Volunteer Opportunities

A great chance to experience life in a remote, beautiful Andean community, sharing your own values, skills and lifestyle with local people, and learning about theirs.
Accommodation with local families, usually after an introductory period in Patricia and Ned's guest house.
Length of placement anything from a week onwards. There are 3 main types of placement: teaching, farm work, and ecology/conservation. It's fine if you'd like to try  more than one of these activities.

 Overall purpose of volunteer project: to provide a fantastic experience of authentic Latin America for volunteers, to build the confidence of the local children and adults in their ability to enjoy a wide range of professions, and to prosper from sources of income that don't threaten their traditional way of life.  We'd like to slow down deforestation in Intag, and encourage local people to think twice about the possible long term effects of copper mining on the wonderful natural resources of Intag.

Cost: Teaching placements:$42 per week; Farm work/ecological placments: $49 per week.  (the difference takes into account the great benefit for local children that  volunteer teachers bring).  All money paid direct to the family that you are staying with.  Cost includes all meals and accomodation.  Note: these low prices assume a sincere interest on the part of the volunteer in helping local people: those wishing to visit Intag primarily as ecotourists are directed towards the ecotourist section of this website. 

Other Costs: Most volunteers (not all!)  like to spend a day or two at the start of their placement in the guest houses of Patricia and Ned (also known as eduardo), while they are shown around the area and introduced to the people.  Patricia and Ned's prices for visitors are shown on this website, under the heading "food and accomodation", and the small sums of  money that are earned go towards the website hire and taxes that are necessary to keept the project running. If you'd prefer to go straight to your host family without staying with Patricia and Ned, that's no problem, just email us your family preference (see www.facebook.com/IntagTour or the blog).

Other expenses: A pair of rubber boots. Cost: $8.50.  Great for muddy paths, and protect legs from biting insects; and a hat, to help prevent sunburn and sunstroke.

There are no ATMs in Intag, so please bring enough cash with you to cover your expenses.  The nearest ATMs and large banks are in Otavalo, a 3 1/2 hr journey by bus, daily from Cuellaje village.

Language 

 We recommend that volunteers arrive with basic spanish, to avoid possibly feeling isolated and frustrated.  Ned offers formal spanish classes, see website homepage for more details. On the subject of learning spanish,  just by staying with a local family you will find yourself "immersed" in the language.  Provided you genuinely want to improve, this approach can give a motivated individual with basic spanish the chance to make incredibly fast progress that would perhaps be the envy of many a formal language school student!  We find that great results are obtained by volunteers who realise that local people actually enjoy your learning experience. These volunteers are unafraid to ask questions and  "make a nuisance of themselves" !    Local people are shy and curious about outsiders, and in most cases would feel flattered if you asked them for help in learning the language. The precise level of spanish needed to enjoy life as a volunteer here is difficult to state, since there are people who are so robust mentally, and so energetic in their desire to learn, that they can literally start from zero, and still thrive on the inevitable frustrations that are a part of rapid "full immersion" language learning.  However most, (including me!) are not so blessed, and will find that a basic, conversational level of spanish is richly rewarded during their stay here.

Application procedures.

There are no formal application procedures.  Just send an email to Ned and Patricia, and come and see if the area and its people attract you. Try to give us as much information as you can about your likes and dislikes,  and any plans and goals you may have while in Intag, to help us match you with a local family.

In deciding whether or not Intag might be a suitable destination for you, please take into account that Intag is a  poor part of Ecuador, and that conditions with our host families are  clean but basic: for example, soemtimes the showers are only warm, or even cold; food is good, but cannot rival the variety of modern "supermarket" cultures. Note also that this is a remote part of Ecuador: internet access is fine in the village of Cuellaje, but in the other parts of the parish only exists in the rural schools. Please don't expect the same relatively luxurious living conditions as you would normally receive in rural Europe or North America - In Intag, clean but simple accomodation is the norm.  You can get lots of independent views on this subject by browsing the intagblog at www.ecotouristadventure.wordpress.com

There are a variety of topics under the 'Categories' scroll bar on the left-hand side of the blog, including photos and narratives of experiences from past volunteers.We encourage all volunteers to post comments on this blog, (positive and negative!) so that it is a meaningful resource for those considering a volunteer placement with Intagtour.

The blog also provides a detailed list of the various host families with which you can stay. There are 13 possible host families spread among 6 of the 7 local communities in the parish, plus the village communtiy of Cuellaje. Volunteers are matched with a host family depending on their own interests, personality, and comfort. (Under 'Categories', choose the topic 'Information'. Under 'Information' you can scroll down until reaching the blog post titled "Descriptions of Host Families").

