Peru Volunteer Journals

This is it! We’re just hours away from starting our trip to Peru. I can’t believe after almost a year of planning (and convincing Jessie) that today is the day! Thank you to everyone who has helped us get to this point with ideas, fundraising, personal experiences and support. You all are amazing! I’m not sure if I’ll get to post everyday but I’ll be updating as much as possible. So check back to hear about how everything is going. Wish us luck : )

I can’t believe our trip is finally here!  Heather and I only have a few hours left before we start our journey to Cusco, Peru!  We are both nervous, but very excited at the same time.  I hope you all enjoy following along my first BIG trip out of the country/North America. 
Miss and love you all!  Jessie

Before I know it, September 19th will be here and it will be time for me to go. I’m really looking forward to my trip to Peru. I wish I could go for a longer period of time. My plan is to do this and then hopefully plan better for next year and be able to commit to a longer term. I got my second round of shots this week. So far I’ve gotten vaccinations for Tetanus, Typhoid, and Hep A/B. One more round and I will be good to go. Yesterday, I made sure that my passport information was [...]

 My daughter Devin and I will start our journey today. We are from New Jersey, I have a small business and Devin is a senior in college working on her teaching degree. We will be volunteering in a kindergarten in a small town near Cusco.  Volunteering in another country is something I have always wanted to do but had put it on the back burner as life marched on.  Last year Devin said she wanted to volunteer after hearing about the adventures of her cousin and aunt in Tanzania.  This was something she felt she had to do, her only criteria was that [...]

In less than two weeks I will be flying out of Auckland en route to Cusco, Peru, where I will spend the next eight weeks teaching English through a programme run by MaximoNivel. The idea of volunteering had been on my mind for several years and my decision to jump in came late last year, after I returned from a holiday in Europe, which was wonderful in some respects but lacked real purpose. I decided that my next venture abroad should have a purpose other than traveling around and seeing sights and I am sure my assignment in Cusco will [...]

After being told that the roads down from La Paz to Uyuni were unsafe due to flooding and landslides, I decided to take a detour and head down to the official Capital City, Sucre. The city itself is very colonial with elaborate white buildings and some very welcome warm weather.
Sucre is all very pretty, but it lacks any real tourist activities and after facing the death road, I was in search of a new adventure! The most I found was a Dinosaur Park, that housed the world’s oldest collection of dinosaur footprints. The wall and footprints themselves were impressive, it [...]

After a hideously long bus ride, I finally reached Copacabana at night. As I hadn’t bothered to book a hostel before hand, I wandered around the so called ‘quiet’ fishing town with my massive backpack, getting turned away from hostels because apparently it was carnival and everywhere was full. Grrr!
Eventually, I bumped into an English couple who were in the same situation. We headed to La Cupula Hostel where, to my surprise, we all managed to get rooms and I even secured a discount, by saying I was a volunteer with little money
As were on the shores of Lake [...]

Hola
Sorry it´s been a while; I´ve not had access to wireless and internet cafes call for brevity as they are an expense which my vagabondish self can´t always afford…
After two trips down the Amazon through northern Peru, Harriet and I arrived in the very sweet port town of Leticia, Colombia. We flew to Bogotá a few days ago and are museum hopping, possibly going on a rock-climbing advench tomorrow.
We´re going to make our way north to Cartegena before heading back down through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia, where we´ll spend the latter half of April before crossing over to Argentina.
Travel [...]

My last few days in Cusco seemed to fly by! I had promised 2 of my students (Julio and Lincol) I would let them take me on a tour of their University, which turns out has a Zoo! It was no London Zoo and most animal rights activists would probably be up in arms as its not the kindest looking place and they apparently keep the animals there for ‘research’. Nevertheless it was full with animals from the Peruvian Jungle and I finally got to see a Condor!
After, they took me to lunch in the University Comedor. Basically, it is [...]

On Saturday I left Cusco behind to embark on the epic Inca trail! Unfortunately the traditional Inca route is closed during February for maintenance. So I decided to try out the hardcore jungle version….
For 4 days, we biked and walked our way closer to the almighty wonder that is Machu Picchu! The first day we began on bikes, cycling down through the jungle region situated to the South of Machu. We began on the road firstly (Where I was informed a girl had been killed 2 weeks b4 when she was hit by a bus!! just to put me at [...]

