Machu Pichu

Tomorrow is the big day. I am so excited. We leave at some obcene hour but its going to be great. Alsion is done all her preperations I am sure, but I have a few more things to do yet.

Love and Luck Everyone

My Trip is coming to an end and although I am going to be happy to come home I will miss Peru. Particularly Cusco, I love it here. But I will tell you all about Cusco latter. First, Chota and the Blue Poncho Lodge. And of course, the other volunteers.

Henry stopped in Cajamaraca for a few hours before headign straight to Chota about five days before the rest of us did. That was Tuesday I beilive. Then on Wednesday Sue and Chenelle arrived. But, nobody bothered to tell them that the program had been changed a little. Instead of two weeks in Chota we were to spend only one. They did´nt mind in the end but of course they where a little cheesed about not being told. In the end we had a few fun days hanging out together in Cajamaraca. Did some sight seeing and drink testing. Ha Ha. Our last day in Cajamaraca we bought some wine, munchies and monopoly game. They all came in super handy.

The bus ride from Cajamaraca to Chota was frightening, to say the least, and it took eight hours instead of the said six that we were told. I had some crocheting to keep me busy but I still noticed the shear drop offs and the tiny roads. There where these big trucks that were filled with people and livestock. It was teriffying to watch them drive so close to the edges and wiz around corners.

When we finaly arrived to Chota we had to take a taxi for 45minutes up a crazy bumpy winding mountain road. We where so glad to get out. Not so glad to have to walk up a speep hill in the dark with all our luggage and step in cow pooh. But we got there, we opened wine and all was well afterwards.

Monday we split up to plant trees in differnet locations. Sue probably had the poorest family. She had a single mom with three boys. The ladies husband had passed away a few years ago and didnt leave her with anything. She has a little shack of a house and a small amount of land. I didn´t get to meet her but Sue told us a bit about her. Chenelle´s family was a couple with one little boy. They lived in a tiny little sod hut but are in the prosses of building a bigger sod hut when we where there. My family was probably the best off but still very poor. They were so gratful for everything. It was so touching. I gave the two little boys some toys and they seemed to enjoy them. Oh, and I found a four-leafed clover on the way home!

The best part of the day was going back to the lodge and haveing an amazing lunch made by Celia, the lodge mum, who is an absoulutly amazing cook. She was probably my favorite part of that week. A truly kind and amazing person. And a genius in the kitchen! I am looking forward to trying some of the stuff she showed me.

Tuesday Sue had to sit out because on her way home on Monday a strange bug bit her and her leg had a huge 3.5 inch diameter swollen bite on it. It did get better but it was huge and hurt her quite alot. So, Chenelle and I attacted the tree planting situation. The first place we stopped had three boys who where so excited about helping. They followed us and picked up plastic and let us show them how to plant the trees themselves. One little boy even followed us and helped out at the neighbours place for a while. It took us the better part of the morning to plant all the trees at all three places. Some trees I am a little concerned might not live because of the conditions they where planted in, but space became an issue after a while.

Wednesday Sue went back to the same home to begin the first stage of the stove. Chenelle and I went together, first to the family I planted at on Monday. When we had finished the first stage the family made us a meal of boiled potatos, cheese and coffee. It was actually pretty good. Just as we left the father handed me a sack with something in it. Then the sack moved and make squeaking noices! I shrieked. Everyone laughed at me exept the horrified Chenelle who knew what I now knew. There where Guinipigs in the sack. The same guinipigs we had just taken photos of and had said, "oh, they are so cute." They gave them to us to eat. I carried the sac the whole 45minute walk back to the lodge and psychologically prepared myself for what would show up on my plate in the next day or two. I found another clover on the way back and we took pictures holding our guinipigs. Me with my clover in my teeth. Sound like a nice pic but I am beat red and making a freaked out face. Ha Ha.

I will put up pictures and explain the whole building proccess when I get home.

After a fantastic meal made by Celia we went to the family who is building their new sod home. It was easy to work there because only the frame was up for the kitchen house.(Many families have a seperate shed like thing for their kitchen)It rained on us a little but they put a makeshift roof up and we were just fine. When we finished the first stage and were about to leave they mother of the family aked us to wait a minute. She ran to her sisters place and came back with two guinipigs. No sac. She handed us each on and mine started squirming. Again, I shreiked and got lauged at, this time Chenelle laughed too though. They found a sac and Chenelle did carrying home this time.

