Between now and October, My wife and I would like to accept some volunteer helpers for our permaculture homestead in the Alto Mayo of northern Peru. Our property is situated at 950m above sea level in what is considered high jungle. We are at the foot of a steep mountain, which is a national protected forest known as the Bosque de Proteccion Alto Mayo, one of the world’s premiere orchid hotspots. The climate is comfortable, and not too hot, with daytime highs usually close to 85F and overnight lows usually close to 60F. The closest city is Rioja (45 min drive), the capital of the Rioja province, located in the San Martin department. The closest major domestic airport is in Tarapoto (3hr drive).
We would be willing to accept one or two people at a time, and host them for 1 week, which could be extended one extra week by mutual agreement. Just putting this out there if by chance there are any permaculture enthusiasts that are travelling through our region and would like to see our place and help out for a little while.
It is the dry season right now, so we are taking advantage of the fact that there is less rain. However, you will still need to bring waterproof rubber boots, and some rain gear that you could work in. We are doing a lot of machete work to clear trails as well as to clear the areas underneath the trees planted in our 10 hectare food forest. We have also been digging the occasional frog pond by hand. I won’t beat around the bush. We are looking for individuals that are accustomed to hard manual labor. The work is hard, but the expected schedule is not anything too grueling. We ourselves are flexible with start and stop times, and we wouldn’t expect you to work more than 5 or 6 hours per day; 6 days per week. In return, we will provide your meals and a place to stay.
That said, you need to be aware of the accomodations. If you prefer to camp and have your own waterproof tent, that would be one option. Also, you could set up a tent in a covered storage building on the property, which sits close to a creek that flows year-round. With either of these two options, there is no plumbing or electricity. One other option is that we could rent you a room in the local village in a house with running water and electricity. It is a 10-15 minute walk from there to our property. There is cell phone reception in the village and on our property only with Movistar. No one here speaks any English except my wife and I, so it would be a good idea to have at least some knowledge of Spanish. We live in our small house on the property with water and solar electricity, so you could charge your cellphone at our house. The house is small, and we are not willing to share the space, except for the occasional meal or to let you charge your phone, laptop or flashlight. Any other questions just ask. I will give you the most honest answer I can.
We can pay for someone to drive you to and from Rioja to our property.
Before making any decisions, to get an idea of what our property is like you can watch a few videos from our youtube channel:
AgroVentures Peru
If you’re interested send me an email: scott @ agroventuresperu dot com
