5 things I got out of my Peru UniBreak

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Brielle Spicer

Top 5 things I got out of my Antipodeans Abroad UniBreak:

   1.   Memories 

As cliché as it sounds, I have made so many memories that will truly last a lifetime. From simply making a child smile; to experiencing the suffocating smells of petrol, dirt, raw meat, and a hint of dog poo while walking down any street; to exploring all the weird and wonderful places this country has to offer such as Lake Titicaca.

   2.   The confidence to travel anywhere in the world
This trip has given me the confidence to travel to any country in the world and feel safe, independent and able to navigate my way around. I have survived in a country where I can't speak the language, and where the culture is dissimilar to Australia in every way possible. I have managed to order food, walk the streets alone without getting lost, and interact with the locals (mostly) successfully. My UniBreak has given me a taste for adventure and whet my appetite to see more of the amazing world in which we live!

   3.   I have learnt how to deal with crazy dogs, aggressive people trying to sell me stuff, and locals staring at us like stunned mullets

The way to deal with all of these is the same: ignore them. Stray dogs line the streets here, as do locals trying to sell you some souvenir hat or entice you into their restaurant. Tourists really do stand out here as they are few and far between; locals often stare and will try to charge us more for goods than they would Peruvians.

   4.   A taste for new and different foods

Granadilla, kiwicha, manjar blanco, mazorra, picarones, all different kinds of potatoes... The list goes on! We all agree that we are going to miss the amazing food here that you just can't get back home.

   5.   The ability to bargain hunt and barter

Traveling on a student budget has forced me to be savvy, and to seek out the best deal on anything and everything. The people here are fierce salespeople, especially towards tourists, but I am now not afraid to say no if something is out of my price range. There is nothing worse than buying something, and then 10 minutes later seeing the exact same thing for a lower price. Looking around and inquiring at a number of stores, hotels, restaurants, even taxis - as opposed to just going to the first one that catches your eye - is a good way to find the best deal.

All in all, this UniBreak has been a once in a lifetime experience - a month that has gone way too fast - in a country worlds apart from our own.

A typical day in Cuzco

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Brielle Spicer

Life in Cusco is as hectic as the roads. We are going non-stop, but loving every minute!

A typical day goes something like this...

7.30am: Wake up to the sunlight streaming in from every angle and dogs barking like mad. The view is so stunning we have to pinch ourselves every morning; even after being in Cusco for over a week we still can't believe we are actually here.

8.00am: Eat a beautiful breakfast served by our host mother. Usually, this consists of organic bread with cheese, butter, jam, an omelette or fried banana, with homemade coffee, hot chocolate or fruit smoothie. Meal times in Gaby's house are always a treat. All the foods are so fresh, most homemade... None of that instant coffee powder or plastic McDonalds cheese!

9.00am: Enjoy a cup of Mate de Coca, tea made from coca leaves. It is drunk frequently to help reduce the extreme effects of the altitude. And also because it is kinda delicious.

9.30am: Leave for Pumamarca school. We have to catch a taxi with our in-country partner, Nico, as there is no other way (except on foot) to get to the school so high up in the mountains. Usually, us volunteers opt to sit in the boot of the taxi. It's such a novelty for us- but the norm in less populated areas- to fit as many people as possible into one car. Once we had nine people in one average sized car: 2 people squished in the front passenger seat, 3 in the middle, 3 in the boot and of course the driver. (Don't freak out mum, we're perfectly safe!)

10.00am: Arrive at the school and prepare la ensalada de frutas (the fruit salad). We divide up the biggest fruit salad I have ever seen among almost 100 bowls. The children are served this along with some crackers and a filling beverage such as Quaker (similar to porridge) or arroz con leche (rice with milk).

11.30am: Teach our first lesson of the day. This could be alone or in pairs, to any of the grades from Year 1 to 5/6. Most classes have 10 children or less. The kids are always so excited to be taught by us, so it is often hard to keep control of the class due to their enthusiasm!

12.15pm: Move on to teaching another class, or doing some construction work. This could involve fixing and painting the fence, or painting colourful art on the school walls.

1.00pm: Leave school via overstuffed taxi. Arrive home to lunch, which is always a feast! A much welcomed feed after an exhausting day at school. Lunch always begins with some form of soup, followed by a main of meat, chicken or fish with veggies and rice or potatoes, since they have about 600 types of potatoes in Peru alone. Unsurprisingly then, the diet here is packed with so many carbohydrates! Lunch is always accompanied by a homemade beverage, a refreshment made from water and some kind of local fruit. They have so many different fruits here, granadilla (similar to passionfruit) has become a favorite among the group. We've found that the food in general has so much more flavour than what we have back home.

