were already on site and together with Heather, Absilon, Nestor and Georgina we determined the site for the stove. By noon we had completed the first phase (of the 4 ‘x 2’ brick and mortar stove). The 2 kids, Jeanette (8) and Kevin (6) rushed home for lunch to see the progress and we instantly connected with their exuberance and enthusiasm.

We were welcomed into the house for a mid-morning “coffee break” and served tea or coffee and fried corn chunks. It didn’t take us long to get warm to each other and we had great fun times as we struggled to ask questions and learn from each other with a very small repertoire of Spanish / English vocabulary.

The adobe house had a dirt floor, a table covered with a lace tablecloth, 4 chairs, a cupboard with some dishes and food. Georgina has 3 sewing machines and there was a coat rack hanging from the ceiling full of her knitted items for sale. There was no bathroom or hot water. This family of four has a very small piece of land on a hillside to graze their 2 sheep and 2 cows.

At the end of the morning, in gratitude for our help, I was presented with a gift from the family: a sack containing 3 live guinea pigs! My surprise, I hope, was balanced with a true understanding and appreciation of the meaning of this offer. The guinea pig, as it is called in Quechua, is an important source of protein for these families and has a long history in Inca traditions. Out of respect for the family, we made arrangements with Felicita to prepare the animals for our lunch the next day.

The next morning we worked diligently as a team and as planned the stove was completed and the fireplace erected. Wow! We were all so excited about the finished product! The stove is 4 brick tiers high, filled with stone with a brick opening built into the top for firewood. The opening is surrounded by stone and mortar and a steel cooktop fits over the top.

Permanent reminder

When we finished, I asked Georgina if we could engrave our initials in the soft mortar somewhere on the stove. She had already decided that Heather and I should write something in large print in the center of the home, the home that she will attend to day after day. We write: “THANK YOU!” with our names on each side.

For me, the highlight of this company came right after our presentation to the family of some gifts that we had brought from home. Georgina stood up to make a little speech and I found myself crying! He said that he did not know how to express his immense gratitude for what we had done for them, but that we should know that no matter where we were or when, we would always be in his heart.

As his words were being translated and I looked around, I saw that we were all crying. I had come to offer help to a family in need and I left feeling much richer because of the gifts of friendship and connection that had been established. The vast differences of language, culture, religion, power, socioeconomics had vanished and we experienced the true joy of a “heart to heart” effort.