Cynthia Ord

Have you ever had an ecotourism experience? Would you like to win one? If you take a little time to write your ecotourism story and then campaign for votes, you could win one of five ecotourism adventures from all over the world.

The contest is organized by Mynatour, an online community that inspires a modern and responsible kind of tourism. Prizes are sponsored by whl.travel and its responsible tourism partners in the Galapagos Islands, Quito Ecuador, Estonia, Laos, and Albania.

Don’t just daydream about travel. Think critically about travel experiences you’ve had in the past and whether or not they qualify as ‘eco.’ Think creatively about what could have been more sustainable and responsible about them. Finally, think wishfully about these awesome ecotour prizes and who your lucky companion will be once you rally enough votes to win.

For more information check out the Mynatour contest details. I’ll cheer for you if you ask me to, and good luck!

This article originally appeared on Mynatour. To view the original article, click here. September, 2011.

There is no easy route to Rurrenabaque, Bolivia. What looks like a very short distance from La Paz on the map is actually either a treacherous fourteen hour bus ride or a much pricier one hour flight. Given the obstacles, I was surprised to find that when my travel mates and I arrived in small town in Bolivia’s Amazon basin, its entire face has been changed by tourism.

Rurre’s streets are spotted with businesses that cater to chilled-out budget backpackers and higher-end eco-tourists alike. Tourists can choose from a number of hostels, find traveler pubs and restaurants, and even soak in a lounge pool with a bar that overlooks the town on the side of the Beni river. Everyone is there for the same reason: to choose one of the dozens of tour operators to whisk them into the Bolivian rainforest (selva) and/or the swampy savannah (pampas).

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This article first appeared on Mynatour. To see the original article, click here. September, 2011.

Trekking the Pre-hispanic Trails around Sucre, Bolivia The city of Sucre merits a stop on any Bolivia itinerary. Those passing few for a few days will find whitewashed Spanish colonial architecture to admire and fun markets to explore. Others will choose to call Sucre home for a few weeks or even months in order to take advantage of the variety of Spanish schools there.

Sucre is also the gateway to some of the best outdoor trekking to be found in Bolivia, thanks to a non-profit organization called Condor Trekkers. Encouraging travelers to “be more than just a tourist,” the organization makes the most of its trekkers’ dollars through various community-based development projects and tourism capacity building projects. It trains local tour guides and helps the area turn its natural and cultural assets into basic tourism infrastructure.

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This article originally appeared on MyNaTour. To view the original post, click here. August, 2011.

In the town square of Torotoro, Bolivia, a huge dinosaur statue takes the place of the usual fountain in the center of the plaza. In a Jurassic Park-style local ecotourism promotion effort, Torotoro is branding itself around its national park’s most popular highlight: the dinosaur tracks that are cemented into the ground after millennia of sedimentation. Even the buses that head to Torotoro from the closest city of Cochabamba are airbrushed with wild dinosaur graphics. The tracks, however, are just one of the many ecotourism attractions in Torotoro.

A dinosaur track in Torotoro National Park, Bolivia

Once in the town, you can find a handful of local accommodations and the one tourism office in the center, across from the dinosaur. Here, you can arrange a guide and transportation to enter the national park, which requires that visitors pay an entrance fee and bring local guides with them. The guides, who speak at least two languages including local Quechua, will take to you the caverns, the caves, and the waterfalls that are all within the protected area.

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This article originally appeared on Mynatour.  To view the complete article, click here. July, 2o11.

In Villa Tunari, the main town in the Chapare region of Bolivia, a movie poster hangs on the cement wall. A note attached to it proudly announces that this major Spanish film Tambien La Lluvia was recently filmed on location here. Chapare’s landscape of subtropical greenery and rolling hills makes for a lush movie set. Today, hostales and tour activities are popping up to accommodate weekend vacationers looking for a fresh air getaway from nearby Cochabamba.

Just several hours northeast of the city of Cochabamba by bus, the change of scenery is dramatic. A drop in altitude means warmer nights and a totally different flora and fauna. The forested hills are hospitable to orchids, heavy fern plants, and a vast range of bird wildlife. Along Villa Tunari, the rivers San Mateo and the Espíritu Santo converge.

This article originally appeared on Mynatour.  To view the complete article, click here. July, 2001.

Moray, an Ancient Incan Agricultural Laboratory

Upon arriving at Moray, you’ll find a parking lot full of buses for tourists who have opted for motor-powered transport to the site. The entrance into the site is 10 soles. Moray was discovered relatively recently in 1932, a full 31 years after the ‘old peak’ of Machu Picchu was discovered. Excavation is still incomplete, and the park has been open to the public for only about five years.

Looking down into the huge concentric terraced rings of Moray, it looks somewhat like an ancient amphitheater. To some, they’re reminiscent of extra-terrestrial crop circles, but according to most archeological theories they’re actually very terrestrial and even ingenious in their design. Experts hypothesize that the ancient Incans built the circular terraces to create a series of progressively cooler microclimates for testing different crops. Temperatures can vary up to 27 °F form the largest top circle to the bottom-most one. Climb down the ancient ladders and see if you can notice slightly decreasing temperatures yourself.

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