About El Camino VolunTours...

It all started with an impromptu trip to Australia after high school... Chris Buckshaw, founder of El Camino VolunTours had never been outside of North America when he and a friend got to talking about escaping to Australia for a year-long working holiday. Immediately, they booked their tickets which allowed for stops through South East Asia on the way there and back. After this trip, Chris' life would never be the same...

Constru Casa Group

Seeing the world through different eyes.

Only when one sees first hand the different places of the world, then they can begin to understand that the world they come from is just a small part of reality on this planet. Since Chris' trip to Australia and South East Asia, he has visited more than 20 more countries in his travels and has experienced sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings he had never experienced before. He had met the most kind and interesting people from many walks of life and experienced something he had always been searching for: true cultural exchange.

So what is true cultural exchange? Chris explains, "It's easier to explain what it's not. Cultural exchange is not getting off a cruise ship for a few hours and haggling with a local for a cheap price on that handmade textile they spent days or weeks making. It's not being distracted by North American magicians and comedians within the walls of an all-inclusive resort designed to keep you away from the reality that exists outside. Nor is it being towed around on a tour bus with 50 other people, stopping to take photos then moving on to the next site… Real cultural exchange is immersing oneself and working side by side with real people in a real community and communicating in whatever way you can, developing a real understanding between yourself and them. You will find that any misconceptions you had about these people will quickly be dispelled, and vice-versa. You will find that they are just like you, working hard to get by."

Not long after returning from his Australian adventure, Chris decided he was meant to work in the travel industry. He obtained his diploma at the Canadian Tourism College in Vancouver and began his career as a travel agent. He then moved on to different areas such as designing custom tour packages in Latin America for a popular tour company. As part of the job, Chris got to visit some of the countries he had been designing tour packages for and fell in love with this part of the world. He and his then fiancé Cara traveled through different countries in Central America and returned to marry in Costa Rica. Their honeymoon was spent traveling through Guatemala and Belize where they fell in love with the people and the cultures. They volunteered with different organizations there and visited many schools meeting other travelers who were doing the same. They discovered there were many people from all over the world spending their vacation time in these and other developing countries around the world volunteering and helping people they have never met, simply because they wanted to help.

Upon returning to Canada, Chris had decided he wanted to help expose people to this life-changing experience of volunteering abroad. Most of the volunteer travelers they had met in Central America were quite travel savvy, and had much experience traveling abroad. They felt comfortable finding their way to small villages off the "Gringo Trail" and had some language skills to make it easier for them, but Chris wanted to help the average person who had the desire to travel to these countries and volunteer, but had little or no travel experience or did not feel comfortable doing this kind of thing on their own. He wanted to find a way to make this kind of experience easy for the average person to do, something that could fit in their limited vacation time and budget. The people would be met at the airport when they arrive in the country and brought straight to the project by their tour leader who would accompany the group the entire time. All accommodations and transportation would be included in the price as would most of the meals. Also, there would be fun excursions to break up the workweek such as volcano hikes, blue water lagoons, surfing, swimming, shopping, and more. The concept of El Camino VolunTours began to take shape. Chris used his eight plus years experience in the travel industry to design these packages for people who wanted to travel to these countries and volunteer on a project that was making a real difference in the world. Chris has visited, volunteered with, and partnered with the best organizations on location to benefit not only the people and nature of the country they are in, but also the people who visit and volunteer from the developed countries as their lives are changed forever.

El Camino VolunTours offers opportunities to volunteer in projects for community development, or for nature and wildlife preservation. Some people love to help other people, others love to help nature and wildlife. What do you want to do on your VolunTour?

El Camino VolunTours Mission Statement:

To connect people in developed countries to people in developing countries and to promote peace and understanding between the two. To make it a very simple process to volunteer abroad and to have every person who takes an El Camino VolunTour return home a changed person. To be the gateway to volunteering abroad and to change the world in a positive way.