Saturday morning we woke up super early to catch a 4am bus to Baños. We arrived around 9:30am and met up with Lorena, our coordinator in Baños. Lorena introduced us to our host families and we all went back to our respective houses where we had lunch. We then had the rest of the day for free time so we could explore Baños and catch up with people from home. On Sunday we had two separate group activities in the morning, half of the group went canyoneering and the other half of the group went horseback riding. Everyone in both groups had a blast! Later in the day we took a bus up to a really cool place called the Casa de Arbols, which is a cute little tree house with a swing that swings out over a great view. We all took a turn on the swing, enjoyed some delicious tea and then headed home for the night. The next day we started Spanish lessons at the Raices Spanish School and began what would become the routine for the rest of the week. We had Spanish lessons from 9:00-1:00, with a 30-45 minute break in the middle. After lessons we returned to our host family houses for lunch and then returned once again to Raices to volunteer with kids. There were several different volunteer groups we were able to choose from; some people taught English, others worked with kids making puppets for a play, and others helped create the set and write the script for the play. After volunteering we had a couple hours for free time before dinner. We did various things during that time throughout the week such as getting crepes and coffee, going hiking, visiting the famous hot springs, and hanging out with our host families. At the end of volunteering on Thursday we put on the play we had been working on with the kids. It turned out great and all the kids and Carpe Diem students had fun. Thursday night we all met up after dinner to hear our first life map from Rachel, which is a 15-20 minute presentation to the group about important events in your life. It really brought the group together a lot. On Friday we had our last Spanish classes and instead of the normal volunteering we went to visit a beautiful park in Baños with the kids to enjoy our last day together. After we said our goodbyes to the kids we all returned home to eat dinner and pack. Walking home from there, there was a small volcano eruption! They’re fairly common in Baños and it wasn’t dangerous, but it was really cool to see. Saturday morning we said our goodbyes to our host families and to Lorena, and then we caught a bus to Quito. In Quito we spent the night in a cool hostel and had an awesome dinner of burgers and veggie burgers. We got up at 3am to get to the airport for our flight. After 2 flights we finally arrived in Arequipa, Peru where we met up with our guide, Maria, and then got settled in with our host families.
-Erin