I just got back from a little adventure with the boys at the orphanage. We jumped on their bus, which needs to be hotwired everytime anyone wants to drive it. I´ll be sure to post a picture of it sometime soon. Well we drove to a farm and picked a little fruit that looked like a mix between a blueberry and a grape. The boys would climb to the top of the tree and shake the branches. The boys on the bottom would collect and eat the fruit. It was a fun experience as the farm seemed to be in the middle of Quechua land. You don´t have to drive far out of the city of Huancayo to be in the heart of the peruvian culture. People working in fields of all different kinds of crops. All the farming is done by hand. They don´t seem to be in any rush because everything they need is only a short walk away. Staring out the window of the big blue bus made me feel like i know little abot a hard days work.

There are a few things going on with my projects. At the moment, expand peru is opening a new house were local children of the Chupaca region, a small part of huancayo that is only about a 20 minute bus ride from where i live. The house is called La Casa and it will be a place for the children to play, relax, get help with on schoolwork, and more. Next week the children will be going to La Casa to sign-up for the program and I have been asked by the expand peru staff to make a psychological test for the children. ekks. well i´m not going to do that but i am working on making a general psychosocail assessment. This will enable the staff to gather general information about the children and give light to any difficulties, insecurities, interests, thoughts, and more. I want to make so it will be easy for the staff to follow, which means it needs to be in spanish. ahh. i have lots of work to do.

This past weekend I went on a little tour in the mountains around Huancayo, and there are a lot. From the top of my house, on a clear day, I can see a peak covered in snow. This is a place i hope to travel to in the future. anyway, the our was fun and I went on it with 3 othr volunteers. the tour was in spanish so i can´t give you too much info but it was a good time.

adios

Huancayo 1

Hola everyone,

I haven´t written in a while because i have been working on getting my feet on the ground. It has been a little tough adjusting to life here due to the fact that i know little spanish, but that is changing. The family I am living with is great and keeps me on my toes with my spanish vocab. I have also met loads of great locals and travellers.

The boys orphanage I work at is a great facility. It is state funded so there is no lack of food or necessary supplies. At the moment, I am working with 7 different individuals with special needs living at the orphanage. As I am only going to be working here for about 3 months I am working to learn about the children and educate some of the staff about what I know. There is one individual, Ramerio, who is 20 years old and has been diagnosed with severe autism. He is a handful but a fun person. We did run into a problem beacause he found a cactus called tona (not sure if the spelling is right) and decided to eat it. Eating Tona is normal here, and very delicious, but that is after you peal it. You can guess what happened but Ramerio is good now.

Hunacayo is surrounded by many beautiful mountains but this makes living with the altitude interesting. I am living at about 10,500 feet. It definitly took some time to adjust to and i´m still not fully there yet. haha. Yesterday i played a soocer game at the orphanage and i felt like passing out after the first three mintues of the game. haha. it was good fun though.

The food is great here but it also takes some getting used to. That is all i really need to share there.

Everything else is great and Huancayo is a great place once you get to know it.

adios

Viva Peru!

Peru us a great country! the people here are very warm and welcoming, the food is delicious, and there is a lot of things to do here, well, just about everything. I have already been invited by some new local friends of mine to go rock climbing tomorrow. that should be fun.

I was supposed to arrive in Huancayo in Tuesday but I just wandered in yesterday morning. Continental airlines happened to leave 60 luggage bags at the Newark airport. Luckily for me I was in no rush to go anywhere but i´m sure that wasn´t the case for everyone. While in Lima I stayed in a part of the city called the mirasflores. It is a very Affluent part of the city with Starbucks, burgerkings, Marriot hotels, shoping malls, parks, and more. I did enjoy my stay there but i wasn´t too keen on seeing the starbucks and fast food chains everywhere. Lima is an interesting city because its population is around 9 million people. The entire population of Peru is about 17 million people. Take a look at a map of peru to really see how crazy that is.

After jumping off the bus in Huancayo at 7 am, it was a 7 hour ride from lima, I was greeted by staff from Expand Peru. I was then driven right to my host family´s house. The family was very welcoming and after spending thirty seconds in the house I knew that may stay in Huancayo would be great. Then I was off to a fiesta at the orphanage. It was a nice introduction because I met many of the children that I will be working with and also other staff and volunteers. It iwll be fun starting up my project on monday as I may be teaching some of the staff what I know about special needs. ekks. It will be fun!!

adios

Before I go

Hola!

Well I’m getting in the packing mode for Peru. Here are some quick facts about my trip...

Country of Destination: Peru
City in Peru: Huancayo
Duration of trip: 4 months and 2 weeks
Dates: February 11th to June 17th
Volunteer Organization: Expand Peru
Living Situation: Host Family
What will I be doing? Volunteering!

I am very excited about my travels to Peru. I have always been interested in learning Spanish and now this will be an excellent chance. While I am there I will be taking Spanish classes, working with children, staying with a local family, and living in a country where very little English is spoken. My Spanish speaking qualifications definitely place me as a beginner. This will probably make for a fun, exciting, challenging, and interesting four months!

When in Peru I will be relatively stationary. I am signed up with a local volunteer organization, Expand Peru. They have placed me with a host family and I sill sort out my volunteer project(s) once I arrive. Most likely I will be placed in a special needs program that focuses on children in poverty and/or working with orphans. It is my plan to work on my projects for almost the entire 4 and 1/2 months. This is all I can really tell you at the moment, but you can count on me to share more once I arrive. Internet cafes should be easy to find.

For anyone who hasn't read my past blog feel free to check it out. I volunteered and travelled through East Africa for three months this past fall. Here are two albums from my trip...

This album was posted on the last blog.
http://nmu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068514&l=7cb7a&id=40603000

This is a new group of photos that I recommend taking a look at.
A little Bit of East Africa in 35mm

At the moment I am looking into different ways of sharing photos. Wish me luck, haha.

If anyone is interested in making a donation to my projects in Peru you may feel free to do so. There is a way for you to send your donation to me while I am abroad and I’ll provide details later. I want to say thank you to everyone who donated to my projects in Tanzania, and thank you to those who may donate in the future. I wish I could have you travel with me and see the difference you have made in the past and will make in the future.

This concludes my first blog.

Adios until Peru.