That night we had one escape when we where feeding them and four of us chased it around until Chenelle took a heroic dive and caught him. It was pretty funny stuff.

Thursday we finished the stove at the first family and where given anther meal of potatos and this time these yummy little bisket things, Which I think I have learnt how to make. Afterwards we were given chickens with thier feet tied to take back. I named mine Howard and Chenelle named her´s Chicken Little. We ate them later in the week and they were very good. Celia managed to get two delicious dishes out of them.

I found anothe four-leafed clover on the way back. When we arrived for lunch there where plates with of peices meat the resembeld chicken. It was not chicken. It was our four furry friends. I got over it prett yquick. They taste really good. I know, but don´t worry. I am not going to start grocery shopping at the pet store when I get home.

Henry came with us to finish the last stove. We had a lot of fun with that one. When we finished the family had us write our names in the concrete. We also put a hand print of their five-year-old son in it too. It was pretty cute.

That evening was spent like the rest. Drinking wine, pisco or sangreea while playing Uno or Monopoly. Or sitting on the porch the lodge with Someone fiddling with the guitar or listening to music on my iPhone. It was a very relaxing time all around in the evenings. I will miss the other volunteers and Celia very much.

Friday was our chill day. We read and wrote letters while sitting in the sun. Then Celia took us for a walk up the mountain. I found yet another-four-leafed clover just as we started our walk and both Sue and Celia found one a little later.

After dinner we went to see a lady who does weaving. It was pretty neat, I will post pictures when I get home. Again we drank wine and played games. Ceila joined us as she sometimes did. It was a perfect mellow last night.

We had to catch our taxi at the bottom of the hill at 7:00am to arrive in the city to catch our grewling long bus ride back. I had a little more crocheting to keep me busy but I ran out of yarn and had to rely on my iPod to keep me from going insane.

We checked into our hostel, showered up and had our last night out together. It was very nice, but we all had a good headache in the morning.

The next morning I flew out to Cusco. I got more and more excited the closer I got. Alison was waiting for me at the airport and had even booked me into a hostel for the night. What a sweet heart hey? I will have to tell you guys about Cusco later. I need to go shoppin gfor a few things for the inka treck tomorrow. Oh and I have to tell you all about Puno and lake Titicaca too!

Chow for now.

Quick Check In

Chota was absoultly wonderful. I just have a few minutes to check in here. I will write more before I leave for Machu Pichu on Saturday. We just got off Lake Titicaca. It was so interesting. I cant wait to write about the cook stoves and the trees in Chota. And to tell you about mu funny trip to Titicaca.

Chow for now

Leaving Cajamaraca! Finally

Well it has been fun, but I am finnally leaving Cajamaraca. Tomorrow
at 11:00 am I board a buss with two new volunteers and our guide to a
little place called Chouta to build cookstoves and plant trees. Oh,
drink some wine of course. It should be a nice week.

I return to Cajamaraca Nov. 22rd and on the 23rd I arrive in Cusco at
2:00pm.

I will right lots on my phone and send them when I get wifi next.

Be well,

Sent from my iPhone

Snakes and Ladders

Tomorrow I will paint all the snakes and color in the numbers.

Snakes and ladders

This is what I have done so far on the game I am making for the kids
at Mantoch, the school I am volunteering in. I didn't expect it to be
so much work! But it is coming along.

Sicky Icky

I am not sure if this is the same cold I was fighting off at the
orphanage in Chile, or if it is a brand new one. Either way, it sucks.
I couldn't breath through my nose hardly at all yesterday. My guide,
Juan, and his friend, Carlos, took me to the 'Farmacia' to get three,
very large and hard to swallow, tablets called Nastizol. They sort of
worked for about an hour or so. Juan and Carlos dropped me off at home
and I went staight to bed. It was only 5:00!

I woke up a couple of hours later and my left eardrum felt like it
might explode! I had to be brave and go to the Farmacia alone. It
didn't take long to comunicate that I felt like a bag of dirt and my
eardrum felt like it might explode. They gave me two sets of two pills
and using carefull handsignals and small words told me to take one of
each no and one of each in the morning. At least I hope that is what
they meant, because that is what I did.

I went to the resurant that has wifi, took my pills, drank some coco
menth tea and had a suprisingly big supper. Then went home and slept
until noon.

My guide called around 8:00 am to see how I was and I guess I didn't
sound so good. He told me to rest and that he would call the school to
tell them I was sick and would not be in.

