Volunteering Cusco

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.