Annual Charity Event For 2009 January 30th, 2009 • by Matt Holmes Peru: Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu tour to Benefit the Instituto Machu Picchu and Huanca Community Boundless Journeys is offering its August 2-9, 2009 Peru: The Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu trip as a special charity event to benefit the Instituto Machu Picchu and a community school in the village of Huanca. This 2009 event follows the company’s successful 2008 event, a Tanzanian safari benefitting the Foundation for African Medicine and Education. The 2008 charity event trip resulted in a donation of $6,000 to FAME and the participation of 10 Boundless Journeys clients in a well-child check at a Karatu, Tanzania orphanage. Founded in 1999 by Alfredo Ferreyros, IMAPI is a natural extension of the philosophies and practices that made him a 2007 winner of the Adventure Travel Trade Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. A Peruvian nonprofit association dedicated to the conservation of natural and cultural resources in the Machu Picchu Sanctuary and Cusco region, IMAPI’s primary goal is to promote and execute projects related to the sustainable development of tourism, agriculture, cottage industries, education, and scientific research. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Peru and its iconic archeological site, Machu Picchu. Peru is truly one of the world’s great travel destinations, but very few visitors actually get off the beaten path and truly connect with the people and places they are there to experience. As Karen Cleary, Peru Trip Manager for Boundless Journeys notes “It is part of Boundless Journeys’ mission to plan an annual charity event trip as one aspect of our commitment to sustainable tourism. The Huanca community school is in need of renovation and restoration. Our donation to the project of approximately $4,900 USD, plus the time our guests will spend working, will allow the community to accomplish this important goal.” Along with the popular walking and hiking tour including important sites in the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, Boundless Journeys guests who participate in the August 2-9 charity event will have the opportunity to: • Spend a day working side by side with Huanca villagers, assisting electricians, carpenters, painters, and masons to complete the community school renovation project (no construction experience is necessary, just a desire to help out and a willingness to get a little dirt under your nails). • Spend the night camping in the Huanca community, giving participants time to get to know the villagers better, and enjoying a traditional party to celebrate the completion of the project.