I hope that these pills work. I don't really know what they are and I
am not sure I want to take more. Ha ha. Weee Soulth America.

Sent from my iPhone

Inca Tombs

Yesterday, before finnally admitting I was too sick to be out and
about and headed off to bed, Jaun and Carlos took me back up to Otuzco
to see one of the ancient burial grounds of the Inca people. These
grounds are known as Ventanillas de Otuzco. After their death people
were buried in the ground. But after enought years had past they were
dug back up and their bones were place in these notches with food,
clothing and other belongings. It was important to the Incas for these
sites to face eastward, towards the rising sun.

Sicky Icky

I am not sure if this is the same cold I was fighting off at the
orphanage in Chile, or if it is a brand new one. Either way, it sucks.
I couldn't breath through my nose hardly at all yesterday. My guide,
Juan, and his friend, Carlos, took me to the 'Farmacia' to get three,
very large and hard to swallow, tablets called Nastizol. They sort of
worked for about an hour or so. Juan and Carlos dropped me off at home
and I went staight to bed. It was only 5:00!

I woke up a couple of hours later and my left eardrum felt like it
might explode! I had to be brave and go to the Farmacia alone. It
didn't take long to comunicate that I felt like a bag of dirt and my
eardrum felt like it might explode. They gave me two sets of two pills
and using carefull handsignals and small words told me to take one of
each no and one of each in the morning. At least I hope that is what
they meant, because that is what I did.

I went to the resurant that has wifi, took my pills, drank some coco
menth tea and had a suprisingly big supper. Then went home and slept
until noon.

My guide called around 8:00 am to see how I was and I guess I didn't
sound so good. He told me to rest and that he would call the school to
tell them I was sick and would not be in.

I hope that these pills work. I don't really know what they are and I
am not sure I want to take more. Ha ha. Weee Soulth America.

Sent from my iPhone

Plane pic

This veiw was amazing!

From the airplane. Yah I found wifi!

Fwd:

Sent from my iPhone
>

> My last day at the orphanage was hard. I was greatful to be the only
> volunteer there, Michelle had left the day before and Jillan the the
> week before, so as I could just allow myself to be sad and happy
> without explaining my feelings. I cried a few times but the babies
> were good at keeping me busy enoght that I couldn't spend too much
> time being sad.
>
> Just like every other day. I went to school until 1:30, had lunch
> and got to the orphanage a little before 3:00. There was a new baby
> there. I was told he has a brother downstairs where the toddlers
> are. He woke up first, then Hugo and Claudio. Their bottles came and
> I fed about six of the nine babies, the nurses fed the others. Then
> I was just keeping them entertained and taking turns holding each of
> them. Claudio was extra sweet and happy. Full of little laughs and
> smiles and as always, everything was making Hugo laugh. For kids
> that have so little they are very happy, even the older ones.
>
> Riannon, a girl from the Notre Dame group met me at the orphanage
> just before I left. She plans to volunteer there starting next week,
> so I introduced her, as best I could with my limited Spanish skills,
> to the ladies I work with.
>
> Alan, my little favorite, was in the room with the bigger kids that
> day. I asked to see him before I left. I got teary straight away. If
> I was in a possision to adopt I would seriously look into adopting
> him.
>
> Sent from my iPhone

Machu Pichu is Booked

Alison has booked out Machu Pichu tour for the 29th of November. It was the closest date we could get. I will have to change my flights but hey, I cant miss tMachu Pichu! I´ll keep you posted on when I am coming home.

Oh and by the way. It is raining and cold here. Yuck. I hope it gets nicer soon. Excpecaily for the Inka Treck!

Cajarmaca

I miss spell check...

I didn´t bother sleeping before my flight to Lima. Some friends from shcool and I went out for dinner and then some dancing, oh and of course a little drinking too. We had fun but when 4:00am rolled around I had to rush back to Carmen´s (the lady who I was staying with) to finnish packing and throw myself in a cab.

Going through customs was pretty relaxed. I ended up with a ton of spare time. I bought 4 bottles of Chilain wine, which put me over in weight for my next flight and cost me an extra $20. But hey, it´s Chilain wine. My whole time in Santiago I did not have a single glass of wine that was not great. The food was amazing too. I will have to put another entry in about the food and wine and also more about Val Parisa.

After finding my gate I went to the vip lounge and checked my email and facebook then ended up just napping until it was time to get on the plane. Then I slept all the way to Lima. It was pretty uneventful from the time I got in the cab until I arrived in Cajarmaca.