I’m finally something official. I know I’m a “writer” and a “musician” and “chocolate-eater”, but these are liberal self-titles. Now I at least have a paper from Someone saying “Leilah Feinstein is a certified English as a Foreign Language Teacher”. Also makes me go “eeeehhhhh!” cuz it reminds me I’m a Grown Up At Least A Little Bit.
On the practical side of things, I’m extremely happy about all this TEFL stuff. I was on the fence about it at first, but now I’m psyched to have the opportunity to travel for cheap AND teach! I was totally nervous when I started [...]

Valentine´s Day 2009: Woke up at 5am with a broken back on a bus to Arequipa, which at the time was screening a Peruvian version of the karate kid. 
Arequipa is a mere 10 hour night bus ride away from Cusco and me and 2 housemates decided to go for the weekend! We arrived at 6am, wandering around the Plaza de Armas like zombies with only a few tramps for company, until we eventually found an available hostel!
After a well needed kip, we hit Arequipa hard…First stop the Monastery!
The Monasterio de Santa Catalina is described as a ‘City within a City’ and after spending 2 hours in [...]

Monday: Me and 3 friends woke up and took a scenic 4 hour bus ride to (where? don’t remember). When we got there, we hopped on (gigantic) mountain bikes and started our tour. Of course, within a half hour I ate shit and now have some brilliant bruises to show for it. Made me feel like a pretty big badass though. Anyway, we biked about two hours through some amazing mountains and past the river. The most interesting detail to me on that route was the massive amount of red and black butterflies. I don’t know if they were mating [...]

I can´t believe I have been in Cusco for only 1 week! I seem to have crammed so much into the last few days!
On Thursday I went on a sight seeing tour around Cusco with one of my housemates John from Salt Lake City. We decided to take the short walk up into the mountains to see the Sacsayhuaman ruins. Its pronounced ’sexy woman’ and every time you say it, people giggle! Even taxi drivers! It sounds hilarious in a Cusqueñan accent. Unfortunately, it doesn’t translate as such in Quechua! (The Andean language which is also spoke in Cusco) 
It was [...]

Having made it to Cusco on Sunday, my jet-lagged self has been acclimatizing to the local conditions. At 3000 metres above sea level, it can take some getting used to. So, I have been sleeping and drinking coca tea (a local herbal remedy) to ward off altitude sickness or ‘Soroche’ as its know locally and it seems to have worked.
I´m staying in the Family House which is home to about 15 other volunteers, most of which are American and so they were Superbowl mad the first day I arrived. The house is lovely, the food is great and all meals are [...]

Last night, this is the email I sent my parents and Wilber:
Ok, so, I finally had a meeting with the director of Huchuy Yachaq, along with the head of construction and the directors of Máximo Nivel. I know the news has been slow in the making, but you guys need to understand that Peru is an extremely disorganized country, and Cusco is a concentrated source of confusion and run-arounds.
Here is the deal. 
Huchuy Yachaq is a children’s center, and it’s main focus is education. Apparently, since this is vacation time in Cusco, the 300 kids that are there right now is hugely over the [...]

To publicly update:
I am now taking the TEFL course to become a certified ESL teacher. The workload is INSANE but I’ll be done in 2.5 weeks, at which point I plan to return to life from a zombie state.

One fine Cusqueñan day, Little Leilah Jane was playing by the road, whistling a little tune on a little whim. Two small hobos came marching along, sacks over their shoulders and a look in their eyes of hunger and weariness. “Why, stop and rest, wontcha?” Asked Little Leilah Jane. “Per-squeak!” the travelers cried in relief. Little Leilah had never seen any hobo as small or hungry as these, and she was overwhelmed with curiosity. “If you please, sirs, what…what are you?” she asked. “Aha!” said one, pulling out an identification card and flipping it carelessly in her direction. It read: [...]

Saturday, January 24, 2009
Hello everyone,
I hope you have been staying warm, yet have given your chance to enjoy the snow over the last couple of weeks.  Although it is quite chilly, it is so beautiful!  I have recently gotten back into winter sports, so I am happy when the snow falls.  Some may think I am out of my mind, but I’ve never cared too much about that in the past, so why start now?
The prayer team is almost complete for my travel partners and myself, not to mention the kids we are traveling to visit with
I [...]

Friday night I left for Puno with Joe and Rebecca, some of my housemates. After an 8 hour bus ride (bus sans-baño), we arrived at the break of dawn to see the beautiful Lake Titicaca shining out of a mountain framework. It would have been so incredible had I not been literally about to pee my pants.
After a breakfast of salt with eggs, we set off at 8 a.m. on a boat ride to the Floating Islands of Uros. They were really amazing; tiny islands made of reeds, about 35 people live on each one. We took a handmade boat [...]

