The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life Part 1

The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life.

Pam Grout.

introduction.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet.

-Barack Obama, then-candidate for President of the United States, in Berlin, July 2008.

Call it the Al Gore Factor, the Katrina Effect, or simply the impulse to have an authentic experience not listed in a typical brochure, but more and more people are combining volunteering with traveling. And it's not just high-profile celebrities like George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, and Hilary Sw.a.n.k-who went to Palampur, India, to teach at an orphanage after her 2006 divorce-who are abandoning their bubble of luxury to lend a.s.sistance to folks in developing countries.

According to a 2008 survey by the University of California, San Diego, 40 percent of Americans would like to volunteer while on vacation, and another 13 percent are ready to devote an entire year to hopping on a plane and providing goodwill.

The reasons for wanting to volunteer vary. Some do it to gain experience, to add some heft to the old resume. Others want to test themselves or to act out a fantasy. Still others are tired of waiting for their government to act. They want to stand up and be counted. Now.

But the thing all volunteer vacations share? They shed light. They give us a more realistic picture of the world. Suffice it to say, the nightly news does not provide an accurate lens through which to view our planet. Most news reports are one reporter's opinion, a sliver of life that one cameraman stumbled onto and captured in one four-minute time slot.

Even people who travel-people who have ticked off, say, the Taj Mahal and the Arc de Triomphe on their life lists-don't always have a realistic vantage point. Fancy hotel chains have set up mini-Americas all over the world. You can go to Costa Rica and check into the San Jose Marriott without ever realizing that the kids in the village down the road play soccer with plastic bags they tied together. You can follow the bellman into your suite at the Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai without it occurring to you that his six kids could eat for a long time on what you'll be paying for room service.

With the vacations in this book, you'll leave that plastic state of mind behind. You'll see a country for what it really is, neither a sound bite or a statistic of those who died in the last tragedy. You'll get to know real people. You'll work beside them, share their struggles, learn what it feels like to live in a village where no men are over 50, and experience what it's like to be invisible to outsiders.

Pillow menus are fun and all, but they don't hold a candle to meeting people like Termana, Indrah, and Bu Mayan, who are putting together a Balinese literary journal. Hotel perks like carsitters and personal fireworks shows sound impressive, but pale in comparison to the satisfaction received from singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to Gwani, a five-year-old Nigerian who just lost her mother to AIDS.

Which brings us back to that light we promised to shed. If you decide to take a volunteer vacation, you can let go of nearly all your preconceived notions, suppositions, and a.s.sumptions. This idea that you, n.o.ble person that you are, are volunteering in order to swoop in and save the so-called poor unfortunates? Kiss it good-bye.

Ask any seasoned volunteer. People in developing countries have a depth of joy, a richness to which those of us consumed with material things are often blind. The question persists: Who ends up getting helped the most when you travel to help others?

In fact, if you really want to save the day, your best bet is to show up, shut your mouth, and listen to and learn from the people you meet on your journey. Find out the truth behind the sound bites and then go home and spread the word. Effective volunteers often end up making a bigger difference back home than they did in their short time spent volunteering.

This book is divided into six regions of the planet. That way, you can pick a place that has always enticed you and find a dam with a hole in it that needs your finger. Rest a.s.sured, there's not a country among the world's 194 nations that couldn't use some kind of help.

By choosing a volunteer vacation by destination, you'll get to travel to the country of your dreams, the one that's been on your radar since second grade or since the president of the PTA came back from there and started pa.s.sing out pictures that made you jealous. You'll be able to immerse yourself in that wild dream country in a way not possible on the average tour bus. Instead of spending time with Bill Smith from one state over, you'll spend time with the very people that inhabit your longed-for country. Through volunteering, you'll get a unique insight into their culture, their beliefs, and, yes, their dreams.

So if you want to know what's really going on in the world, this book could be a potent starting gate. Put your toes on the line and listen up.

-Pam Grout.

north america & the caribbean.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

-Hopi expression.

They say that charity begins at home and in this chapter you'll find 16 ways to make a difference right outside your own doorstep, or at least a few hours away from it by car, plane, or train.

Whether you want to monitor climate change, revolutionize our crumbling medical system, or excavate a Stegosaurus, there's an organization right here in this hemisphere that needs you. Your ideas, your pa.s.sion, your sweat, and your toil will be welcomed.

You can deliver food and supplies to Haiti, providing a beacon of hope in a place that sorely needs one. You can help preserve a colonial-era fort in the Caribbean, offering a bulwark against the sands of time.

As President-elect Barack Obama said in his election night victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park, "So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other."

CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER.

excavate stone tools & other ancient artifacts.

