Volunteer Program at the Karanki Magdalena Community

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Day 1: Quito – Otavalo – Indigenous market – Cotacachi Leather market– Magdalena – Karanki community
Morning visit to the famed craft market of Otavalo (2.550msnm), which is the most famous and picturesque in South America. Markets are meeting places for shopping, bargaining, and chatter while people of the region exchange local produce, animals, utensils, pots, and pans or textiles. For visitors, the markets offer the possibility of approaching Ecuadorians at a more intimate level as you negotiate prices of a variety of woven goods, bags, hats, flutes or simply appreciate the skillful and generous people responsible for the elegance and beauty of the clothing and handicrafts.

The tour also offers a range of alternatives, including villages such as Cotacachi, an Indigenous village which features leatherwork including bags, jackets, hats, gloves, and belts. Dinner & Accommodation Magdalena Community.

Day 2: Volunteering in Magdalena Indigenous Community
After breakfast, share your English skills by giving lessons to the kids in Magdalena school. Spend your time with the local children in educational activities where you both can learn from each other.

Enjoy the local cuisine with a delicious lunch and continue your day with the various optional activities that the community offers: hiking the nearby hills, biking around, horseback riding and more.

At night, enjoy of a traditional dinner prepared with the local produce.

Day 3: Volunteering in Magdalena Indigenous Community
Next day, after breakfast we continue our volunteering work in the social areas of the community. Along with the family members, we will go to the communal center to paint or do some maintenance work in the longhouse. All materials will be provided for the different activities.

Enjoy the local cuisine with a delicious lunch and continue your day with the various optional activities that the community offers: hiking the nearby hills, biking around, horseback riding and more.

At night, enjoy of a traditional dinner prepared with the local produce.

Day 4: Volunteering in Magdalena Indigenous Community
On this day, we will help the host to maintain the house orchards, and the family will teach us all about traditional harvesting techniques; seeding, planting, keeping the crops clean.

Enjoy the local cuisine with a delicious lunch and continue your day with the various optional activities that the community offers: hiking the nearby hills, biking around, horseback riding and more.

At night, enjoy of a traditional dinner prepared with the local produce.

Day 5: Magdalena – Ibarra – train ride to Salinas (26km) – Quito
Arriving in the morning to the city of Ibarra, we will embark on a train journey engineered in the early 20th-century that connects the northern Ecuadorian Andes and the Pacific Coast. The ride descends into the warm, dry valley of Salinas, across sugarcane plantations, magical landscapes, through tunnels and over bridges spanning canyons and patchwork fields.

Enjoy a unique lunch at the Salinas afro-Ecuadorian community restaurant, implemented by Go Galapagos – Kleintours in an effort to boost tourism in support of this fascinating area. The menu has been carefully put together through with the community to share the local savoir-faire with our high-quality standards.

Back in the bus to return to Quito.