TreXperience Team
Active Trekking’s Porters, Chefs, and Tour Guides
At Active Trekking we are a close-knit team of local professionals who truly love Peru and feel proud to share its mountains, history, and living culture with you. Our guides, chefs, and porters have spent many years working on the most iconic routes in the Andes. Thanks to this experience, we design routes that feel real, not rushed – trips that combine comfort, safety, and genuine contact with local life. We listen carefully to our travelers, learn from every group, and are always improving our service so that each new adventure feels even better than the last.
Our Porters
Our porters are the heart and muscle of every trek. Without them, hiking routes like the Inca Trail simply would not be possible. They are the first to wake up, the last to rest, and the ones who make sure your tent, bags, and camp are ready when you arrive. Sadly, on the trail they are not always treated with the respect they deserve.
At Active Trekking we take our responsibility on the Inca Trail very seriously. For that reason, we strictly control the weight each porter carries and we limit your personal duffel to a maximum of 7 kilos. This helps to protect their health and keeps our operation fair and sustainable.
Meals for our porters are planned especially for them. Because of the strict weight and porter number limits set by the government, we cannot serve exactly the same menu as our guests. Instead, our porters receive a high-energy diet designed for intense physical work at altitude. While you are having breakfast, they have already eaten a hearty meal – warm oatmeal, bread, and a strong soup made with noodles, dried potatoes, and meat. At lunchtime, they eat before you arrive so that they can run ahead to prepare the next camp. Whenever possible, we buy fresh products from local families along the route to reduce the loads and support the communities that host us.
Fair salaries are non-negotiable for us. On the Inca Trail, everyone knows that Active Trekking is one of the companies that pays some of the best wages to porters and field staff. This means many head porters visit our Cusco office asking to join the team. We cannot hire everyone – we work with around 250 porters per month – but we hope that by raising pay and conditions, other companies will feel pressure to do the same. When one company improves, it inspires change across the whole industry.
Quality equipment is provided to every porter at no cost. We supply warm jackets, T-shirts, hats, resistant shoes, knee braces, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and group tents. We do not charge for uniforms or gear, and we cover all transportation needed during the trips. Porters should never have to buy the basics in order to work.
Insurance and safety are essential. Carrying heavy loads over mountain passes is demanding work, and accidents can happen. Active Trekking is among the few local operators that provide health insurance for porters on the Inca Trail. Knowing that they and their families are protected allows them to work with peace of mind.
Women on the trail are still rare, but that is changing. In Peru, machismo is still strong in many areas, yet our team is proudly mixed: we have female porters, female chefs, and female tour guides, and most of our office staff are women. As Active Trekking grows, we are committed to giving more women access to good jobs in tourism and to building a truly inclusive team.
Personal experience on the Inca Trail
Before creating Active Trekking, I worked as a guide for a large company partly owned from abroad. I was asked to tell guests it was a “100% local operator,” even though that was not completely true. On the trail, I often saw a porter in worn sandals walking with my group. Because almost everyone else wore company uniforms, I would explain to travelers that he simply preferred not to wear shoes.
One day, I met him again on a steep section and we started to talk. He told me about his family, his son studying tourism, and the younger children still in school. Money was always tight. When I asked why he never used the company shoes, he explained that workers were forced to buy the uniform if they wanted a job. If they could not pay upfront, the cost was automatically taken from their salary. Hearing this was like a punch in the stomach. The pride I had felt for that company disappeared. They were charging the poorest people on the team and claiming to provide full equipment and support.
That day I promised myself that, one day, I would open a company where porters would be treated with honesty and dignity and invited him to join me when that happened.
When Active Trekking finally started, many chefs and porters chose to come with us. Most arrived at the office carrying old backpacks and boots from previous companies, convinced they had to keep using what they had bought with their own money. I explained that with us it would be different: uniforms and working gear would never be deducted from their salary; we provide everything they need to work safely and comfortably.
Our Tour Guides
At Active Trekking, our adventure staff is more than a group of guides – they are friendly local hosts who take care of you from start to finish. They speak fluent English (and often other languages too), so it’s easy to ask questions, share a laugh, and feel comfortable on the trail.
Our team has many years of experience leading groups in the mountains. They are patient, kind, and flexible, adjusting the pace to your interests, age, and fitness level. They keep learning about history, culture, safety, and customer service so you always feel informed and safe. Most of all, they love creating routes that avoid the crowds and bring you closer to real Andean life – local villages, nature, and quiet viewpoints that still feel wild and authentic.
Our Tour Guides
All our tour guides at Active Trekking are licensed professionals with a deep respect for Pachamama (Mother Earth), a strong connection to Peruvian culture, and a genuine passion for helping visitors feel safe and welcome.
Every February, we run intensive training for the whole team – guides, porters, chefs, drivers, and office staff. This includes First Aid, high-mountain rescue, the use of emergency equipment such as AEDs and oxygen, and workshops on customer care. The goal is simple: to give you an adventure that is exciting, safe, and full of meaningful moments.
Our lead guides and expedition leaders are known not only for their knowledge of the Incas and Andean history, but also for their warm personalities. Guests describe them as patient, supportive, fun, and deeply connected to their communities. Their stories bring the mountains, ruins, and local traditions to life and turn a trek into a journey you will remember for years.
Many travelers highlight how our guides look after every detail – from clear briefings before the trek, to encouragement on the steep climbs, to sharing coca tea and checking how you feel each morning. Nobody is ever left behind, and every traveler is treated with the same care whether it is their first hike or their tenth.
Guests also praise our chefs and porters in the same way: creative meals served in remote campsites, surprise birthday cakes at altitude, hot water bottles placed in sleeping bags on cold nights, and tents ready and waiting when you arrive. The logistics behind the scenes are complex, but our team works together so that what you feel is simple: you are cared for, from the first step to the last.
What our guests say
Travelers often tell us that hiking with Active Trekking feels like joining a group of friends rather than a tour. They value how our guides share stories about plants, animals, Inca sites, and modern Andean life. Many mention that their guide helped them through altitude sickness, bad weather, or moments of doubt with kindness and encouragement. Others talk about how fun the evenings in camp were, laughing, sharing tea, and watching the stars.
Our cooks are called “magicians” more than once, preparing delicious three-course meals with very simple equipment. Groups are amazed to find fresh bread, soups, and beautifully presented dishes at high-mountain camps, and some even celebrate birthdays or special occasions with cakes baked at 3,000 meters.
Again and again, guests say the same thing: the landscapes are spectacular, but it’s the people who make the trip unforgettable.
We’re here for you
If you’d like to know more about our team, our treks, or how we care for our staff, we are always happy to talk. You can contact Active Trekking atinfo@activetrekking.com, visit us at Av Ayahuayco 284, Cusco 08002, Peru, or call / WhatsApp us on +51 920 729 953. We would love to help you plan your next adventure in Peru.
