¡Hola Friends and Family!
This week we were able to take advantage of all of the rich culture, delicious food, and quirky handicrafts that Cusco has to offer while also improving our spanish. We kicked off our first FULL week in Cusco with a group hike on Easter to the mountainous region just outside of the city. There we enjoyed a picnic full of comfort food (peanut butter and jelly,… Read More
Hola, buen dia!(:
Namaste! Hello, family and friends of SAM 2014! I apologize for the delay/procrastination on this blog post. These last couple of weeks has been quite a turn of events. Amazon week turned into student directed travel week and and student directed travel week turned into a volunteering week in Pisac and Cusco. It´s been quite hectic for the leaders and Carpe Diem but everyone´s been pretty mellow… Read More
This is Kelsey, your blogger for last week! I am sorry this blog is so late. I got sick but I am feeling much better now! Last week we were unfortunately unable to start our adventure to the amazon due to riots on the road there. So we started free travel and headed out to Puno! We got on the bus and arrived later than we had thought but with… Read More
The new volunteer project is off to a good start! The group spent yesterday painting, playing soccer, and teaching English with the children at Sonco Wassi. … Read More
The past week the group has been in Puno, exploring the area around Lake Titicaca. Here are some photos from the week – including a delicious crepe breakfast they all cooked together! … Read More
Hi Readers,
The last week was spent in a yoga retreat roughly an hour outside of Cusco, the previous capital of the Incan Empire, in a small “eco-farm,” in the Peruvian Sacred Valley. Here, the mountains rocketed into the sky in every direction, blanketing us in cool mornings of wet grass and chilly nights. By mid day, however, the sun would shine with a noticable strength, and taking off my… Read More
Town of Chivay, Arequipa, Peru
¡Hola!
We kicked off this week with a weekend excusrion to the small, nearby town of Chivay. Personally, this is my favorite spot we’ve visited so far! The bus ride itself was filled with interesting sights including hundreds of cairns(stones stacked on top of each other to form towers as a form of worship) placed there by Incans long ago, and a plethora of… Read More
View of the mountains from Arequipa The whole group in Arequipa’s main plaza. Making chocolate at the Albergue (home for girls). More chocolate making! Working on a painting project at the Albergue. … Read More
Heya! So, you might already know, but we’re in Perú! After just over a month in Ecuador, we left it via a very early taxi ride and plane trip last weekend. Arequipa, our Peruvian city for the past and next week, has been kind to us. For the most part. The pickpocketing warnings that we had been given before our arrival were given for good reason. Two of our group… Read More
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. … Read More
Washing, picking, and packing bananas!
Horseback riding:
Tea break:
Some of the group in front of the “wedding trees” that grow together at the top: … Read More
After Otavalo we took a 6 hour bus ride to Santo Domingo. From the bus terminal we were taken to a Banana farm! When we arrived we were greeted by Juan Carlos Verduga and his family. We were astonished to find out that some of us would be staying in what we called ¨the club house¨ while others stayed with the family inside their house. The family was very generous,… Read More
You all may have been wondering where all of us SAM Semester students have been! I assure you we are all well and safe. We just got back today from a little rurual mountain town named Pucara. Here many of us had the opporunity of a lifetime. Where else would you be able to go to a rural town in a forigen country and be welcomed into the homes of… Read More
Hey, people back home! For those of you in the North, how´s the polar vortex going? Even for Southerners, are you still having to reach for a jacket when you go out? Not us! (Well, okay, maybe in the mornings and evenings, but hey, we’re at 9,350 feet here) We have been able to strip down to shorts and t-shirts for the better parts of our days and run… Read More
Greetings friends and family of the South America group,
After a long day of travel, the group has made it’s way to Quito. After a surprisingly comfortable night in Lima, they arrived, had a delicious dinner, and are getting ready for some well deserved rest. They will be diving into their orientation over the next few days – stay tuned for future posts to this blog from the students.
All… Read More
