We invite you to join us in our hands-on work with various community projects in the Amazon region. Our volunteer trip Unveiling the Amazon will provide participants with an unique, exciting opportunity to venture into the pristine, remote areas where our program leaders are based, in order to more directly support their efforts to create sustainable economic opportunities.

Local Canoe Guide, Mabiti

Participants will stay in Jamaraquá, one of the communities where CEN works, witnessing local culture, actively engaging in Amazonian lifestyle and working side-by-side residents on their specific income-generating activity. One such project is TekBor, where cCLEAR participants Dejalma and Pipoca produce and sell translucent rubber products made through an unique process requiring no heat. Visitors will be split into small focus groups to discover how the latex is harvested, stored and finally produced into the final rubber product. Visitors will serve not only as apprentices to the TekBor team, but will also have the opportunity to view different product prototypes and give constructive market feedback regarding if visitors and friends back home would buy these products, offer suggestions for potential enhancements, and help set realistic price points.

Dejalma and Pipoca will also derive significant benefit from the planning and organization they will do in order to prepare for the visitors. Giving the tours will help the participants learn to articulate their business and organize their thoughts, which will help them in the future as they speak with potential customers and future financers. The visit also serves as a strong deadline for participants by which to finish their product prototypes. They will also need to learn to store the raw materials and intermediary materials effectively in order to maintain production throughoutthe year, and document their business processes, while answering many questions related to business ownership. It will compel them to develop critical thinking and organizational skills along with the problem-solving required to own a successful business and follow its goals through to fruition. Meanwhile, for the visitor, the tours will provide a compelling way to learn the harvesting of a product that has a strong regional, economic and cultural importance

Dona Maria Eugete with her Dresses

Visitors will also have the opportunity to work with other cCLEAR participants, as well. Although specific activities will depend upon the participants’ needs at the time of the visit, all activities will enable visitors to interact closely with, and provide meaningful support to the project participants and the success of the cCLEAR project.

In keeping with the principles of sustainable ecotourism, Unveiling the Amazon minimizes the detrimental effects of travel due to its relative small scale and close involvement with the host communities. Small scale, slow growth, and local management are key to creating sustainable economic opportunities through ecotourism. The program provides environmental benefits as well as high-level management positions to community members, reducing poverty and unemployment. Local management have a vested interest in the well being of their community, and are therefore generally more accountable to environmental protection than agencies based outside the region.

Our trip participants bring a genuine desire to meaningfully interact with these communities at a local level, the humility to learn and absorb the experience, and a mutual willingness to break the cycle of dependency and poverty.

Unveiling the Amazon also offers plenty of recreation and relaxation. The region boasts a marvelous wealth of leisure activities, such as hiking, fishing, soccer, dancing and more. The trip will include:

• an excursion to Alter do Chão, one of the most beautiful river

  Immerse yourself in the culture and sights of the Amazon!

  eaches in the world;
• a hike in the Tapajós National Forest, a protected oasis in the midst of the Amazon rainforest;
• a piracaia (party on the beach),
• visits to other rarely-visited coves and beaches along the river

CEN can also make suggestions  and further travel arrangements should you choose to extend your stay in the region or elsewhere in Brazil

Related Links

Unveiling the Amazon Expedition Overview

Unveiling the Amazon Itinerary

Optional Side Trips

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