MAP Blog

Wrapping Up MAP

Year One, Done!

My team did our final presentation for our client and faculty advisor on Tuesday, and turned our paper in yesterday, one day ahead of schedule. It feels great - but weird! - to be done! My first year at Ross was amazing, and MAP was the icing on the cake. I loved my project, my sponsor, my advisor and, most of all, my team. We worked hard and learned a lot, but also had a ton of fun. Further, we had a tangible impact on a small, interesting, international organization. I couldn't have asked for more. 

Here, Paul, Allison, and our faculty advisors, Gautam and Ozge, talk about their impressions of MAP:

As a reminder, Frankie is the VERY large cockroach from El Gato's home-stay. Pepe is a monkey from one of the home-stays in the corridor. He and Paul had a... special... relationship (thanks, Ryan, for the images): 

 

Thanks for watching! 

~ Heather

MAP Inter-American Development Bank - Final Presentation

Back to Lima

While we certainly did a lot of touring around while in Cusco, we also did quite a bit of work. We talked to a lot of tourists about their experiences in Peru, and whether or not they would consider a jungle home-stay. We also prepared the midpoint presentation that we gave to our client when we arrived back in Lima. I had a chance to ask Kurt, one of the founders of Rainforest Expeditions and our main client contact on the project, about the benefits his company gets out of its relationship with Ross: 

Escape from the rainforest

After 10 days of heat and humidity in the 90s, my team was pretty relieved to get on the (air-conditioned!) plane to Cusco, one of Peru's largest tourist cities. 

 

After scrubbing off the layers of DEET and downing Advil for altitude sickness, we spent the next 4 days exploring Cusco and the surrounding area. We interviewed tourists and tour operators, and did some sightseeing of our own in the Sacred Valley with the other 2 MAP teams. (Thanks, Frank, for the group picture.)

 
 

MAP Inter-American Development Bank - Almost There

MAP Inter-American Development Bank - Almost There

On to the lodge

After spending a few days with El Gato, we headed back down the Tambopata River to visit an RFE lodge, Posada Amazonas. Here, we interviewed fellow guests to learn more about their tourism consumption habits, and participated in the activities (fishing, hikes, canopy tower climbs, etc.) so that we could compare them to what's offered at home-stays. The cayman and piranha below were both seen on our tour of a local oxbow lake.

 

The lodge felt like the Ritz after 4 nights at home-stays. We had electricity and internet, even if only for 5ish hours a day. There were also fewer mosquitoes, which was of particular relief to Allison and I because we both got destroyed by bugs upriver. 

We ended our time at the lodge by leading ourselves on a hike to the canopy tower: 

Heading to Baltimore (no crab cakes here...)

After conducting research in the Corridor, we headed upriver to visit Baltimore, a community of about 10 families, to learn more about the tourist activities (farm tours, etc.) and home-stays they currently offered. 

 

We stopped at several farms along the way, and sampled A LOT of fruit, including coconut. 

 

We stayed with Eduardo Ramirez ('El Gato' - on the left in the picture below) for 2 nights. He took us on a great jungle hike to see a macaw clay lick, and taught us how to fish for piranha. 

 

The home-stay conditions were pretty rustic, and the sleeping accommodations were certainly not bug proof, as you'll see in the two videos below.... (NOTE: In the 2nd video, please pay particular attention to the whimpering/screaming in the background.... Not a girl. Please also note Allison's kick-ass World War 2 headlamp. It's awesome. And yes, our guide, Therany, thought we were nuts!)

Into the Rainforest

After spending 3 days in Lima meeting with our client, Kurt, and finalizing our scope document and Letter of Engagement (LOE) (and going out to dinner with our Faculty Advisor - where Team 2 showed off their mad dancing skills - see video at bottom), we headed to the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest to start conducting our primary research. Our project is focused on assembling a marketing and back office plan for home-stays in two areas along the Tambopata River, the AOATAM Corridor and Baltimore. Our first stop included 2 nights at an ecological center in the Corridor. We visited a number of sites (including a pool and yoga center!) to learn more about the current state of operations.

We had been told that it would be "very hot, humid and buggy" in the rainforest, but we were still taken by surprise when we got off the airplane! 

 

MAP Inter-American Development Bank - Back from Brazil

MAP Inter-American Development Bank - Back from Brazil