There was a driver from Volunteer Adventures holding a sign that said ´Jennifer Write,´ I thought that was funny. he took me to my hotel and told me that he would be back to get me at 5:3am, eww. Mornings are not my favorite.

I stayed in Mira Flores in Lima. It is a beautiful area. I met a guy from Polland who is working as a guide in Lima. He showed me an adorable little area with a bunch of shops and resturants over looking the cliffs and the ocean. I had some food and wine there in the evening and called it an early night.

5:30 came and so did my driver. At the ariport I got to play a little game I like to call shuffle all the shite in my bags. Weee what fun, not really. I was over 20 kil, and had to stuff a bunch of shoes and laundry in my carry on. It was kind of a gong show. But I only had to pay $20 so,whatever.

After a beatiful flight over the mountains in Peru I arrived here and instanly met another Canadian, and not only a Canadian, but a Canadian who is from Grand Prarie and happens to the Brunham boys. The Brunhams lived a few streets down from us while I ws growing up in Peace River. We used to all go to youth group toghether. Crazy huh? Anyway, This other Canadian is visiting his great anunt who also happens to be a nun here.

After wishing my fellow Canadian Well I left the baggage area and was welcomed by another sign reading ´Jennifer Write´ only this time it was held by a pretty Puruvian lady about my age, Felisita(may not be correct spelling). She took me to my homestay where we met Juan, on of the other coordinters. My home stay people where not home. We waited a while with my giagantic pile of bags until Juan suggested we go to the office and wait. And that we did.

At the office Juan explaind that for the first week I would be the only volunteer here so it would be best to do my city work fists then go do the planting and building when the other two volunteers get here in two weeks. One week from now an Austrailian med. student will be here so I wont be alone for long.

Oh did I mention that they thought I was American and my name was Jenny? I straightned that out. On lady is still calling me Jenny, but whatever.

Last night I went out for dinner with Vicky and Andy, two volunteers from Scotland Who are unfortunatly leaving today. Very sweet people. I wish they were staying on longer. We went to this interesting little place with no electricity. Oil lamps for light, that was it. The owner and some of his friends played a varity of Soulth American music on guitars, drums, flutes and a mini-guitar thing. Really neat.

I will catch up on the Val Pariso and food and wine bit soon, and my increadibly sad good bye at the orphange. Yes, I cried.

Hugs

A little bit of playtime

Yesterday Alison and I went for a brief tour of Concha Toro Vinyard.
Aperently the are rated in the top ten in the world.

It wasn't much but still very interesting none the less. We had two
glasses of wine included in our tour and then sat on the patio of the
onsite bar there and tried a few more. Everything tasted fantastic.

The founder of the winery used to store some his best wines for his
own reserve in a section of a huge cellar under the winery. But some
of his private reserve was growing legs and walking off. So, he
started a roumor that the Devil himself lived in the wine cellar. And
for the supersticios thieves that was enought to keep them away.

I will post more pictures of the vinyard and everything else when I
get home.

Hugs

Chile is almost over! Wow

I can't believe my chile trip is almost done. I have to get on here
and write about my weekend. I won't be able to put pictures up but you
guys will have to google the towns I was in. They where super neat.

Back to class now. I will catch up soon.

Sent from my iPhone

The orphanage

There is a total of 42 kids in this orphanage. Most of them are over two-years-old. The group that I am working with is 0 to 6 months. There are nine babies in a little room. And that is baisicly their life. They rearly leave the room and I am pretty sure that the only fresh air that they get is from the open windows. It stinks that we can´t take them out for walks but I understand that bringing them outside could be a safety issue.

Most of the kids there were left by their parents because they just don´t have the means to take care of them. A few of them, this is really sad, where just left at the hospital after their mothers had them. They just left their babies there. It breaks my heart. One of the little boys in my group was abandond by his mother and the hospital has kept him there for over a month now. I am not sure they have the proper papers and funding in place for him but the nurses are just so in love with him.

Today I saw a young dad there waiting to take his son home. He looked so afraid, but relived as well. What an ordeal for a family to endure.

The older kids are all downstairs. There is a huge play area with an opened roof where they spend most of their day. I don´t work with them because my spanish is still really bad. Maybe I will come back here. It is a nice thought now, but I know I probably wont.

Well I am off to dinner with some other students, and I may not get to write again until Monday. I am spending the weekend at the beach with Alison. We are just going to stay at a hostel and veggitate on the beach all weekend. I cant wait! I'll miss the kids though.