CORTEZ, COLORADO.

Every archaeologist knows in his heart why he digs. He digs...that the dead may live again, that what is past may not be forever lost, that something may be salvaged from the wrack of ages, that the past may color the present and give heart to the future.

-T. Geoffrey Bibby, English archaeologist.

1 Get out your trowel and whisk broom. On the campus of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, a 170-acre paradise outside Cortez, Colorado, students live in Navajo hogans, spend all their time outdoors, and consider themselves dressed up if they happen to be wearing a pair of clean jeans. That's because the students at this unique facility set in a canyon between the 13,000-foot peaks of the La Plata Mountains are learning about archaeology not by reading about it, but by getting down into the dirt and actually digging. This unique school dedicated to exploring the ancestral Puebloan culture of the Mesa Verde region has always had the same mission: Get people interested in an ancient culture by letting them see it for themselves, letting them experience the thrill you can only get from, for example, uncovering a 1,400-year-old pot.

When it was started in 1983, Crow Canyon amounted to a couple of pie-in-the-sky archaeologists, living in tepees and state-surplus trailers, trying to convince anyone who would listen to them that preserving ancient cultures is important. They were obviously pretty convincing, because in the ensuing quarter century, their initial humble idea has morphed into a nationally recognized research center with cla.s.srooms, a lab, and student housing.

"Crow Canyon was founded to make archaeology more public-to enable nonarchaeologists to learn about and partic.i.p.ate in archaeological research," research a.s.sociate Bill Lipe explains. "The whole field has benefited. Crow Canyon has educated thousands of students and adults about what can be learned from archaeology, the difference between 'pothunting' and real archaeology, and the importance of protecting sites."*COVER-UP IN CORTEZ.

The story of when Willard met Rachel includes both murder and intrigue, with a dollop of the one that got away. And if mystery writers hear about it, they might come calling to tell the tale.

Thankfully, though, the ma.s.sive cover-up happening in Cortez, Colorado, is only a rug-the world's largest Two Grey Hills rug. Because of their fine quality and their intricate workmanship, most of the Navajo weavings known as Two Grey Hills are used as wall hangings. Finding a 5-by-7-foot Two Grey Hills would be a rare enough occurrence, but the one in Cortez at the Notah Dineh Trading Company measures a jaw-dropping 12 feet by 18 feet. That represents a whole lot of knots, and a whole lot of finely carded wool. It took more than three years to weave, and the trader who commissioned Dine artist Rachel Curley, who came from a long line of weavers, to weave the unusual rug was murdered before it was completed.

Two Grey Hills rugs, bordered rugs that use wools in black, brown, gray, tan, and white, are considered the gold standard of Navajo rugs. Because their weave is fine and extremely complicated, these rugs are not something that the average weaver can produce. A rug with a weft count-that's the number of threads running across and woven into the warp threads of the textile-of 50 per inch is considered a fine rug. If a rug has a weft count of 80 or more, then it qualifies as a tapestry. Two Grey Hills rugs, with weft counts of 120 or more, far surpa.s.s even that high standard.

Willard Leighton, who was called Chis Chilly (curly hair) by the Dine or Navajo, contracted Rachel Curley to weave the unique rug in question in 1957. Before she could finish making it, however, Leighton was murdered. In 1960, Curley finally completed the rug. Bob Leighton, Willard's brother, hoped to keep the rug, but couldn't afford to do so. Instead, he took it with him on a trading trip. In Montana, he persuaded a rancher that he should furnish his new house not with Persian rugs, but with Navajo rugs. Deal done, Leighton reluctantly parted with Rachel Curley's masterpiece.

Bob Leighton always hoped that he would see the rug again. Thirty-one years later, Bob's friend Mark Winter contacted him about a rare masterpiece rug that he'd found in Santa Barbara. The rug was too large for the room for which the owner had purchased it. Sure enough, it was the rug that Willard Leighton had commissioned.

After touring the country in an exhibit of Navajo weavings, the rug is finally resting in the Leighton family's Notah Dineh Trading Post in Cortez. The trading post also houses the largest collection of Navajo rugs in the Four Corners area. Notah Dineh Trading Post, 345 West Main Street, Cortez, CO 81321, 800-444-2024, www.notahdineh.com.

Every year, hundreds of students of all ages and nationalities work alongside archaeologists, anthropologists, and folks like Lipe to excavate thousands of artifacts, an average of 75,000 per year. They recently excavated Goodman Point Pueblo, an ancient Pueblo village that was inhabited during the late 1200s and has been protected by the federal government since 1889. The site had a large community kiva, as well as a hundred smaller kivas, plazas, towers, and a wall around it. The first phase was completed in 2007, which included excavating the community's kiva, plaza, and towers. Now, archaeologists, anthropologists, and eager volunteers have started Phase II, Goodman Point Community Testing, which involves test excavations at 15 smaller sites around the large village, including habitation sites, ancient roadways, and possible agricultural fields.

