Community Based Tourism

Vamos Expeditions wants to offer a tourism that is honest and right for our local communities, working with them and for them.

We support local communities in their quest to preserve their natural environments and cultures. We build enduring partnerships to provide sustainable resources to the local communities and their environment.

Vamos Expeditions is proud to be the pioneer and motor behind a project that nowadays has become one of the best community-based tourism projects in Peru.

Working together with the locals of Ticonata Island we have expanded their economy by bringing volunteers and tourism to this remote island which has maintained its ancient, pre Inca culture. On the island people live in “Putucos” (stone Igloo-like houses), and have built additions to receive welcome guests. However, the region remains remote and seldom visited as this route is not known by the common tourism businesses in Puno. Mainly farmers and fishermen, the people of the Ticonata Island have preserved many traditions, their music, dances, costumes and typical food. Seeing their way of life in general is a great experience.

- Community-based tourism on Ticonata island in the lake Titicaca
Together with the local community and our friends from Edgar Adventures, Vamos Expeditions started a project on the small island Ticonata in the lake Titicaca. The community that lived on this island was very poor, but they are very friendly and good people that mainly live off fishing. In the beginning (first phase of the project) we used to come and camp on the island. The local people invited us to have dinner with them, to watch the sunset from the ceremonial place at the top of the island (an amazing sunset over the Lake Titicaca) and to dance with them around the campfire. The next day they would take us in their little local sail boats to another island. Each visit to Ticonata was always an amazing authentic experience for us and our passengers.

Over time we got to know the community better and started to exchange ideas of how we could help this beautiful community more. We had the idea of building little round houses on the island which could be used as a place to sleep for travelers. We put our plan into action and together we built ‘putucos’, houses based on a pre-inca design of ruins that are found in this area. The houses were built in sun dried adobe bocks and have a thatched roof. At first there were six, now there are ten, a beautiful place to eat and a small museum where the community exhibits mummies they found close to their ceremonial centre on the top of the island.

On this island ancient traditions have kept alive, women and men wear beautiful costumes, typical hairdressings, and their little society is well organized. For many years we were the only people visiting this island. Now we are very happy to have been able to contribute to this community to conserve their traditions and to improve the wellbeing of these people through community-based tourism.