3.00pm: Spanish lesson. The regular Spanish lessons have helped so much with daily life in Cusco.

5.00pm: Free time to go exploring, or plan lessons for the next day.

7.00pm: Given that lunch is the main meal of the day here, we only need something small for dinner. Sometimes I just have coffee and some bread. After our lunchtime feast I'm never more than peckish at this time. Afterwards we chill out, shower, and check in with friends and family back home. Then it's time to rest up for the big day ahead!

Bidding farewell to Peru

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Stephanie Rainbow

Hola,

Today marks the end of our adventures in Peru. This last week has flown by as we have experienced the end of our time teaching and finally completed the concrete paths around the school, which will serve to keep it from being washed away in the coming rainy season. Yesterday we spent a final lunch out as a group and visited the chocolate museum in the city centre.

It will be very strange to leave the homes and families we have grown used to, catching the bus everyday to Enako and taking the taxi ride to the school of Pumamarca. Some of the distinct features we've encountered have been the bizarre weather, the constant soundtrack of fighting dogs, the lovely planes that pass over our house at 6am every morning and the awesome hill that we have to climb to get home each day.

This week we returned to the families whose houses we visited a couple of weeks before and gave them much needed supplies. The house I visited belonged to Francisco, one of the boys at the school and his younger sister Maria, who's mother ran off and left them in the care of their uncle and aunt. The family previously had no proper table and ate off the place where the food was cooked, so we used the money fundraised in Australia to buy them a table, chairs, some new pots and pans and new blankets for their beds. It was great to be able to really make a difference in the lives of people who have never experienced the prosperous lifestyle that we do, and I pray that Francisco and Maria will be able to finish school so they can have a better future.

Our last day at Pumamarca began with the almost ritual preparation of the fruit salad, before we joined the kids in a series of games such as sack races, tug-of-war and this weird game where the kids ran back and forth filling a small bottle with water and then tipping it into a smaller bucket in the hopes to win by filling it to the top. The kids had lots of fun and it was very enjoyable to beat the boys repeatedly at tug-of-war. The kids were constantly taking my camera off my hands, so I'm sure I have many interesting pictures and videos now!

After the games the kids proceeded to soak each other and the girls in our group where given new hairdos. The day then proceeded into the sad but heart-warming farewells where we were each given flowers and a card by the kids as well as some speeches (which I didn't fully understand but were still very cute!). We were then given more hugs than I quite honestly think I've had in my lifetime with every kid in the school, plus the teachers and the principal. It is hard to think that we may never see these awesome kids again and I hope that one day I can return here to visit.

Tomorrow we will all part ways and head off to different parts of the country, which is sad but everyone is very much looking forward to coming back to the comforts of home. It's been a truly incredible experience, and one I will cherish forever.

Adios, see you soon Australia!

Stephanie Rainbow

GapBreak update from the consistently chaotic Cuzco

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Stephanie Rainbow

Hola,

It is now nearing the start of Week 4 in Peru, and everyone is becoming accustomed to the chaos of living in Cuzco. Yesterday we all went white water rafting for Bridget's birthday and then today we explored markets that are located near the airport and splurged on buying DVDs. The markets were very different from the markets you come to expect in the streets of Cuzco and instead of alpaca wool jumpers and beanies, we discovered miles of shoe and clothes stores. It seemed that this was the place for the locals to buy anything and everything. We then went for lunch at an Aussie-owned restaurant that was recommended by Laura's all-knowing 'South America on a shoestring' book, where we consumed burgers and massive ice cream sundaes. Most of our money lately has been going towards food and snacks, thanks to the local stores that are just 100m from our homes.

During the week we teach at the school at Pumamarca where we are greeted every morning by the children screaming "Amiga!!!!!! Amiga!!!!!". Even the teachers great us as 'Amiga'. In the lessons we teach English, art and sport, where we struggle to control the children and communicate in a different language. My personal favourite is art, where Chloe and I have taught the kids to make masks and mosaics, the latter of which I spent half the time drawing 'Marriposas' or butterflies for the girls. We also did a house visit to the home of one of the students at the school where we found the living conditions to be very basic. The house consisted of just two mudbrick rooms and the walk from the school left us breathless. Part of the money from the fundraising we did in Australia will be going towards giving some of the families furniture.

