Adventures With Tour Leaders: Off Season Endeavors

If you strike up a conversation with any of our tour leaders,  you’ll immediately note that these bicycle-loving travelers are dynamic individuals who enjoy exploring new off-the-beaten-path places while connecting with people on – and off –  season.  Our tour leaders carry their passion for travel, people, and cultural exchange into the off season. They are dedicated to giving back to communities they visit and the people they meet along the way.  Here’s a small peek into what two of our tour leaders are up to in between the ExperiencePlus! 2016 and 2017 bicycle tour season.

Montse Bosch

If you’ve bicycled in Spain with Montse, you likely picked up on her love for discovering new places and cultures at the pace she truly believes is best – on a bike. This winter Montse and her husband, Iñigo, will first spend a few months volunteering for Ghana Bamboo Bikes, a “socio-ecological green initiative that addresses the quadruple problems of climate change, poverty, rural-urban migration and high unemployment among the youth in rural Ghana by creating employment opportunities and sustainable livelihood job skills for the youth through the building of high quality handcrafted second generation bamboo bikes for the local and international export markets.”  After volunteering, Montse and Iñigo plan to cover about 7000 km (4350 Miles), cycling from Ghana through Costa de Marfil, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Mauritania, Sahara, Marruecos, and finally ride back to Spain with their own handmade, bamboo bikes.  You can follow the journey on their blog.

Andrea Gareffa

After a cycling expedition from Cancun to Panama last year, Andrea and a friend have been working to raise money for a Guatemalan farmer, Ovidio. This corn farmer provided shelter and safety to Andrea and his friend after they realized they were being followed by local bandits while cycling through Yalpemech. A small fundraising project was born as Andrea and his travel companion wanted to show their gratitude for Ovidio’s kindness. Currently Ovidio shares his father-in-law’s 400 square-foot house with nine others, Andrea’s goal is to raise 3,000 Euro to help Ovidio build his own home. To see the video Andrea put together for this project or learn more about his journey you can visit his crowdfunding page here.

If you missed our video introducing ExperiencePlus! tour leaders, take a look at what a great team awaits you!