Whew! After a long, long day of traveling I've made it! I got into Lima last night around 11pm after a layover in Miami. I met up with the other students working here and we sat in a 24 hour cafe waiting for our 5:15am flight. Finally got our tickets and boarded the plane to Ayacucho. Needless to say, our heads were nodding the whole flight but we got to watch the sunrise over the Andes as the pilot somehow landed the plane admist all the mountain peaks. We met up with our in-country staff leader, Rudy, who took us to "home base," the house in town that we will be staying in. We had some breakfast and took an hour nap. We dragged ourselves out of bed and walked throughout the town. It's so beautiful here despite the obvious poverty. Everyone is so friendly and little kids kept running up to us for high five's and to try out their English skills. After our walk we had some lunch of rice, vegetables, and some of the best chicken I've ever had and went to bed for a 4 hour nap. We got up and had dinner and now are just relaxing, trying to adjust to the high altitudes (which really takes a lot out of you!) and the slight time adjustment. Tomorrow we have orientation early in the morning and will be going to our worksites.
I am so excited to be here and love the other volunteers so far! Everywhere we look in this town is beautiful, as the peaks of the Andes are on all sides of us. The people are so friendly but I would definitely suggest reading about the Shining Path movement, as it's clear that it really wreaked havoc on this town and it's still trying to recover from that time in its history. I was saddended to hear that Cross Cultural Soluti0ns will be shutting down it's Ayacucho location in August due to the struggling economy and lack of volunteers. It's easy to forget that our American economic issues have such a direct impact on towns like this.
I miss my family and friends but really believe that this trip is going to be an eye opening experience. Feel free to email me at kmdight@gmail.com with any questions!
Miss you all!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Peru prep!
Hi everyone!
So I have no real experience with blogs but it was recommended to me from a bunch of friends who have studied abroad that I keep some type of record while I am away on my month long internship and trip to Peru. No guarantees on frequent updates but I'll try to post something a few times a week if possible.
Just a little background on what I'll be doing while I'm away:
I heard earlier this year about an organization named Cross Cultural Solutions and became really interested in it after hearing that it had bases all over the world through which people could volunteer or intern. I opted for the internship facet of the program and soon decided on Peru as my destination. I've taken Spanish for a long time (although it's not very obvious by my skill level!) and had always been interested in South America so Peru seemed like a great choice. The various internships were all ones that I would be interested in working with and my eventual placement has put me in the women's prison daycare. In Peru, it's common for children to live with their incarcerated mothers until the time they are 4 years old. Part of my job while I'm there is to introduce them to some things from "the outside world" such as proper sanitation and hygiene and some English. There is a chance I will be working with the mothers as well, teaching job skills for when they are released. Peru has had a violent history and many of these women are widows from the Shining Path Revolution and have become involved with the cocoa trade as a way to make a living.
I leave this Saturday, June 29th, from Philly and will fly to Miami. From there I will fly into Lima, Peru and sleep there for the night. I have an EARLY flight Sunday morning to Ayacucho, the town in which I will be living for the month. The first few days will be something of an orientation and introduction to the other interns. They seem to be students from all over the world, although it seems like the concentration of them are from the East Coast. We will all live together in a "home base" located in the center of the town, with other volunteers and interns as well as the in country staff, who all are staying there for various lengths of time. At the end of my trip I will fly back to Lima where I'll be staying a few days to take in the country's capital. This part of the trip is a little nerve wracking, as I'll be traveling alone and staying in a student hostel! Should be interesting.
This first post was a break from packing so I am going to finish that and say my goodbye's to my friends and Mom! I will try to keep this as current as possible.
Adios!
So I have no real experience with blogs but it was recommended to me from a bunch of friends who have studied abroad that I keep some type of record while I am away on my month long internship and trip to Peru. No guarantees on frequent updates but I'll try to post something a few times a week if possible.
Just a little background on what I'll be doing while I'm away:
I heard earlier this year about an organization named Cross Cultural Solutions and became really interested in it after hearing that it had bases all over the world through which people could volunteer or intern. I opted for the internship facet of the program and soon decided on Peru as my destination. I've taken Spanish for a long time (although it's not very obvious by my skill level!) and had always been interested in South America so Peru seemed like a great choice. The various internships were all ones that I would be interested in working with and my eventual placement has put me in the women's prison daycare. In Peru, it's common for children to live with their incarcerated mothers until the time they are 4 years old. Part of my job while I'm there is to introduce them to some things from "the outside world" such as proper sanitation and hygiene and some English. There is a chance I will be working with the mothers as well, teaching job skills for when they are released. Peru has had a violent history and many of these women are widows from the Shining Path Revolution and have become involved with the cocoa trade as a way to make a living.
I leave this Saturday, June 29th, from Philly and will fly to Miami. From there I will fly into Lima, Peru and sleep there for the night. I have an EARLY flight Sunday morning to Ayacucho, the town in which I will be living for the month. The first few days will be something of an orientation and introduction to the other interns. They seem to be students from all over the world, although it seems like the concentration of them are from the East Coast. We will all live together in a "home base" located in the center of the town, with other volunteers and interns as well as the in country staff, who all are staying there for various lengths of time. At the end of my trip I will fly back to Lima where I'll be staying a few days to take in the country's capital. This part of the trip is a little nerve wracking, as I'll be traveling alone and staying in a student hostel! Should be interesting.
This first post was a break from packing so I am going to finish that and say my goodbye's to my friends and Mom! I will try to keep this as current as possible.
Adios!
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