Volunteer Abroad in Peru with United Planet for 1-12 Weeks

My friends and I were looking at combining our shared interests in travel, volunteering, and learning. Our recent trip to Cusco, Peru organized through United Planet was almost custom tailored to fit what we were looking for!

Ours was a party of four. My friends were travelling with their 3 year old son. Our trip happened to coincide with another family traveling with children, which turned out to have been a great bonus and a new friendship born from this experience.

A typical day consisted of a breakfast made by our host family who ran a guest house. We would walk to our Spanish language class at the San Blas Spanish school, followed lunch back at the guest house. This was our biggest meal of the day and was a great way to fuel for the energy required at the volunteer project. Our afternoon was spent at the Las Molinas Kids Club afterschool program in San Jeronimo. A 30 minute bus ride to this neighborhood brought us to the project where our short walk through the neighborhood where the kids lived. Our walk would be accompanied by kids shouting out greetings and following in tow.

Due to our participation during the school break, our time at the afterschool program was less structured than usual as this was designed to provide an alternative to just playing all day while on break. We would have an hour of instruction consisting of English review or craft projects, followed by an hour of play time.

On the weekend, United Planet had given us the option of booking a tour of Machu Picchu, which we went on with the other family we met. It was a fun and beautiful trip. At the beginning and end of our stay, we were treated to a nice dinner. Our final sight-seeing event was a short walking tour of Cusco and a drive to neighboring sights.

I went to Cusco, Peru through United Planet for eight weeks after I graduated college. I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life. I think traveling will always be my favorite thing to do, but I also think a program can either hinder or enhance your experience. I am so glad I chose to go through United Planet, which is why I have decided to write a review. I feel so strongly about how well they planned and conducted the whole experience.
Upon arriving in Cusco, I was greeted at the airport by my host family. My host family was amazing!! I cannot say enough nice things about them. I thought I was so lucky, but other volunteers and I would tease that we had the best family, so it seemed like everyone felt the same as I did! My entire stay at their home I felt comfortable and cared for. We had three home cooked meals everyday. I am a vegetarian and United Planet made the effort to place me in a home where they were willing to provide those style meals for me. I was so grateful and it was never an issue.
I worked for 5 weeks at a womens shelter. Those girls challenged me everyday and although some days I felt discouraged or saddened by their situations, I learned SO much from them and feel they felt the same way about me. I made some great connections with the girls and it was through this program that I learned how much I enjoyed tutoring English, which is something I am currently pursuing at home. The last three weeks I spent volunteering at an Animal Sanctuary. This had not been my original plan but there were some openings for volunteers at the site and United Planet allowed me to switch over. I loved working here! We were outside all day. I gave tours to English tourists and helped the owners with their English. We painted, cleaned, cared for the animals and cleaned trash out of the river. It was a great experience.
I also took Spanish classes while I was there as part of the program. These classes far and above exceeded my expectations. The classes consisted of myself and one or two other students and the professor. This setup allowed for a great deal of personal attention and encouraged us to speak much more than a typical class at home. I could not believe how much my Spanish improved after only eight weeks!
There were also weekly cultural activities throughout my time. I loved these because I felt like it was a great way to learn about the culture and meet other volunteers. The cultural activities were also at the school which became a great hub for meeting other volunteers. We took cooking classes, a Quechua language class, origami, and salsa dancing. I loved it! We also went on three amazing excursions. We took a weekend trip to Macchu Picchu which was absolutely amazing. I still cannot believe that I was able to have that experience. We stayed overnight in Aguas Calientes and then hiked Macchu Picchu the next day. There was a group of about 8-10 of us which made it a really fun trip. We also went horseback riding for an excursion and white water rafting. White water rafting was one of the best days of my life! We spent the whole day out there and it was beautiful. We wore wet suits and jumped off a boulder into the river. After we finished for the day we were served a huge, delicious lunch and even got to go ziplining!
I can honestly say everything about my trip went smoothly and I would definitely travel through United Planet again. The only issue I encountered throughout my stay was that I got sick, which is obviously completely out of United Planets control. However, when this happened I called the in-country coordinator and she actually came and picked me up and personally took me to the doctor and waited the entire time with me. And then checked in on me for the next few days until I was better. I also received an email from the coordinators in the Boston offices checking in on me to see how I was feeling. I just thought this was above and beyond what anyone had to do for me and I don't think I would get that through another program. I am so grateful for my time in Peru. I met so many wonderful people and still keep in touch with my host family and several volunteers. I highly, highly recommend traveling and volunteering through United Planet.

