Bienvenidos from the White City!

Bienvenidos a la ciudad Blanca! Team Peru makes it to base camp!

Our first day as a group in Lima had us scoping out the Miraflores district, squishing into a local hot-stop for a delicious first taste of Peruvian cuisine, getting mauled by the Pacific waves on the beach and sitting down, slightly sun-burned and happy, for a group-cooked meal! During our first day we also took some time to talk about our own intentions and expectations for the next two weeks and creating a space within our group to accomplish them.

Our second (and first for some) night in the country was our crash-course in public transportation. A sixteen hour overnight bus ride began hugging the coastal cliffs and ended in the city of Arequipa. It is called “the white city” because the buildings are made from the white sillar rock that comes from the surrounding volcanoes. Shadowed by the our volcanic neighbours, El Misti and Chachani, Arequipa will serve as base camp for our three-day trek into the Colca Canyon as well as our volunteer project starting next week!

Tomorrow we head down into the second deepest canyon in the world for a three day hike, over and through the valley within! We will stay with a family there, learn about the unique culture of the people in the canyon, do some swimming, and LOTS of walking! There ain’t no rest for the wicked, and we don’t know what we did in our past lives because tomorrow’s wake-up is 3:30am. So this team’s got to hit the sheets.

Hasta pronto!OG Peru