(EMAILWIRE.COM, September 22, 2010 ) HELENA, Mont.,– Detour, The Adventure Travel Marketplace (www.detourdestinations.com), recently announced that it is donating an 8-day trip to Peru for two people to be auctioned off at the Prickly Pear Land Trust’s annual Harvest Moon Banquet and Auction. Detour, as a sustainable tourism agency, is pleased to donate the featured item in the Prickly Pear Land Trust’s (PPLT) annual fundraising auction, Saturday, September 25, 2010, with proceeds going to support PPLT’s work of protecting open space and providing trail access in Helena, Montana, where Detour is is located.
The theme for this year’s Harvest Moon Banquet is “The Land is our Legacy.” Fittingly, Detour is donating a hiking trip in an Andean region that was the former home of the Inca Empire, and the trip will visit local communities and Inca ruins, including the World Heritage site of Machu Picchu.
“As a company based on promoting small-scale tourism directly through socially and environmentally responsible local tour operators and outfitters, Detour is committed to protecting the environment and providing local people an incentive to protect their ecosystems and land,” said Greg Findley, Detour’s CEO. “Travel has many benefits, including global understanding and the economic importance of tourism to many of the world’s developing countries. In Peru, the Andean people have strong ties to their land, and many still live as their ancestors have for centuries, back to the time of the Inca Empire and beyond. Our trips and tours directly benefit local people, and help to reinforce their ties to their land.”
Detour is donating “The Lares Valley Trek, Peru’s Other Inca Trail.” The Lares Valley Trek is a fantastic way to experience the high Andes of Peru, with amazing scenery, Inca history and ruins, and local villages unchanged since the time of the Incas, all while avoiding the crowds of the famous “Inca Trail.” The trip bases out of the ancient Inca Capital of Cusco, and is capped off with a visit to the World Heritage site of Machu Picchu.
The trip is 8-days in total, starting and ending in Cusco, Peru. It includes a 4-day trek in the Lares Valley, just off the Sacred Valley of the Incas, and includes visits to Inca ruins in Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu. The trip, which can operate with as few as two people, can start on any date (although not recommended during the rainy season of December-March). The trip is also transferrable, and the value of the trip ($1,419.00 per person, $2838.00 total) can be traded for any of the tours Detour offers in South and Central America
The “Lares Valley Trek” is operated by Amazonas Explorer, a Cusco, Peru, based international tour operator. Amazonas Explorer operates world-class adventure and cultural trips in Peru, with specialties in trekking, whitewater rafting, and mountain biking adventures. Amazonas Explorer believes heavily in sustainable tourism and employs local people for all their guide, office, and support staff. They are members of 1% for the Planet, and have a Porter Protection policy in place. They also are involved in a number of local projects, including the Dental Project Peru, and a revegetation project in the Lares Valley.
About Detour
Detour is an online adventure travel marketplace, where travelers can buy trips to South and Central America operated by each destination's best local travel companies and outfitters at their local prices. Detour specializes in trips to Peru, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Patagonia, Chile, Costa Rica, and Belize.
Detour doesn't operate any of the trips they sell; instead they use their decades of international tourism experience to select top-quality socially and environmentally responsible local tour operators who operate fantastic trips, making it easy for travelers to choose a great trip with highly trained local guides who have inside knowledge of the travel destination, while saving money by paying the same price as if they booked locally within the destination.
Detour is founded on promoting sustainable tourism, and a big part of that is making sure that the vast majority of the money travelers spend on their trips makes it into the local economy where it employs local people and provides incentives for protecting ecosystems, cultural sites, and the local culture.
