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Vivid Roots & Somos Impact Travel · Bishop Kelly High School

Stone, Soil, and the Sacred Valley

A 9-day field expedition through Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu: three full days of reforestation work with Valle Sagrado Verde, then the terraces and citadels that same valley has depended on for a thousand years.

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Dates
June 11-19, 2027
Duration
9 days / 8 nights
Locations
Cusco · Sacred Valley · Machu Picchu
Grade
High school

How does a valley shaped by a thousand years of Inca terracing, colonial land use, and modern deforestation reveal what long-term stewardship of land actually requires?

Students investigate that question from three angles across nine days. Three full field days with Valle Sagrado Verde put them inside a contemporary answer. Ollantaytambo's fortress terraces, which follow, are a thousand-year-old answer to the same problem. Moray and the Maras salt pans close the loop on the human side: who decides how a shared resource gets used, and who bears the cost when that balance breaks down.

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Somos

About Somos Impact Travel

Every school trip runs the same way: students arrive, spend a few hours "helping," take photos, and leave. The community they visited stays exactly where it was. The relationship never has time to form.

Somos Impact Travel is a bridge, not a helper. Our NGO partners and community leaders are the teachers and the protagonists of every program, never the supporting cast. That is a structural choice, not a marketing line.

Somos is co-founded by educators and travel leaders with more than a decade of in-country operations across Central and South America, guiding 1,000+ travelers through partnership-based programs.

Vivid Roots

About Vivid Roots

Vivid Roots is a Boise-based youth travel and leadership organization providing the fundraising platform and leadership and advocacy materials for this program. Each student builds an individual fundraising page, supported by leadership curriculum that ties directly to the field work ahead with Valle Sagrado Verde.

  • Boise-based, working directly with Idaho high schools on international student programs
  • Provides the platform each student uses to build and share a fundraising page
  • Leadership and advocacy materials connect each student's effort to the field work ahead

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Evening reflection

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A conservation program based out of El Albergue Farm in Ollantaytambo, founded in 2020 by residents of the Sacred Valley responding to worsening wildfires and generations of lost native forest cover. The program runs on three components: fire-prevention brigades trained and organized within local communities, natural regeneration work protecting existing flora and water sources, and reforestation with native species including Queñua, Chachacomo, Molle, and Tara.

  • Community-founded and community-led: brigades are Sacred Valley residents, not outside volunteers running the program
  • Reforestation with native, drought-resistant species suited to the valley's altitude and soil
  • Fire prevention treated as an organized, trained community practice rather than an afterthought
  • Works directly with the municipalities of Ollantaytambo, Cusco, and neighboring districts

Student outcome: three full field days under the direction of trained brigade leaders, contributing hands-on labor to reforestation, fire prevention, and multi-season survival monitoring.

Lens of inquiry question: what does it take to keep a single tree alive at this altitude, season after season, once the planting itself is done?

Students planting native seedlings alongside brigade members
Students at work on a reforestation plot

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For teachers and administrators

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For parents and students

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~$3,800 per student, all-inclusive

Airfare is included. All meals are included.

Includes round-trip air from Boise. Custom pricing is finalized based on final group size, specific inclusions, and airfare at time of confirmation; adult leaders typically travel at a reduced rate or complimentary depending on group composition. A detailed cost breakdown and payment schedule follow program confirmation.

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Payment and cancellation

A $500 deposit per traveler secures a spot and is non-refundable, though it is honored for life and can be applied to any future Somos program. 50% of the total cost is due 120 days before departure, with the balance due 60 days before departure. Fundraising through Vivid Roots can be applied toward the balance as it comes in.

Cancellations more than 90 days before departure receive a full refund excluding the deposit; within 90 days, payments made are non-refundable. Full terms are on the Terms and Conditions page.

June 11-19, 2027 · Applications open

Your place in the Sacred Valley is open.

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Shad Qudsi
Co-Founder, Somos Impact Travel
shad@somos.travel · WhatsApp +502 4681 4697
Dallas Crum
Co-Founder, Vivid Roots
dallas@vividroots.com · +1 (208) 869-5060