Peru Conservation Work

Day to day life volunteering in Peru.

I volunteered for 2 weeks in Peru. I stayed in a hotel in Cusco. The community that I volunteered in was an hour's drive away in a district called Chinchero. Whilst I was there the school at the community was on their Winter break so my experience differed from the volunteers staying longer. Instead of working in the school I helped, along with a group of 15 others, to construct a tree nursery. This involved physical work e.g. digging holes, taking down and putting up fences, bagging soil and tidying up the nursery. We did this for roughly 3-4 hours a day up until lunch time. It doesn't seem like that long but it was exhausting and we cherished the afternoons.

A typical afternoon would either be spent having a Spanish lesson back in Cusco or going out and exploring the city perhaps grabbing a coffee, yoga or hiking up to the Cristo Blanco statue that towers over the city. Dinner would then be ready for 6pm where we could all come back together and discuss the day. After food and the long day, we would all want to wind down and go to bed as the day started at 6am.

The weekends provided more time to explore or go out in the evening. For example, one weekend all of the volunteers went to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu which was unforgettable. Another day, we went on a day trip to see some local Incan ruins, salt mines and a weaving class.

The highlight of my program was the people you get to meet though. You all have at least one thing in common; you all want to volunteer where you are! Personally, I think it's a guarantee that you'll make friends. My program was the shortest one on offer due to time restraints but by the end I wanted to stay at least another two weeks!