Trip: Peru
There are [18] stories from my trip: Peru
PERU | Thursday, 4 Oct 2007 | Views [952]
Has it been a month already? Amidst a swirl of activity—of sightseeing, volunteering, and the buzz of day-to-day living—the time has flown by and already feels like a dream. After a month in Peru, I find the prospect of leaving bittersweet. There are ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, voluntourism
PERU | Wednesday, 3 Oct 2007 | Views [1182]
Today was the last day at the Pumamarca school for many of us volunteers. Knowing this would be the last time that I would see the school and the children (for now, anyway), I was plagued by a feeling of melancholy from the moment I woke up in the morning.... Read more >
Tags: adventures, voluntourism
PERU | Tuesday, 2 Oct 2007 | Views [3144]
Day 1 The day of our Inca Trail trip had finally arrived. The first day began in the Sacred Valley about 40 minutes outside of Ollantaytambo where there is a checkpoint at which you present your ticket and your passport. This may sound a little odd, ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, sightseeing
PERU | Wednesday, 26 Sep 2007 | Views [947]
Today we had a full day working at the school at our various duties (for me, that meant English grades 5 & 6, then assisting with hygiene), and then we went to work on Hernan´s house. For those of you who are actually reading all of these entries, ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, voluntourism
PERU | Tuesday, 25 Sep 2007 | Views [2711]
So maybe the idea of alpaca steaks, alpaca diane, and alpaca carpacchio was too much to endure. If so, perhaps you´ll find cuy—another regional favorite—more palatable, no? I took this photo outside of Pisac when we stopped at a traditional chicha house ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, food & eating, sightseeing
PERU | Tuesday, 25 Sep 2007 | Views [2935]
I just returned last night from a long weekend in Puno and Lake Titicaca with two other volunteers, Genelle and Claudine. It was a little vacation from vacation, if you will. A week ago a meteorite crash-landed outside the city of Puno and soon thereafter ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, food & eating, sightseeing
PERU | Friday, 21 Sep 2007 | Views [1040]
The other day we conducted our first home visit. A home visit is when the volunteers, along with Ginny and Iris (the organization´s social worker), visit a home in the Pumamarca village to check on their progress. These are typically families who have ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, voluntourism
PERU | Tuesday, 18 Sep 2007 | Views [5818]
Sometimes food poisoning isn´t merely food poisoning when it´s...well, you´ll see. After three days of illness, Ginny (our volunteer coordinator) took me and two other sick volunteers to see a doctor in Cuzco—someone the organization trusts and works ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, doctors hospitals & health, voluntourism
PERU | Saturday, 15 Sep 2007 | Views [906]
It isn´t all about work here in Peru. In fact, our first full week contained plenty of sightseeing as we eased ourselves into being in Peru, being together as a group, acclimatizing to the altitude, and becoming accustomed to the Pumamarca school in general.... Read more >
Tags: adventures, doctors hospitals & health, sightseeing
PERU | Thursday, 13 Sep 2007 | Views [2587]
Okay, we didn´t eat the exact one in the photo, but alpaca is a popular regional dish in the mountainous areas for obvious reasons: it´s what´s available. Despite the fact that the “cute factor” might make this meat unpalatable for us Westerners, I am ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, food & eating
PERU | Wednesday, 12 Sep 2007 | Views [1122]
Our comings and goings to the Pumamarca school are both exciting and bittersweet. When we arrive in our combi van, there are already children at the gate awaiting our arrival and welcoming us with hugs, kisses, and a resounding chorus of “hola amigos!” ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, voluntourism
PERU | Wednesday, 12 Sep 2007 | Photo Gallery
All photos taken by Colleen Finn
See all 138 photos >>
PERU | Wednesday, 12 Sep 2007 | Photo Gallery
All photos taken by Colleen Finn
See all 314 photos >>
PERU | Tuesday, 11 Sep 2007 | Views [2518]
Yesterday we spent a full day exploring the many Inca ruins that can be found in Cuzco. We started with a horseback ride from lower Sacsayhuaman to one of the sites at higher elevation where many Inca tunnels can be found. During the time of the Incas, ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, sightseeing
PERU | Monday, 10 Sep 2007 | Views [2648]
Today was our orientation at the Pumamarca school. Pumamarca is a rural village outside of Cuzco where the people live in extreme poverty—there is no sewage system, no running water in the homes (the locals either use untreated water from faucets outside ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, voluntourism
PERU | Sunday, 9 Sep 2007 | Views [998]
Arrived in Cuzco. I am so thankful that I opted to take anti-altitude sickness tablets before coming, because the altitude (which is approximately 11,000 feet) is not affecting me as much as it has at lower elevations in the past. Cuzco is nestled in ... Read more >
Tags: adventures, voluntourism
PERU | Saturday, 8 Sep 2007 | Views [1081]
In Lima, I met up with two of my fellow volunteers. Since we weren´t going to be in Lima for long, we took a tour of the city and saw many of the major sites. We started in the Plaza Mayor, which is at the heart of central Lima. On one side of the plaza ... Read more >
Tags: sightseeing
PERU | Saturday, 8 Sep 2007 | Views [822]
The purpose of this entry is simply to let everyone know that I´ve arrived safely in Lima. In fact, traveling here was one of the smoothest trips I´ve ever taken—no delays, good weather, I even had an empty seat next to me on the flight. An empty seat ... Read more >
Tags: planes trains & automobiles
