Peru's Challenge

A real highlight of my trip so far has been a visit to a tiny community called Pumamarca, located 10km from the centre of Cusco. Pip, a friend of mine from my CSU uni days, has just moved here to help coordinate a volunteer program run by an organisation called Peru's Challenge. One of the program's main activities has been to renovate the local school and round up students. Apparently this was done via a community door-knock, where volunteers handed out bananas as incentives for local families to get their kids out of the fields and into school. It worked - the school now has 150 students! The community has really got on board and many of the fathers have helped, and continue to help, renovate the school.












Other problems the community faces include a water supply that is something like 200 times over the safe drinking limit! So the program has established water reservoirs and introduced filtered drinking water. Domestic violence and alcoholism are also issues within the community. A mothers' group was started as a way of making women in the community self-sufficient. The mothers are required to meet three times a week at the school where they have learned the art of making handcrafts, such as knitted goods, which they can now sell to tourists. This means they have an independent source of income which is divided up, some going to the maker of the product herself and some to materials. At the end of last year there were enough funds to purchase Christmas hampers, and there was even some left over after that. The mothers collectively decided to use the remaining funds to realise their dream of visiting Machu Picchu.

Who eats wins

We've started a game called 'Who eats wins'. There's so many interesting things to try over here, one of which has been 'Cuy' or guinea pig. Cooked guinea pig is a Peruvian specialty which we tried while we were in Cusco. It comes in many forms and is usually whole. Jesus and the Apostles were even depicted eating Cuy and 'Chicha' - an Inca corn beer - in a painting of the Last Supper we saw in a Cathedral in Cusco. Other things I've tried include Alpaca, Lake Titicaca trout, intestines stuffed with meat and rice, and Bolivian saltenas (sweet samosa-shaped pastries stuffed with chicken, potato and other mystery ingredients).

Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail

Anyone who's heard of Peru has had to have heard of the Inca Trail. After a 22 hour bus ride from Lima, we arrived in Cusco for the four day/three night trek, leaving on 7 December. All up we walked between 45-50km and it was hard! I'd rolled my ankle the month before so had stopped doing regular physical activity and, coupled with the altitude (the highest we reached was about 4200 above sea level), I felt it! The good thing was that we were able to take our time and enjoy the amazing scenery which consisted of mountains and glaciers. We also learned a lot about the Inca civilization from our guide, Freddy, who worshipped the traditional Andean religion (he even asked that we make an offering of coca leaves and rum to 'Pachamama', or 'Mother Earth'). We had many opportunities to see various Inca ruins along the way, many of which were amazingly intricate and intact. Unfortunately once we arrived in Machu Picchu it was overcast, but we were still able to get some good pics once it cleared. I'd definitely recommend a trip to Peru for this, but it's not for the faint hearted!

Move over Perez Hilton

I'm not a blogger. Never have been, and thought I never would be. It seems I've caved. Having been away for nearly a month, now in beautiful Bolivia, there are just too many experiences I'd love to share with family and friends and this seems to be the easiest way to do it. I was also inspired by the blog my brother wrote while he was away in North America last year, Wheat and Chaff. I'm nowhere near as good a writer as he is, but at least those of your who are interested (Mum and Dad) will be able to see some pics and read some tales.