Hugo

Hugo in his bath.

Michelle

And this is Michelle from Newzeland. And that little cutie is Hugo. It
was bath day today. Hugo loves baths. He laughs and laughs the whole
time.

Jillian

I forgot to write the caption for the picture below.

This is Jillian, one of the other volunteers here. She is also a
Canadian. But she is scooting off to Peru on Saturday. The little one
she is holding is Christiana.

Sent from my iPhone

I think I am in love. Yesterday was a lot easier at the orphanage.
This little guy just wanted to snuggle all day. It was so nice. I got
there right at feeding time.

Gotta run.

Chile so far

I have no spell check and I am a little rushed. So please excuse any silly typos.


Ah, now I have a little more time to tell you what I have been up to. As I said before the first to days where pretty mellow. It took me a while to find a bank machine that would accept my card and then another while to figure out how to use the damn thing. After I had money I finaly felt like an independant human being again. American dollars work in a few places here but I wasn´t sure about the exchange rate and I also did not want to be misstook for an american. I managed to buy a few bottles of water with american money and paid for my wine and fries at the little pub with visa.

Once my uneventful weekend was finally over I started school. My house mum drove me yesterday morning but I walk now. Which is nice, because she feeds me way too much, and I could use the excercise. Really way too much food, its crazy. I think she is catching on that I can´t eat that much. Any way, yes school. I started yesterday morning at 10:30. There was one girl in my class, Allison from London. I am now taking private classes because my spanish, um, well my spanish sucks. But I have been hanging out with Allison. We are going to spend the weekend at the beach. I am so excited to relax for a while. I really havent done much but it has still been a stressfull few days.

I also went to the orphanage for the first time yesterday. And I was suprisingly less comfortable than I thought I would be. I am totaly comfotable around babies at home but these babies where scary. They are little strangers. I guess when I am handeling kids at home I have some ties to them. I know their parents or caregivers. I have no idea who these babies are. Don´t get me wrong, they are adorable, but scary. I am sure that I will be okay in a few days.

Oh, I also got lost on my way back ot the school after Allison and I went for lunch yesterday. Then I walked right past the school trying ot find it. Silliness. Oh and lunch was great. We went to this little italian place and ate at a table on the sidewalk. We had some really nice wine but I forgot to make note of the brand. IOt was good anyway. Actually all the wine that I have had is great so far.

Well I should go find some stamps and some post cards. I need to send Ethan a Chilian post card. (Hi Ethan, big hugs buddy. I hope you are having a good time at school.)

I miss everyone, I hope all is well.

Signing out,
JW

Well so far I have been taking it easy in Chile. The weekend was spent
mostly catching up on sleep and going for short walks to get to know
the area that I am staying in. On Saturday, after a long nap I walked
to a little pub and sat on the patio with small bottel of wine. I also
managed to order some fries in my choppy spanish. It turns out that
the owner of the bar speeks pretty good English. It was area relief to
speak some English and understand someone.

Class is starting. I'll write again later today or tomorrow morning.

Sent from my iPhone

In the air...

4:00 am came much too swiftly this morning. After hitting the snooze
button twice, a quick shower and loading my gigantic bags into my
aunt's car we were off to the Calgary airport. I could sure feel my
anxst building. But Auntie made sure that I got all the forms filled
out and got through the check in line for my flight to Dallas.

From about the middle of last week I

have been turning into a bigger basket case each day. My cousin spent
yesterday shopping and doing my running around with me. And thank god
for her. I kept forgetting what I was supposed to get and getting off
track. I forgot what I was saying mid-sentance a few times. Yup,
basketcase would best decribe me yesterday.

I am quite suprised that at my very low stress level now. I thought it
would take at least until I was on my Miami to Santiago flight before
I mellowed out.

This is a picture of the pie shaped fields I am flying over. A few of
them looked like giant packmans.

The stress is on...

Well I have most everything that I need to do done here in Peace River and now I am heading to Drayton Valley for a visit with my aunt, uncle and grandma. Wednesday I head to Drumheller or Calgary to see Todd. Then Friday at some ridiculous time in the morning my Uncle Ricky will drive me to the Calgary airport and at that point I will likely be scared witless. I am already terrified.

But chickenshititis aside, I am sure I will be just fine. I got a write up from the volenteer agency about the lady that I will be staying with in Chile . Her name is Carmen and she is retired from running a bakery with her late husband in Santiago. She likes reading, cooking and walking. I think she sounds like someone I will get along with famously. Does anyone have any ideas what I should bring her for a hostess gift?

