The Good and the Bad

Let's start with the good: the Reality Tour exposes interested travelers to many many different sub-cultures, micro-climates and traditions. Ecuador is an extremely diverse country. It is one of 17 megadiverse countries in the world. In one small area about the size of Colorado you have the Coast, the Andes, and the Jungle. Every few hours of travel you are going into a new world. We enjoy all three of these different regions and micro climates. The tour is called a Reality Tour for a reason, it is designed to be educational. The tour exposes the traveler to sociological, anthropological, ecological, and historical aspects to how globalization has effected the jungle and the people in the jungle. How their customs have changed as the forest life has changed. Most importantly the tour shows the travelers how our own global resources are effected by the negative changes to the forest. We see first hand what the rest of the world only reads about. It puts things in perspective, everyone leaves this tour with much more knowledge than they could have received in a semester of college. Meanwhile 100% of the money the tourist pay to go on this trip goes to the varies communities the travelers visit. Each traveler’s fee pays for one Afro-ecuadorian student to study for a year. All the students are working on graduate or post-graduate studies. The fee is 100% tax deductible. South American Secrets does not take any payment for guiding the tours. It is our mission to expose as many people to this region with the hopes exposure will protect its treasures. We the guides do not take a fee, our mission is to expose the beauty and realty of the jungle to those who would care for it.

Now the bad: In the Jungle, travelers have their comfort levels tested. By no means could we rate the accommodations with stars. If you are a traveler who likes adventure, and you want to test yourself, see a world you can't find outside of the jungle, this trip is for you. If your idea of fun is a vacation in fancy hotels and cocktails on the side of a pool, then this trip is not for you, this trip is more of an educational adventure, not a vacation.

It is important our would be travelers understand there is no communication to the outside world. No phones and no cell phone reception. There is no running water, most people bath in the rivers. Generally there are bathrooms but waste is washed down by pouring buckets of water in toilets. In many places the nearest hospital is 8 hours away form us. Some of what we see is very sad, parts of the Jungle are being cut down, and industries are coming in and poising the land and the waterways. We see first hand the loggers who are doing this and what it is doing to the communities. I would also recommend children under the ages of 12 and seniors with major medical conditions not think about making this trip. All would be travelers should consult their doctors before joining South American Secrets on the Reality Tour.