Inca Archaeology Volunteer project in Huyro, Peru

At the Inca Archaeology project, volunteers will assist with work in the centre of Huyro, district of Huayopata, which belongs to the buffer zone of the archaeological park of Machu Picchu. Here archaeological remains are still being investigated, and volunteers support the excavations in the area, help with the cleaning and conservation of parks, and assist in the enhancement of the parks in the area. It has proximity to Machu Picchu but is in a relatively un-investigated state, which means that many places and ruins remain to be discovered.

Volunteers who join this project will be working together with archaeologists and staff from the Ministry of Culture. The project has an agreement with the municipality of Huayopata to support the projects of the Ministry of Culture in the excavations and enhancements of the archaeological remains of the sector.

As the project is located in cloud forest and jungle environments, it can start raining at any time (in particular during the rainy season). In such cases, volunteers assist with other activities that include working with ceramics found from the excavations, community work such as farming etc. They also do certain workshops. These are usually done in combination with archaeology work, depending on the weather conditions.

Volunteers need to join for min. 2 weeks, speak basic Spanish and be min. 18 years old. Volunteers work in the mornings from Monday to Friday, and all volunteers also assist the local library twice a week in the afternoon. Work on this project requires good physical condition. Volunteers take the local bus from the centre of Cusco to Quillabamba. Please note that the location of the project is a 4-hour bus drive from Cusco to Huyro (about $10), and thus volunteers would be staying at the project site during the week.

Please note that this project doesn’t run during the rainy season, which is from November to April each year.