Colibri Journeys

Episode 7 of Season 4 of “The Positive Fantastic” podcast features Laurie Bella Tierra, creatrix of Colibri Journeys. Laurie Bella is a human being who never ceases to impress me with her readiness to engage beauty in spontaneous ritual, with deep presence, and informed by immense gratitude. She founded Colibri Journeys to help support people in having truly meaningful cultural exchanges. In February 2025, I am going to be joining Laurie Bella’s next Colibri Journeys in Peru! She is opening the call to one and all, and because I love to play in community, I am sharing about this epic adventure to summon you all by personal invitation to consider coming along as well!

For all the information and to get in touch with Laurie Bella, you can visit her website. You can also check out her social media Instagram and Facebook pages. Or, for direct contact, you can email your inquiries, curiosities, and questions to Laurie at travelcolibrijourneys@gmail.com

The details for her upcoming trip: February 5th-20th 2025 

Price: $3,200 per person (discounts for kids and bringing a friend!)

Important deadline!!!! Last day to sign up: December 5th, 2024

The Colibri Journeys Trip to Peru will include

• 16 days traveling through the  Sacred Valley ~ Machu Picchu ~ Cuzco, Perú
• Cultural Immersion including: Peruvian cuisine, Quechua and Spanish Lessons, Weaving, Dying, Medicinal Plants, Hotsprings, Traditional music, Despacho Ceremony, and reverent visits to numerous Incan temples (including Machu Picchu)
• Including local families in our meals, every activity and field trip

Who comes on your trips?

Openhearted learners who want to make a positive impact wherever they travel. Each trip is unique, intimate, adaptable

• Homeschool/Worldschool families with kids of all ages
• Elders (age 2-72, hip/knee replacements)
• Couples
• Mother/Daughter
• Retirees
• Queer community

What is unique about what Colibrí Journeys has to offer?

• Quechua classes and cultural lessons with incredible local professors
• Genuine exchange and deep interactions with the local culture
• Volunteer projects (planted 130 native Queuña trees) teaching english
• Egalitarian pay of $20/hr that uplifts the entire Colibrí team to a universal level of abundance
• Bringing along locals wherever we go, sponsoring a family to Machu Picchu last year, and currently working on international visas for local youth
• Continuous conversations with locals and our guests about travel-impact awareness; consciously recognizing and unraveling colonial and capitalistic trends both in the travel industry and our personal paths.
• The difference between paying the “eco fare” plane ticket and directly planting the trees in a community who will continue to care for and benefit from them.
• Hours of research versus decades of experience to ensure that your journey is both comfortable and in integrity.
• The need for deep relationships to foster lasting positive impact (AI-shinybus-greenwashed-surface travel versus weaving a web of allyship and empowerment).

How do these principles ripple out to transform the tourist impact?

• We show both locals and travelers alike the potential for positive-impact interactions
• Our collaborators make more in an hour than most Peruvians make in a day, they count on our abundance to take leaps in their own lives (higher education, home improvements, new businesses, health care)
• It feels vulnerable to stick to our principles when standard tour companies are rooted in practices of colonization and steeped in capitalistic competition. But we know that a heart-forward way of loving and collaborating will bring more success to all of us in the long run and we have to embody the cultural evolutions that we long to live by.
• We rely on community to spread the word- there are deeper, more fulfilling ways to travel! 

Why do we need deep intercultural experiences like those found in Colibri Journeys?

• Learning to trust and honor the “other” stretching our ability to connect and understand one another beyond borders and cultural barriers
• Building our global community and allyship across borders