LIKE HANSEL AND GRETEL

Imagine you are doing a beautiful hike in the Sacred Valley, Peru. It’s sunny and you’re at high altitude. You are reminded to keep drinking a lot of water. Your bottle is almost empty. Luckily there is a small café along the path where you can buy new drinks. You pay 5 soles for a new 1L water bottle, throw your empty bottle in the trashcan and continue your quest.

Unfortunately, this is the usual way. We all need to drink water, and in some countries the only option as a tourist is to buy plastic bottles. Once empty, we throw them away and loose responsibility. It becomes someone else’s problem. Strange when you think about it.

As tourism grows, so does the waste problem. We can even trace the right walking route by searching for empty bottles, just like the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. Gretel’s breadcrumbs disappeared in an instance, but plastic bottles can stay intact for 450 years.

WHAT IF?

Hopefully we will soon be able to make that beautiful hike, without leaving a trace. When there are sufficient water refill points along the way, it becomes much easier. So please read again:

Imagine you are doing a beautiful hike in the Sacred Valley, Peru. It’s sunny and you’re at high altitude. You are reminded to keep drinking a lot of water. Your water bottle is almost empty. Luckily there is a small café along the path. You refill your bottle from a large tank containing purified water. You pay 4 soles for the refill and continue your quest.

SHARE YOUR STORY

Are you into hiking? What do you do to leave no trace? Tell us about it!

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