Urpuma

Near the College is a very old "Inca" trail called the Camino de Choro. It starts far above the tree line at 14,500 feet above sea level, and descends over 3 days into lush cloud forest at about 4,000 feet. Toward the end of the trail is a tiny community called Sandillani where there is a community-run ecolodge called Urpuma. That lodge is managed by our student Vidal Pérez, a young man from the local community.

Photo: Urpuma lodge in Sandillani on the Inca Trail (photo by René Callisaya)

The ecolodge was built with local materials by the 25 families that live in nearby El Chairo, with support from the United Nations, Conservation International, the local NGOs Biota and Prodener, the state university in La Paz and the National Park Service (Urpuma is in the Cotapata National Park). It has 30 beds and a camping area, and electricity provided by a water-powered generator.

Photo: Student Vidal Pérez with the College's visiting professionals Yves Comont, Hye-Jung Park, Kate Fuller, Danielle Lang and Francesca Beninati.

Though built with best intentions, many community-run tourism enterprises like Urpuma flounder due to a lack of capacity in the local community, generally farmers with no experience attending to tourists. Community members often receive some training, but it is not enough to respond to the needs of tourists from all over the world.

This is one way that the College is responding to the need for capacity-building in rural communities: providing young people with skills that can make a community-run business like Urpuma successful. Because when our students can create success in their rural communities, the College is successful, too. Felicidades, Vidal -- y ¡adelante!