Jason Straziuso
The Ottawa Citizen

Pay to work: More travelers are forgoing tanning time to make a corner of the world shine brighter

Stuck in a vacation rut? Is one tourist destination starting to look like the next? Maybe it's time to try both an exotic international locale and one that will allow you to give back to a local community at the same time.

Volunteer vacations are an increasingly popular way to spend time off from the routine, and there are dozens of companies that offer affordable volunteer trips to almost anywhere in the world.

It won't be your typical vacation. You might live with a local family instead of at a tourists' hotel. And instead of lying on the beach, you might teach in a school or help provide health care. But if you're willing to forgo the tanning time to help make a small corner of the world shine a bit brighter, here's some websites that will help get you there.

- Globe Aware -- http://www. globeaware.org -- says its volunteer vacations in Peru and Nepal are like mini-Peace Corps experiences. Assemble wheelchairs from recycled parts in Cambodia or help create paths to attract tourists to Costa Rica's Carara Rainforest.