My Cusco Experience

I stayed in Cusco with a lovely Peruvian family. Gloria was my host mum, Reese, my host father and their two children, Luis, and Laura. They all made me feel very welcome despite a bit of a language barrier. Me an Luis would play football up on the roof of the house and I taught him some new games. Laura liked to draw and I would draw her pictures and make plasticine animals for her, I even helped make her a frog costume for a school project. My placement involved traveling to the outskirts of the city to help at a kindergarten. The kindergarten itself was a very small room and in one day could have as much as 30 children, ages 3-5, attend. My duties included marking and preparing homework, helping the children with their work, playing games with the children and generally helping the teacher take care of the class. While I was volunteering at the kindergarten the class was also preparing for a parade so I was also involved in leading the class through a marching routine outside and supervising the children.
As well as volunteering in Peru I was also given the opportunity to see some of the sights in my spare time alongside some of the other volunteers. I went to see many of the Inca ruins; Sacsayhuaman, Ollantayambo, Pukapukara and Machu Pichu, to name a few. I also rode a pony up Rainbow Mountain. My programme also included a visit to a bakery to see how some of the local bread was made. Overall I had an amazing time in Cusco, had many wonderful experiences and met many wonderful people. I would definitely recommend the programme.