We've just arrived back from one of the more unusual tourist trips I've ever been on, building a stove for a Peruvian Family. I met this guy Ben from Glen Innes in NSW who now resides in Northern Peru and runs stove building tours for tourists. So we hopped on a bus from Cajamarca and headed to a very remote community in the mountains for a spot of bricklaying.
Smoke from cooking fires is the 4th biggest cause of death in developing countries, in fact it kills more people than Malaria. Other than very smoky kitchens, headaches and lots of tears, the smoke can cause low birth weights, infant mortality, cataracts and cancer. For more info type killer in the kitchen in google.So Ben has set up socio adventures to help local communities. So if anyone out there plans on coming to Peru I can't recommend this tour more
Not only do you get to help little cuties like the twins above, but you'll get that sense of achievment of actually having built something, not to mention the gratitude of the locals who quote "Will never forget you as long as they live". They also threw in a couple of guinea pigs( they were delicious), a chicken and a sack of potatoes for good measure 
even the kids lent a hand, they were particularly fond of washing bricks and eating our poporn
It was a great 5 days and the guy in the hat is currently writing a poem about us... The family were lovely and of course we ended up getting more out of the tour than they did.... Gotta love giving, it's so selfish
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