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Description
Hello! My name is Franklin and I welcome you to our Kichwa community 🌿
Our community is located on the banks of the Arajuno River, near Puni Bocana, south of Puerto Misahuallí (Tena area, Ecuador), in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
After spending some years working in the city, I decided to return to my birthplace to reconnect with my family and my roots. From this decision, our project was born : a community-based tourism project through which we aim to share our culture, traditions, and deep connection with the forest with visitors.
Our community is made up of about 75 people and includes a small school where children between the ages of 6 and 11 attend classes five days a week.
Our main activities are cacao cultivation, gathering forest products, and fishing for family sustenance, as well as creating handmade crafts. We grow cacao following the principles of the Chakra, an ancestral permaculture system that integrates different plant species and respects the natural balance of the forest. Preserving this traditional knowledge is very important to us.
The area where we live is extraordinarily rich in biodiversity: many species of birds, monkeys, and other tropical mammals can be observed here, along with a wide variety of insects and lush rainforest vegetation.
Through the tours, we share daily life in the community, the process of growing and processing cacao, and our knowledge of the forest, guiding visitors as they discover the local flora and fauna and sharing our history and traditions.
We are currently looking for three types of volunteers:
For short stays, we are seeking people who can help with Spanish–English translation during the tours and who are willing to support cacao-related activities such as plant maintenance and harvesting.
For longer stays, we are looking for motivated volunteers to teach English to both children and adults in the community. It is not necessary to be a professional teacher, but patience, adaptability, and a willingness to share are essential.
Finally, we are also looking for volunteers who can help promote the community’s activities through social media.
If you are interested in living an authentic experience in the Amazon rainforest, connecting with an Indigenous community, and contributing to a local project, we will be happy to welcome you 🌿
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Teaching
Light gardening
Hospitality/Tourism
Help with Computers/ Internet
Interests
Sustainability
Pets
Farming
Music
Plant care
Languages
History
Gardening
DIY & crafts
Cooking & food
Animals
Dancing
Outdoor activities
Sailing / Boating
Nature
Hiking
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Volunteers will have the opportunity to learn the Kichwa language while deepening their understanding of the local community’s customs and traditions. They will be taught traditional craft techniques to create small handmade objects and will take part in dream interpretation sessions based on ancestral knowledge.
They will also discover the basics of traditional plant-based medicine, participate in fishing trips using local techniques, and more generally experience the rich plant and animal life of the Amazon rainforest.
We will be happy to learn English from the volunteers, as well as recipes from different parts of the world, and more broadly to exchange cultural aspects of everyday life with the people who visit us.
Help
👥 Who we are looking for
We are looking for motivated volunteers who would like to live an authentic experience within our community, actively contributing to daily activities and cultural exchange.
We offer two types of volunteering opportunities, depending on availability and skills:
📚 Long-term volunteer
Minimum stay: 1 month
Teaching English to children and adults in the community
Supporting translation during tours
🌱 Short-term volunteer
Minimum stay: 1–2 weeks
Helping with activities in the chackra
Supporting translation during tours
💡 We are also looking for people interested in helping promote our tours and community events on social media.
📖 English teaching
For volunteers interested in teaching English (both to children and adults), we ask for at least a basic knowledge of English grammar or, preferably, some previous teaching experience.
It is important to bring some teaching materials, as they are not always available in the community school (we do provide a blackboard, paper, and some books in Spanish and Kichwa).
At the end of your stay, we kindly ask you to leave a brief record of the lessons and topics covered, so that the next volunteer can continue the learning process smoothly.
🌍 Activities and tours
During your stay, you will have the opportunity to take part in and support different types of tours:
Cacao tour in the chackra:from cacao cultivation and harvesting to the chocolate-making process. This tour also includes stories about the community’s history, traditions, and way of life. There are moments of tasting traditional food, chicha de yuca, and chocolate, as well as an exhibition and the possibility to purchase handmade products. The experience also includes demonstrations of traditional dances and songs with typical clothing, and an introduction to natural fibers and dyes.
Jungle tour:a 4-hour walk through the forest to discover medicinal plants, timber trees, and ancient trees.
Boat tour:trip to the caiman lagoon with the possibility of observing monkeys. Approximate schedule: from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm (return for lunch).
Night tour:from around 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, followed by a shared dinner. During the tour, it is possible to observe insects, snakes, and nocturnal monkeys.
⏰ Schedule and working hours
Working hours may vary depending on tour bookings and weather conditions. On average, we ask for 5 hours per day, 5 days per week.
Example of a day without tours:
08:00 – 09:00 → English class with children (6–11 years old)
09:00 – 11:00 → Help in the chackra and/or support with promotion of tours and community activities
14:00 – 16:00 → English class with adults
🌐 Translation during tours
For translation from Spanish to English during tours, a highly technical vocabulary is not required. However, it is important that volunteers feel comfortable with terms related to nature, local culture, and traditions.
Languages
Languages spoken
Spanish: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
Aquí solo hablamos español y kichwa, sería muy útil aprender inglés y podemos enseñar nuestro idioma.
Accommodation
Volunteers will stay in a shared dormitory or a private room, depending on availability. Rooms are equipped with single beds, mosquito nets, and clean sheets.
There are bathrooms with running water, showers, a kitchen available for preparing meals, and a common area. Food is mainly the responsibility of the volunteers, although the community may share some traditional dishes and basic ingredients.
Internet is provided via Starlink, and there is electricity. It is recommended to bring a headlamp and clothing suitable for rainy weather (rubber boots are very useful and can be provided by the community).
Food is mainly the responsibility of the volunteers, although the community may share some traditional dishes and basic ingredients. Some basic ingredients will be provided, some veggies from the chackra too.
What else ...
Volunteers can enjoy peaceful walks through the rainforest and visit a nearby biological reserve. They can also swim in the river, relax with a good book in hammocks, and take time to reconnect with nature. For those who bring a tent, there’s the unique opportunity to sleep in the forest, surrounded by an incredible number of waterfalls in the area.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.
Can possibly accept pets
This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
Photos
