Yomps, Adventure Travel Experiences

Machu Pichu to Cotopaxi
Full Itinerary

Journey to Machu Picchu in the footsteps of the Inca Empire, climb to the summit of Cotopaxi using crampons and mittens, explore the Amazon rainforest, discover amazing wildlife, learn Spanish, meet new communities, find ancient cultures, and have more adventure in six weeks than most have in a lifetime!

Peru

Weeks 1 and 2 - Learn Spanish in Arequipa, journey through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, and explore Machu Picchu.

Peru is a country with an intriguing history and magnificent landscapes, home to the world’s first civilization, and a great place to start your exploration of South America. The Peruvian Andes offer some of the most stunning landscapes in South America, combining Inca temples untouched by the Spanish Conquestadores alongside the charms of Spanish colonization. In this first fortnight of adventure impressive sights will combine in a useful and enjoyable introduction to South America with 30 hours of Spanish lessons in the charming town Arequipa. Living in homestays with families in the local community and exploring the region will give you a slice of South American life, whilst allowing you to test and improve your Spanish! Leaving Arequipa we then head to the historic capital of the sun-worshipping Inca Empire, Cusco, to explore the original Inca temples and palaces, which stand amid the stunning Spanish colonial architecture. Exploring the Sacred Valley of the Incas will then take us in the footsteps of the ancient Inca Empire, through the most spectacular scenery in South America (if not the world!). Voyaging past snow capped mountains, richly forested valleys, and numerous Inca temples will lead to the breathtaking Machu Picchu ('Lost City of the Incas'). Only rediscovered in 1911, measuring over five square miles, and including a temple, fortress, and terraced gardens, the city is accurately described by Chilean poets as a ‘miracle’ and ‘one of the greatest marvels of South America’. Leaving this great marvel we will then head deep in to another – the marvellous and wondrous Amazon rainforest.

Ecuador

Weeks 3 and 4 - Amazon Rainforest Expedition to explore and learn about the richly diverse forest, and distribute stationary supplies to Amazonian communities.

Crossing the border from Peru into Ecuador, we will transform from ancient historian explorers into inquisitive Amazonian adventurers, to journey deep into the steamy Amazonian basin. We begin taking a river boat through virgin rainforests, to camp out beneath the stars and enjoy our first Amazon cuisine. Our days will be spent floating down river on wooden canoes and trekking through miles of awe inspiring forest; and our nights relaxing in a hammock and falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle. On our journey we will visit and spend time with numerous indigenous communities seeing their traditional lifestyles and learning about their way of life. We will provide a vast amount of pens, pencils, and writing paper to schools in the villages along the way (all purchased by Yomps at the start of the trip); giving such hard to reach communities much needed stationary equipment. Our knowledgeable guides will teach us about the complex ecology of the Amazon rainforest (home to the highest diversity of plants and animal species on earth), the biology of the trees, the natural medicine to be found in the vegetation, the anthropology of communities living in the forest, and the wildlife that also share the forest as home. Sloths, monkeys, crocodiles, caimans, macaws and piranhas are just some of the amazing wildlife that will be our companions during this fortnight of Amazonian adventure!

Ecuador

Weeks 5 and 6 - High altitude treks including a summit attempt on Cotopaxi (South America’s highest active volcano).

Our final transformation will be from intrepid Amazonian adventurers into daring thrill- seeking mountaineers to make a summit attempt on Cotopaxi volcano, a stratovolcano that has one of the world’s only equatorial glaciers. During the first two days we will explore Quito (officially ‘San Francisco de Quito’), the capital city of Ecuador which resides in the Guayllabamba river basin at 9,300 ft above sea level making it the second highest (elevation) capital city in the world. Our guides will take us to explore a city that contains a vista of Ecuadorian art, history, arcitechture, and culture. Staying in Quito will also provide the ideal opportunity to acclimatise ourselves to thinner air, before we head to Cotopaxi National Park to be taught the fine art of climbing. Classroom lessons and practical sessions on the mountains will cover the practical uses of equipment which includes harnesses, knots, and ice screws, as well as the vital essentials of mountain rescue and basic yet life-saving first aid. Once trained, a variety of treks will further get us acclimatised to the thin air by getting progressively higher each day. Days begin early and will be challenging, but the resulting improvement in your climbing and stunning views will make all the hard graft all the more worth it. For company we will have some awesome wildlife including condors, eagles, wolves, foxes, deer, and frogs unique to the area – all of whom are bound to offer us some encouraging caws and ribbits as we head off to the volcano! Cotopaxi is Ecuador's second highest mountain (measuring over 19,000 feet) and has long been considered the highest active volcano in the world. Blessed with the highest number of clear days in the Ecuadorian Andes, the Cotopaxi region thus warrants climbs any time of year. We climb the perfectly conical peak using crampons and mittens to reach the summit of a volcano iced with glaciers and providing a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity of the surrounding view – the extraordinary and stunning Andes. It’s sure to get the blood pumping and face grinning, being an awesome and fitting final extreme adventure to our expedition. Some serious celebrating awaits us after our descent, where we will hold an unusual awards party with some even more unusual awards! The party will guarantee you an amusing prize to take home and will provide the perfect way to bid farewell to South America as the sun sets on our awe-inspiring, challenging, and extremely diverse Yomps adventure.