We are currently planning trips to Arequipa, Lake Titicaca and the much anticipated Machu Picchu. Time is flying by here but I can't say I am not looking forward to home, where there is a guaranteed hot shower and water that does not turn off at random points in the day. Cuzco is amazing though, and every day is an experience. There is always some random parade or festival that you pass by on the bus or stumble across on the street.

Adios,

Steph

Welcome to Cuzco

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Steph Rainbow

Hola from Cuzco,

Our first week in Peru has been a blur of new sights and experiences. Arriving in the capital of Lima after a gruelling flight from Sydney, we were immediately thrown into the chaos of Peruvian traffic. Drivers seem to obey their own rules, with everyone battling for space in order to get to their destinations.

Arriving in Cuzco a day later, we were relieved to be able to see the sky once again as opposed to the thick blanket of smog that lies constantly overhead in Lima. Cuzco itself is a whole different world and with only Laura being able to speak Spanish, everyone has relied heavily upon her to be our translator. While everyone adjusted to the altitude sickness and the dangers of eating the local food, we sought out the wonders of Cuzco. We visited the San Pedro markets, where the vibrant colours of the local textiles drew us in immediately and the sickening smells from the meat section left us gagging. As soon as we left the sanctuary of our hotel we were swarmed by locals selling absolutely everything. There was jewellery, paintings, and even locals wanting to polish your shoes for the 'best price'. At night, everyone flocks to the local bars and clubs. Muma Africa has become a favourite of the boys in our group with weekly salsa lessons at the club.

We were finally introduced to Antips' In-Country Partner, who took us to our new hostel away from the main square. From there we began some much needed daily Spanish lessons and tours of the Inca ruins Saqsayhuaman and Q'ënco. We quickly realised how much the altitude leaves you out of breath. We were also taken on a tour of Cuzco, learning interesting facts (such as why there are churches on every corner) and getting to taste the local market bread and fruit.

We were pretty anxious to meet our host families, however we were welcomed in with open arms. The mothers in particular were eager to adopt us as their own and my host mama was immediately trying to feed me a three-course meal. Trying to communicate that we were full (in Spanish) proved quite the challenge. The language barrier is the most difficult aspect of settling in, but it's good to know that all the host families are trying their utmost to provide for our every need.

The weekend brought with it more exploration of ruins, and we visited Chinchero where we saw how the local textiles was made. The temples of Ollyantaytambo tested my fitness and fear of heights, and we were nearly blown over by the freezing winds in the town below. We also managed to do a bit of shopping- and may have gorged ourselves on cake too.

Next week we begin a whole new experience as we begin teaching at the school and our construction work!

Adios amigos,

Steph

A personal reflection of my time in Cusco

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching, Building & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Lydia Searle

Hola amigos!

Our Antipodeans Abroad placement in Cusco has come to an end, and the time to reflect on it is beginning. The two months have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs, but I am so very glad that I took his opportunity and came to Cusco to volunteer. Thinking back over the two months, I can’t believe how differently I feel about the trip now to how I did as I was leaving Australia. On my flight from Sydney to Santiago I sat next to an older man from Lima, who was very interested in what I was doing and why I was headed to Peru. When I explained to him about our Antipodeans group and that we were volunteering in a school, he told me that we all must have strong characters and good hearts to do what we were doing. He bolstered my conviction that I could do this.

That feeling disappeared when I landed in Cusco, and all I could think about was that I was here for two months, in this foreign place without my friends or my family or anything that I knew. As someone who is naturally quite shy and introverted, I often wondered during that first week of introductions and group activities if I’d made a mistake- if I’d gone too far out of my comfort zone and set myself up for a hard, unhappy two months. As it turns out, it was a hard two months- but definitely not unhappy. I didn’t expect when I left Australia that I would come to think of Cusco as a second home, or that I would find a second family and a new group of friends who I could spend my evenings laughing and joking and having so much fun with. I didn’t expect to feel such a strong sense of pride and care over the children in the school, and the skills that they developed in our classes. I didn’t quite know what to expect of construction, but I was sure it would be hard work- that I was right about!