FINALLY, we have recently launched a facebook page for the IntagTour project. The Facebook page provides a forum for past volunteers to share their experiences and photos, and for potential volunteers to find out more and have their questions answered. There is also a 'Notes' section on the Facebook page that will post various information about the project. http://www.facebook.com/IntagTour

For any questions regarding the facebook page, or general questions about volunteering experiences, feel free to contact Jennifer Talbott, a current undergraduate and former volunteer with the project  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Arrival in Quito:  Volunteers may like to be met at Quito airport and/or to spend their first nights in Ecuador at the beautiful home of Chari Agea and Felix Castaneda, good friends of the intagtour project. Chari is an artist and acupuncturist, and Felix is a professional musician with the Orchestra of Andean Instruments.  Chari  and Felix are frequent visitors to Intag, and can provide detailed information on bus travel to the area. They are also wonderful cooks (mainly vegetarian) You can contact them by email (preferably in spanish) to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it    Telephone:  2236667.  Very cool people! A stay with Chari and Felix is much recommended as a friendly, safe and fun start to your time in Ecuador.

Chari and Felix's prices

15$ room and lodging, including breakfast
 3.50$ lunch
 3$ Evening meal
35$ Reception at airport and taxi journey to home, nighttime.
13$ Taxi travel between home and bus terminal, daytime

Teaching

A range of opportunities to suit your own interests and enthusiasms: We usually work with three local schools, to give volunteers a variety of climate and teaching style:
San Antonio school has 25 children aged 5 to 11. Profesora Carmen has especially requested help in the following areas; sports, English, music, arts, mathematics and dance.  Rosario school  (Director Profesor Tirson Rueda, assistant Profe Blanca) is a friendly, well organised school where English teaching is top priority for volunteers.  La Loma school (director Cecilia Alvarez) is an energetically run school which also places priority on English, and with an additionlal request for craftwork, and "any other skills/interests that the volunteer wishes to share". In general, although English teaching is the favourite, because children are so behind in this subject, there is almost no limit to the subject you teach, the important thing is your own enthusiasm and willingness to spend time with the children. Note that since 2011 we also work with Magdalena, Napoles, San Alberto, and La esperanza schools, in all of which english teaching is most appreciated!

Cuellaje village school has 270 children aged 5 to 16. Here the priority is again English teaching, and the emphashis is on english for tourism; and again, other subjects are welcome by arrangement with the head teacher.  

Finally, adult education within the community, teaching English and/or sharing other skills. Examples: sports, craftwork, cookery, mechanics, agriculture, health care: almost any skill or interest that you may care to share would be welcome.
A basic knowledge of Spanish is necessary for nearly all teaching placements, although we have been lucky to have received teaching volunteers so skilful that, with barely a word of spanish, the children were enthralled - please don't feel that you have to come up to this standard, as teachers and children are just grateful for your help and attention!

Please note that the long school vacation in this part of Ecuador is from mid February to early May.  At this time of year, teaching placements are limited to thriving vacation classes for children, and adult classes,  organised by Christina Chaya.

Please  contact the project coordinators Patricia and Ned direct at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

telephone (including national and international codes) 00 593 6 3017543

How to get to San Antonio valley and farm

The nearest town is Otavalo, which is about 2 hours north of the capital, Quito. Otavalo hosts Latin america's biggest textile and crafts fair every Saturday, and is well worth a stop-over.

From Otavalo by bus to the village of Cuellaje is a journey of about 3 1/2 hours along an unpaved road that winds its way through the mountains. There is one bus a day, which leaves at 1pm from Otavalo bus terminal, and is run by a company called Transportes Otavalo. On Fridays and Sundays there is also a morning bus (8am, recommended).

To make sure of a seat, buy tickets a day in advance. Note that weekends are especially busy times for this journey, and standing passengers are not permitted! The route is beautiful, and the morning buses are recommended to avoid the late afternoon mists. The cost is $2.60.

Note that the Intagtour project does not own a car, and relies upon public transport.

2 Days: Culture and Cloud forests

Day 1: Local people and their way of life

8-9 am  Leisurely breakfast, accompanied by hummingbirds and clucking hens, followed by a short walk through the woods to meet your first guide for the day, who will show you the dairy farm and help you to hand milk the cows and make cheeses. Photo opportunities abound!

11am  Meet your next guide, who will take you on horseback (or on foot if you prefer) to a nearby organic vegetable farm.  After an excellent lunch served at the farm, skillfully prepared by Marcela Torres using organic, home produced ingredients, you will enjoy a really first-class demonstration of the pleasures and perils of producing abundant, quality food to feed the whole family.  We are proud to place emphasis on ‘hands-on’ practice rather than just demonstration, and are confident that you will thoroughly enjoy your visit to this farm.

2pm  Brief but fun-packed visit to the community trout farm, where you will take part in the organized chaos of sport fishing, Ecuadorean style!

3pm  A fine conclusion to the day`s activities; you are treated to a guided tour of the trees, birds and wildlife in the beautiful cloud-forests adjoining the guest houses, before returning to a supper of trout, grilled over a wood fire.