3 years ago today
And look where I am! Finally at peace with life/death, whichever side of the coin you choose to live on. I worked hard today, this morning at Spanish lessons and this afternoon at the kids’ center. I feel proud and exhausted, and happy that on my 3rd try I didn’t wake up nauseated by the date. No feelings of empty wet burlap in my stomach anymore. They do dissipate…
So my work. I am rooming at the volunteer house with an English woman who also works at the site with me. To give the picture: about 100 filthy, [...]

At the end of a full day of abdominal turmoil, I recall my father’s words upon speaking of his dog who was hit by the school bus: We are tubes.
After 5 lovely hours at the health clinic (and I do mean lovely, because my guide from Maximo Nivel, Carlos, was so sweet and actually made it sort of fun), an iffy-iodine/needle/possibly-used latex glove blood test, a tummy poke and prod, and 4 failed attempts to provide an “ejemplo de la cosa que no es la vomita; otra cosa”, it turns out your girl has Typhoid Fever, and possibly a parasite [...]

Today I walked around Plaza de las Armas in Cusco (I still have not settled on spelling Cusco with an S or a Z. I think it will fluctuate with my mood). I hung out in the square, reading my (awesome) guidebook from Wilber, and this 77-year-old guy came up and started talking to me. He was friendly, with good things to say, maybe what someone might call a “conversationalist”, although in 2009 I’m not sure what that means. We talked a bit about socio-economic disparity in Peru. Then he taught me some Quechua words and gave me the most [...]

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Hello everyone,
I am not feeling too well today and thought I would try to be productive as possible and catch up on tasks for my Peru excursion. As I was lying on my couch this morning, I came to the realization that my trip to Peru is right around the corner.  I have a lot to do and will do my best to keep everyone posted as I go through the process.  I plan on keeping the posts as short and to-the-point as possible. Please remember, although I may write much about myself - the point [...]

FINALLY!
I´m here in Cuzco. I spent a few days in Lima with my mom, but we got to Cuzco yesterday. My mini-adventures to date:
1) Sitting between two old ladies on the 8 hour flight from Newark. They muttered prayers to Jesus constantly through the whole flight and then when we landed told me that he always takes care of us.
2) Standing in line for customs, I saw a really tiny and cute little girl. I smiled; she stopped and stuck out her tongue. I knew at that moment that I am going to love Peru.
3) Eating dinner in a French [...]

This is my first journal entry; I’m trying out the system. 
 
I am leaving for Peru this Friday. I’ll be traveling from Lima to Cuzco for 10 days prior to beginning my first program with the GVN. I’m very excited; so excited I don’t even know what to do with myself! The nerves have not set in yet, but I’m sure they will in due time. I can’t wait to meet the other volunteers, but most of all I am looking forward to experiencing Peruvian culture and life.
I am anticipating this journey through my own dimensions.

The final day at the project was good but weird at the same time. Because it was Juan’s last day (who is incidentally coming back in a month to settle in Cusco such is his dedication to the project and city), the kids had organised a performance to say goodbye. And because it was also my last day, as well as one other Spanish girl, we by default were also getting a tremendous farewell.
I couldn’t understand a lot of what was said but the performances didn’t really need explanation, a love song and bootie dance from some of the girls [...]

Unless you have booked in advance, are well organised or are travelling off peak, there is a good chance that you won´t be able to walk the famous Inca Trail (Camino Inca). Fortunately there are a number of alternative treks which allow you to arrive at Machu Picchu via Agua Calientes, the town at the base of the famous ruins. I chose to do the Lares trek which takes you through a lot of small villages and is really picturesque.
I got picked up at 6am on Friday morning and we drove for an hour into a small town where I [...]

I have just finished my last Spanish class with the lovely Mabel (a name that sounds SO much prettier pronounced in Spanish!). I honestly don’t know if anything has stuck but am pretty sure I’ll be able to get around Bolivia ok with the basic Spanish that I do have.
The last few days in Cusco have continued to be really interesting. On Wednesday the whole city was closed down with everyone protesting the increasing cost of living and wages that haven’t increased in years. There was no transport anywhere (except for a few rouge taxis that braved having rocks thrown [...]

Miss Marple has nothing on me…
I have now realised after chatting with an Irish couple who both came down with Salmonella as to why I am immune. As they described their symptoms I began to think that sounds awfully similar to that bout of flu I had in Bolivia just before I got to Cusco. No appetite, couldn´t get out of bed, achy legs… And so we put two and two together and realised that I probably did have Salmonella but due to my regime of garlic, charcoal and probiotics over those two days I managed to beat it. Who [...]