AWARD-WINNING AND GLOBE-TROTTING.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, on October 23, 2008, the National Trust for Historic Preservation presented the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center with a National Preservation Honor Award. Ricky Lightfoot, Crow Canyon president and CEO, accepted the award, saying, "I believe the award recognizes that the archaeological sites here in the Four Corners region are nationally significant and are part of our national treasure and our national cultural heritage. It also recognizes Crow Canyon's mission and its work in promoting the preservation of archaeological sites."

Richard Moe, president of the National Trust, said, "Crow Canyon's dedicated staff and volunteers work in a remote corner of America-but their efforts to preserve and showcase the richness of our past reach around the globe. Its commitment to collaboration with American Indian tribes has demonstrated pioneering leadership and ensured that all of the Center's programs honor the cultural perspectives and insights of the first Americans."

In fact, Crow Canyon's programs extend far beyond the Four Corners, as the center also sponsors what it calls archaeology adventures in other parts of the Southwest, as well as China, Mexico, and Turkey. In 2007, nearly 5,000 students and adults partic.i.p.ated in Crow Canyon educational and travel programs both at the center's campus and remotely through partnerships.

It's not a project for wimps. On each of the six "Adult Research Weeks," as Crow Canyon calls them, volunteers hike to the Goodman Point site at the Hovenweep National Monument, lift buckets of dirt, kneel on the ground, and work at an elevation of 6,700 feet.

They learn basic excavation techniques and spend time in the lab washing and cataloging pottery and stone tools. Volunteers also attend a wide variety of lectures and take tours of Mesa Verde National Park and Sand Canyon Pueblo, a site excavated by Crow Canyon in previous years.

In addition to its work in the Four Corners area, Crow Canyon also offers educational trips that spotlight Pueblo cultures in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, and international trips that visit such sites as French caves and the Nile Delta. The educational trips, led by archaeologists and including visits to museums and ancient cliff dwellings, backcountry hikes, and excavations, range from $1,695 to $2,720 for domestic trips. International trips range from $5,100 to $8,795.

If you're not quite ready to get your hands dirty, but still are interested in learning more about the center's work, you can sign up for one of the five lectures in the winter Distinguished Lecturers series, which is cosponsored by the center and Friends of Crow Canyon. Wine and appetizers are followed by presentations on a wide range of relevant topics, which vary depending on the speaker. The series raises money for the Four Corners Youth Scholarship Fund, which helps underwrite the partic.i.p.ation of more than 900 local students in Crow Canyon programs every year.

Research program tuition ranges from $1,050 to $1,400. Rates vary depending on age, experience, and membership in Crow Canyon. Membership fees are $50 for an adult or $85 for a family. The three-week high school field school is $3,950 for donors and $4,075 for nondonors. Tuition includes all lodging (shared accommodations), meals, fees, and permits, as well as in-program transportation once you arrive in Cortez.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH.

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, 23390 Road K, Cortez, CO 81321, 800-422-8975 or 970-565-8975, www.crowcanyon.org.

JUDITH RIVER DINOSAUR INSt.i.tUTE.

unlock the prehistoric past.

MALTA, MONTANA.

Fossil hunting is by far the most fascinating of all sports.

-George g.a.y.l.o.r.d Simpson, paleontologist at New York's American Museum of Natural History.

2 There are no school uniforms and no tests, and you'll use your muscles as much as your brain, but if you want to gain knowledge, there's probably no school as rich as the Judith River Dinosaur Inst.i.tute in Malta, Montana. Your teachers will be Leonardo, Roberta, Giffen, Ralph, Elvis, and a few other 77-to 150-million-year-old creatures that have a lot to teach not only you but all of mankind.

Nate Murphy, the khaki-clad paleontologist and curator who serves as the dinosaurs' agent and mouthpiece, organizes five-day field research trips three to four times each year. Sponsored by the Phillips County Museum and the Judith River Dinosaur Inst.i.tute, which sprang up after the inventory of dinosaurs grew beyond the walls of the county museum, these trips are hot, rugged excavations. Basically, you'll be lifting stones, chipping at rock, and piecing together mysteries from millions of years ago. You'll learn all the stuff you could probably find in an encyclopedia, all the facts and data that paleontologists know so far, but the most exciting part about these dinosaur digs is that you'll also likely learn things that n.o.body else knows yet.

TAKE A RIDE ON THE DINOSAUR TRAIL.