I have had a few hiccups with insurance. I lost my policy papers and when I called AMA to send me new ones they just sent me information on travel insurance. Yup, I was choked. But I am dealing with it. My car, of course, just thad to eat $411 of my travel money. The steering column jammed up while I was moving everything into storage. So I think that is enough to go wrong, everything will go smoothly now. Right? It better.

Thanks for your support everyone!

Free Counter

Why Volunteer?

The decision to take this 2008/2009 school year off to travel was a little difficult. A big part of me wanted to stay to finish classes and graduate with the people I started classes with. But a bigger part knew that if I wanted to go, now was the time go.

Volunteering has been a pretty big part of my life since I was about nine-years-old. My first volunteer experience was with the S.P.C.A. where I walked dogs and helped clean up after the animals.

Later when I was about eleven or twelve I started working with a program run by my town called Future Leaders Incentive Program. It was know as F.L.I.P. I think I still have an old team shirt kicking around.

With F.L.I.P. we organized events for young adults, ran a supervised playground program for younger children and helped out with other town run events. I truly feel that my time with F.L.I.P. has influenced the way I live my adult life and the career path that I am working towards.

My most recent volunteer experience has probably been the most challenging as well as the most rewarding. After taking a Doula course to better assist my sister in the birth of my niece I decided to continue to continue to use my new found knowledge and skills working with the Terra Association. With Terra I assisted young mothers through their pregnancy and birth experience. However, the nature of this work requires me to be on call for large periods of time, as babies arrive on their own time with little notice. So when I started college full time I had to put my time with Terra on hold. I hope to work with them again in the future.

Volunteering abroad has been something I have hoped to do since I was around five-years-old. My grandparents left for a three-year volunteer trip to Lusoto Africa. I remember being so proud that they were going to help people so far away and wishing that I could be there to help my Grandpa build the water pumps he designed.

My brother was also heavily influenced by our grandparents. While living in Vancouver he worked with Amnesty International and one of its sister organizations. We hope to do a volunteer trip together soon.

About the Programs

Chile

I have two weeks in Chile; I wish I had more time there but no such luck. I will arrive in Santiago on the 18th of October. I will be staying with a host family there and taking spanish lessons in the mornings and then work in a shelter and orphanage for babies and toddlers. Although it will be difficult to deal with the idea of these children growing up without families it will be rewarding to be a small part of their lives the short time that I will be there. 

Peru

After spending one of my favorite holidays, halloween, on a silly airplane I get to brave the very scary Lima airport. Someone from Volunteer Adventures will be there to save me from the mob of frightening taxi drivers though. 

I will be staying at a hotel in Lima that evening then the next morning the team heads out by bus to the northern highlands of Peru. We spend two weeks building outdoor cook stoves for the under privileged families there as well as planting trees and raising environmental awareness. The group stays together in a lodge while we are in the mountains. 

In our third week we will be in the city of Cajamarca working at a local outreach school helping street kids with lessons and teaching them to make things to sell for money to help support their families. We stay in groups of two and three with host families here.

My fourth week is for me. I am not sure what I will do with it yet. I am leaving it open because I am sure that a ton of stuff will come up that I will just have to do or see. 

I am getting nervous with my departure date creeping up. I have been planning it so long, and it has always been so far away. Now it is so close! Eeek! I think I am mostly scared of not knowing anyone else on the team. Still, I am sure everything will be just fine. 

I am both nervous and excited about staying with host families. The cultural experience will incomparable to anything else but it will be strange to stay with strangers. 

This trip has cost me a few pretty pennies. I think that for the Romania trip I will have to fundraise. So if anyone has any nifty ideas I would love to hear them.

Well, it is time for me to go to prepare to become an Auntie again tomorrow. 

Love and Luck

Preparing for South America

I think that I finally have everything prepared for South America. The flights have now changed for the third time but I hope that they will now stay as they are and more importantly at the price that they are. 

I fly out of Calgary on October 17th arriving in Santiago Chile on October 18th. On the 31st of October I fly out of Chile to Lima Peru where I stay until the 2nd of December when I fly back into Calgary. 

I will post more details about the programs later but if you would like to read more about them you can go to www.volunteeradventures.com and look at the Eco Tour and Community Outreach Program in Peru and the Infant Care Program in Chile.

Love and Luck 

Jenn