I volunteered for 12 weeks at Clínica San Juan de Dios in Cusco, Peru. It was the experience of a lifetime. This is a clinic that provides housing/care for children with mental and/or physical disabilities, as well as serves the poorer outskirts of Cusco as an outpatient clinic with several specialty doctors. During my time in the clinic I was able to move between the different areas of the clinic and participate in multiple different aspects. I did everything from filing to playing with children to triaging patients (being a RN in the US). I felt so welcome at the clinic and could tell my work was making a difference even if it was something as simple as making a child smile.

During my entire 12 weeks in Cusco I was lucky enough to live in a homestay, where I quickly became part of the family. We all ate breakfast lunch and dinner together in the house and the family was there to help with anything I needed; as well as just to talk and hang out with. I was lucky enough to live in a family with a daughter my same age, we became fast friends, and I went on to meet and hang out with all her friends from the city. Being that Cusco is a necessary stop for all travelers heading to Machu Picchu, there are also many tourists and a very big nightlife scene.

During the week I did my volunteer work as well as took Spanish classes that were included with the program. Through the spanish school there were weekly activities that were offered to get to know the other volunteers, such as bar-tending classes, cooking classes, game nights, and movie nights. Which were a great way to spend free time as well as meet other volunteers. On the weekends I had free time to do whatever I wanted. The program provided me with trips white water rafting, a tour of the sacred valley, and a visit to Machu Picchu. In addition to that I had time to do extra activities that interested me such as taking a trip into the amazon rainforest and salsa dancing classes.

Overall, this was the trip of a lifetime, it was an experience I will never forget. I would do it again in a heartbeat, and can't wait to go back and visit all the friends I made.

I would wake up everyday and eat breakfast with my host father before walking to school. After classes I would hang around and talk with other volunteers and students at the Spanish school. Then I would return home for lunch before walking to Policlinico Belen where I volunteered for a few hours each day.

I really enjoyed the city of Cusco and my excursion to Machu Picchu was amazing! My hardest experience was navigating the city the first week, but this passed without a problem.

Overall, the experience was enjoyable. I absolutely loved Cusco, and the local people were friendly and welcoming. I enjoyed getting to know the city and seeing all the cultural gems like Macchu Picchu. The city itself was beautiful.

I was not terribly impressed with United Planet's support staff in Cusco, however. The gentleman in charge was almost impossible to catch in the office, and when I raised a question about a safety concern (walking to the bus stop and riding the bus alone at night for half an hour), I was basically brushed off. I thought they could've done a better job of communicating in general.

For the first five weeks, I worked in an abused women's shelter, caring for the children and teaching some English on the side. For the next five weeks, I worked in a town called Cai Cay a bit outside of Cusco, running an after-school program for the kids. Both of these experiences were fun, and I did feel like I was contributing. The women's shelter was definitely more well-run. There was a lot more free time than I was expecting, though, so I wished that they had done a better job of explaining that beforehand (especially in regards to the Cai Cay portion of the trip). I was also responsible for buying my own meals over the weekends that I was in Cai Cay, which I had been assured would be paid for by United Planet.

Overall, I thought the experience was pretty good, but I don't think it was made particularly better by anything that United Planet did specifically. If you were comfortable with it, you probably could save some money and have more control over your experience by going independently.