The Alliance for Cultural and Economic Exchange (AlliancExchange) will host a dinner and informational introduction to the Chocolate Trail portion of its eco-tour, Exploring Ecuador from the Andes to the Amazon: A Sustainable Community-based Experience, in January 2010. The event will be held Wednesday, May 13, at the Machu Picchu Restaurant at 307 Somerville Ave. in Union Square.
Judy Logback is the presenter. She traveled to Ecuador 12 years ago and founded an economic development cooperative. Today she is the chocolate guru of Kallari Association, the most successful community-based chocolate cooperative in South America. To register, go towww.alliancexchange.org.
Proceeds from the event and the 2010 journey will help rainforest children pursue education beyond their sixth-grade village schools and other community-based projects in the Napo region of Ecuador. During the journey, travelers will meet school children and community leaders, experience local customs, climb volcanoes, trek to a glacier and through the forest, and visit local markets, volcanic hot springs and historic sites.
A group of intrepid travelers will experience this once-in-a-lifetime journey while supporting indigenous people who are the caretakers of the world’s most important resource, the Amazonian rainforest. For more information about how you can join like-minded travelers and to learn more about AlliancExchange, check outwww.alliancexchange.org and click on journeys or call 617-628-9297.
Founded in 2003, AlliancExchange is dedicated to bringing together people from a wide range of backgrounds to partner for economic development and environmental and cultural sustainability at a community level. The journey is a joint venture with partner, Kallari Association, producer of the Kallari RainFamily dark chocolate, and Andean Discovery. For more about Kallari, see www.kallari.com. For more information about Andean Discovery, seewww.andeandiscovery.com.