Pictures & Video

I've been back for about 2 weeks now and have had time to upload pictures and create a video compilation of my videos and time. Here are the links and I hope you enjoy them.

My Lima Peru June 2009 Photo Album

Volounteer Abroad Blog

My Video Compilation

Cross Cultural Solutions, Lima Peru, June 2009
by MCPeru2009

Last Day In Peru (Sunday Week 2)

Today would be my last day in Peru and I woke up with a splitting headache from the altitude sickness. The first thing I did was go to the nearest pharmacy to get ibuprofen which quickly cured my headache. I went back to the hotel to get breakfast and then went out to see if any special events were going on. There were no events going on at the time and I found a street vendor selling clothing while heading back to my hotel. I ended up giving the street vendor my jacket and purchased some souvenir items from her. She was very grateful and explained that she was very grateful because it gets cold at night in Cuzco. As a token of appreciation she gave me a hat.

I had one more kind deed to do before leaving Cuzco which was to give my remaining football away to a kind on the street. I found the kid approximately one block away from the hotel. There was a man walking with two boys approximately between 8 and 6 years old. I stopped them and advised them that I was giving the ball to his boys as a gift. The man explained to me that the two boys were orphans and that he was taking care of them. The boys were grateful and their faces lit up with a smile. I would have liked to take them to lunch however I needed to get packed and leave to the airport for my flight back to Lima.

The hotel arranged a taxi ride to the airport and the personnel at the airport were extremely courteous. In fact the personnel saw that I was at the airport early and the representatives found me and allowed me to take the earlier flight out. The flight from Cuzco to Lima was scenic and beautiful and pleasant.

I had an 8 hour layover in Lima and spent the time eating at the restaurant, at the internet café and listening to music. One of my fellow CCS Volunteers had the same flight back to the USA and we kept each other company in the waiting area. The flight arrived on time and we had an overnight flight back to Atlanta. Upon arrival the plane was quarantined for a few minutes because someone became sick. After a brief check we were allowed to exit the plan and proceed through customs. I had just enough time to make my connecting flight to Dallas.

Fun in Cusco (Saturday Week 2)

Saturday morning I woke up early and left the house at 6am for my taxi ride to the airport. I’ve had numerous taxi rides while in Lima and this was the scariest taxi ride I’ve had. The first thing was that this taxi had no safety belts and the driver drove as if he were in a NASCAR Race. He threaded in and out of traffic, ran a few red lights and headed down back roads all while driving above the speed limit for the entire 35 minutes it took to get to the airport.

The flight to Cuzco was quick and easy and I was able to register with my hotel “The Royal Inca I” at the airport as I was told I would. The hotel had a taxi that took me to the hotel and I checked in. The hotel room was very nice, It had a king size bed with free wireless Internet, heat and hot water were nice to have.

After checking in I went on a short walk around the city and found a place to have cuy for lunch. Cuy is the traditional Peruvian dish of guinea pig that is common in the mountain areas in Peru. I didn’t care much for this dish but am glad that I tried it.

After lunch I went back at the hotel for a tour around the city of Cuzco. The tour took us to several historical churches, and Incan ruins in the mountains surrounding the city. I also met two ladies on the tour that I would coincidentally meet again later that evening.

At about 7:30pm I met with some of my fellow CCS volunteers that left a few days earlier to visit Cuzco and Machu Picchu. We met in front of the famous church per an e-mail earlier in the day and then went back to their Hostal to meet with the others before going out to dinner. Upon arriving at the at the hostal I see that my CCS colleagues had also befriended the two ladies that I met on the tour of Cuzco. We all then went to dinner and my colleagues the me a surprise birthday / “going away” party at one of the restaurants. During dinner I got a slight headache from the altitude in and was taken care of by one of my CCS friends who provided me with “600mg of Advil” which promptly cured my headache and was ready to go out. I found it to be very thoughtful and was extremely grateful for the kind gestures.

After dinner we went to get drinks and then went dancing at two of the local clubs. This would be my most memorable night out during my time in Peru. My CCS friends were great and I enjoyed the club atmosphere, as I don’t go out much.