ARCC Gap: South America - Peru & Patagonia

Our last week in Latin American was spent on Lake Titicaca in Peru. Coming from a small seaside town in Maine, being by water and mountains again reminded me very much of home. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a small lakeside village with host families. My host mama was Mama Roxana. She treated me like her own child. Giving me warm bottles to sleep with during the cold nights, giving me cups of eucalyptus tea when I was sick, placing sweet kisses on the cheek to say goodbye each day as I would go off to our various activities. During our time spent with the whole community I felt comfortable going to my mama to share a joke, sentimental moment, or ask for her opinion on something.
Our days would start off earl, even earlier for me at times. I would wake to a clear beautiful sky and the shimmering lake. Only steps outside of my room I would find myself sitting in the field with the animals and my young host brother. I would sit and journal, share stories with my host brother and he would tell me about his life and occasionally teach me some of the local language. It was a beautiful exchange.
Spending the days with my Mama and the small lakeside community was by far my favorite part of my travels. Not only did I learn a lot about their culture, but I was able to feel as if I was actively participating in it. They welcomed me with open arms into their life and allowed me to see and live anther culture.

It is extremely difficult to shorten my gap semester experience into a short review, mostly because it has changed and matured me so much on the past three months. Every place that we went and person that we met morphed my opinion of the world around me and made me so much more globally and culturally aware. I remember when we stayed in the Ecuadorian Amazon (wow that is so cool to be able to prove that I have been there!) and how every bit of thier way of life was so different from mine. Thier family life (our host parents had 11 kids!) lifestyle, activities (from helping to farm the exotic fruits to taking a boat across a river everytime we wanted to travel to and from our house) I am still in awe that I was able to experience that. I believe that a gap year is so valuable for any young adult about to enter college to have in thier back pocket and I could not imagine my life now without having traveled Latin America for three months. The ARCC program was really well done, supportive and I made some of the best friends in my life traveling with out group. The planned itinerary hit so much of each country and I really felt like I have used these three months doing impactful service everywhere and having awesome stories to share. This program was a perfect mix of the adventure side of traveling and the volunteer aspect that I wanted to gain experience from. I would highly reccomend taking a gap year and ARCC to anyone looking to travel!

Near the end of my Senior Year I began to examine the idea of taking a gap semester or gap year before heading to college. I had always thought the idea of a gap year sounded incredible, but I never truly pictured myself taking any time off before college until I found ARCC. Adventures Cross Country has made a profound impact on my life in just three short months, and taking a gap semester through ARCC has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. ARCC does a fantastic job of combining adventure, travel, education, and service. The time I spent in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru with my group of twelve other gap students and my two leaders turned out to be some of the happiest times in my life so far. In all three countries our group explored five global themes: Urbanization and the Movement of Peoples, Public Health, Literacy and Education, Environment and Conservation, and Economics and Microfinance. We balanced fun and tourism with in depth home-stays, difficult situations, and learning about and dealing with very real, emotional problems. We called ourselves travelers, not tourists, because we made a point to get to know the people and places we visited, and do service when it was wanted. I know that I am walking away from this experience forever changed for the better. I have a much more global mindset, a strong sense of self, and excitement and a sense of direction for my life going forward. I would highly recommend any of the ARCC programs to anyone who is even considering taking a gap year or gap semester. ARCC, my group leaders, the members of my group, and the people I met and experiences I had along the way have completely changed my life.

During our time in Ecuador we got the amazing opportunity of getting to stay with a family in the Amazon. Spending a few days in the Amazon was unlike anything I have ever gotten to do and wouldn't have been able to experience without arcc. During our home stays we were immediately emerged into the way of life of the Amazonian people. The house I stayed in was a creaky wooden fort like house that was home to eight with only two bedrooms. I was emerged into the unique diet of the Amazonian people, bathing in rivers and the strong sense of community Santa Barbra had. This experience was eye opening and absolutely amazing.

This trip has been an amazing experience. My group is wonderful and I have gotten to know them all so well through our shared experiences and activities. I have learned so many lessons from them. The leaders are amazing and facilitate this so well. I've met inspiring people who work at organizations that are doing great work. Being in third world countries has taught me so much about my privilege, the potential help my education can bring, and additionally how to deal with practical life problems.

While in Costa Rica, we volunteered at a turtle hatchery that helps release baby turtles into the Pacific safely. We had night patrols every night, where we walked the beach to look for fresh turtle tracks in hopes of finding a female turtle who was laying her eggs, before a poacher came. For the first three nights, I never saw anything, until one night we came across some tracks. We were lucky enough to have found the Olive Ridley mama turtle before the poachers did. She had not yet played her eggs, but when we were there, we were able to catch over 130, and relocate them to the hatchery. The experience was amazing, and I knew that I would have never been able to do something remotely close to that, if I had not gone on the trip.

This has been a good experience for me. I've learned a lot about different cultures and countries during my travels and it's been amazing to witness some of these cultures firsthand. We went to the highlands or Ecuador where we stayed in a small village and helped them on a construction project for a week. We connected with the local children, learned about their way of life, and made lasting connections with the community.

For an entire week in the city of Qutambi, myself and my thirteen other group members had to all pack into one classroom. We laid out tiny mattresses and our sleeping bags and all had to deal with sleeping very close to everyone else. Throughout this experience, no one complained, we all took it as an opportunity for learning and getting to know each other! We called it our "Group Slumber Party" and embraced the situation as positively as possible. This is a great example of just how much fun you can have on a gap semester. 50 days before our Group Slumber Party, none of the people packed into the classroom like sardines had ever met nor had we even known each other's names. Over the course of a gap semester your group and yourself become a family.