Montana may be the only state with its own dinosaur trail. There are 13 stops on this unique trail, which has its own map, prehistoric pa.s.sport, and website (www.mtdinotrail.org). Joining Malta's Phillips County Museum and the Judith River Dinosaur Field Station, where you can watch Murphy and his cronies prepare dinosaur fossils, the trail includes stops in the Museum of the Rockies, a Smithsonian affiliate that's headed by paleontologist Jack Horner, a consultant on Jura.s.sic Park; and the Fort Peck Field Station of Paleontology, which is run by the University of Montana and serves as a state fossil repository.

One of the most exciting examples took place in 2000, when a team member on the last day of a five-day dig noticed the exposed midsection of a Brachylophosaurus tail. Finding a new dinosaur specimen would have been thrilling enough, but this one had 90 percent of its fossilized soft tissue intact, giving paleontologists all sorts of new information about this 35-foot-long duck-billed herbivore's diet, range of movement, and methods of locomotion. Keep in mind that paleontologists normally piece together entire life histories from something as minuscule as a 2-inch tooth. Famous dinosaur researcher Robert Bakker reportedly fell to his knees when he first saw the find, tears in his eyes. "It was," he said, "like seeing the 'Pieta.'"

The new two-ton find was named Leonardo because of graffiti scrawled onto a nearby rock: "Leonard Webb loves Geneva Jordan 1916." Newsweek ran a cover story and the body of knowledge exploded, not just for the Judith River scientists but for every paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and, for that matter, layperson interested in prehistoric creatures.

"Paleontology is not an exact science," Murphy observes. "All we have are bones, and from there we develop theories about what the animals looked like, how they moved, and what they ate. A specimen like Leonardo will take a lot of guesswork out and really tell us if Steven Spielberg's getting it right."

Murphy likes to say he's not running a "paleo dude ranch" and that the work on his expeditions is tiring and hot, but anyone who has ever taken his expeditions (including a group of regulars who call themselves the "paleochicks") claim they're loads of fun, including late night sing-alongs of such campfire cla.s.sics as "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road."

The fee for Judith River's five-day expeditions is $1,695, which includes meals, beverages, and all excavation tools. Your accommodations are the tent and sleeping bag that you're required to bring. Three expeditions are offered in June and July to individuals 14 years and older, in groups of 16 diggers. In 2009 JRDI is hosting three excavations at the Little Snowy Mountain site near Billings; volunteers (16 per team) will be digging up a Stegosaurus graveyard.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH.

Judith River Dinosaur Inst.i.tute, P.O. Box 429, Malta, MT 59538, 406-654-2323, www.montanadinosaurdigs.com.

MOUNT VERNON LADIES' a.s.sOCIATION

excavate george washington's whiskey distillery.

MOUNT VERNON, VIRGINIA.

It takes very special qualities to devote one's life to problems with no attainable solutions and to poking around in dead people's garbage: Words like "nosy," "m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic," and "completely batty" spring to mind.

-Paul Bahn, archaeologist and author of Bluff Your Way into Archaeology 3 It's an old joke: George Washington slept here. Some of the claims may be true. Others not so much. But if you want to poke around in a place where there's no doubting the nocturnal allegations of our first president, consider joining Mount Vernon's archaeological volunteer program.

If it weren't for volunteers, much of the 500-acre site (in the 18th century, Mount Vernon comprised 8,000 acres) would still be a mystery. Since 1987, when a permanent archaeology program was established on the estate, volunteers (with the help of their professional mentors) have uncovered everything from tobacco pipes and wig curlers to forks made from animal bones.

All of this was accomplished without help from your tax dollars. Mount Vernon receives no funding from the U.S. government. Instead, the "First Home" is maintained by the Mount Vernon Ladies' a.s.sociation, the oldest historic preservation organization in the United States.

The a.s.sociation was founded in 1853 by Ann Pamela Cunningham, a South Carolina woman disabled after falling from a horse. Cunningham's mother, while taking a tour down the Potomac River, was shocked to see Mount Vernon's peeling paint, overgrown weeds, and columns so rotten that the famous portico was propped up with a sailing ship's former mast. She wrote a letter to her daughter describing the unacceptable condition of the first President's home, exhorting her to do something.

The governments of both the United States and Virginia had already turned down the offer to purchase Mount Vernon, and there was even some talk of demolishing the home. Cunningham decided that if the men of the country (at that time, women didn't even have the right to vote) wouldn't renovate the historic site, the women would. Within five years, her women's group raised $200,000 and bought the mansion, the outbuildings, and 200 acres. An 1858 photo on their website shows the dilapidated state of the famous home when they took over.