As well as being an amazing learning and growing experience for us personally, our two months in Cusco were definitely well spent work-wise: we built a tank and irrigation system to supply the school’s six greenhouses with water, we taught the children in the school basic English that we could see them demonstrate every day, and we ourselves became confident enough Spanish speakers that we were able to have conversations, book our own tours, and come away with skills that will serve us well into our futures.

Looking back, the placement wasn’t exactly what I expected. It was so, so much more- one of the best experiences of my life.

GapBreak update: What a fortnight it's been

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Building
WRITTEN BY: Lydia Searle

Hola!

Since my last update, we've been back to school for a fortnight. Although we thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks of travelling, we were all very excited to get back to school and see the kids!

We're finally getting the hang of structuring our lessons and our classes are running a lot smoother. Incorporating teaching aids such as worksheets and games have certainly helped with this. We changed our timetable so we could teach students in different classes than our usual ones, and we’re getting to know more and more of the children by name; it’s amazing how good it feels to know little details like who each other's siblings are, and which kids enjoy this activity or that one. As our Spanish improves this has definitely been getting easier. We can hold proper conversations with the kids now- although we do still sometimes need Nico’s help to explain the intricacies of Binball to a massive group of excited, rowdy 7-8 year olds! 

Our construction work at the school is also coming along well; the trench was finished just last week! Although we did have help from some of the local parents, who provided us with a lovely surprise by digging out a whole section. We have now moved on to digging the holes for the supports of the water tank stand. 'Stand' doesn’t give an accurate idea of how large it is- and just how much concrete is needed! Lifting the bags of concrete has certainly been a challenge, with the three chicas struggling to lift one into the wheelbarrow while the chicos each carry one up on their shoulder. It’s always nice when we’re busily working and the kids come up to try and help us, or just to watch, wave and frantically yell “amigos, amigos!” And as you can see in the photo above, they are absolutely adorable!  It's impossible to be unhappy when our work is set in the Sacred Valley and we look out across the endless, beautiful mountains surrounding Cusco. It really is such a beautiful place, and I think as our time here is dwindling we are all taking more time to appreciate where we are and what we’ve achieved.

For Rianne’s birthday we took a weekend trip to Urubamba, where we camped and tried out white water rafting. It was such a fantastic weekend, a great last trip together as a group before Machu Picchu! The scenery was spectacular, the rafting was absolutely exhilarating (although a bit scary at times!) and for those of us who developed a taste for it in the Amazon, there were zip lines that we could take back and forth across the river. We walked into the local town where there was a fiesta going on, and were swept up in the dancing and music- literally! All the townspeople wanted photos and a dance with us, and we were happy to try it all out! Our tents were only metres from the water, so we could sleep to the sound of the running water after we’d stayed up stargazing and toasting marshmallows around the fire. Feliz cumpleaños Rianne!

Our last weekend has been spent here in Cusco with our families, who we are quickly realising will be some of the hardest people to say goodbye to. Being able to stay in a family home has made this experience so much more authentic and comfortable, and we will no doubt miss our new padres y hermanos!

Hasta la próxima vez, ciao!

¡Gracias y adios Perú!

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching and Construction
WRITTEN BY: Kymon Mansfield

This is the end, beautiful friend.

Those six words pierced my conscious mind like bullets on Sunday, as I stared across to a mountain opposite Machu Picchu, almost blankly.
It's still hard to believe how fast this month has passed. It's impossible not to use clichés when talking about the passage of time, but it does, genuinely, only feel like yesterday that I arrived at Lima. That was 26 days ago.
It's hard not to get sentimental about vacations. Even to consider the obvious - that I'm on the other side of the planet, fifteen thousand kilometres away from anything that I could call family or home - is hard to really comprehend, and yet somehow I feel just as welcome here, if not more, than in Sydney.

Monday and Tuesday proceeded as usual, however without the other three UniBreak girls, who were still in Bolivia enjoying the cheap souvenirs.
On Tuesday, we were celebrating the 37th wedding anniversary of the parents at a restaurant in the main square. One of the brothers of my family told me I was like a brother to him, followed by the cliche yet touching 'mi casa su casa' sentiment. Somehow hearing the words "you are like a brother to me" just sounds so genuine, in such an indescribable way.

Then Wednesday came, and I silently had my heart broken as the four of us had our first home visit. We, including Nico, followed one of the kids from our school to her home, where we met her mother and one of her four siblings. As soon as we got to her house my heart sank, not in pity but in empathy. It was hard to relate to; I had never in my life been exposed to such extreme poverty, either first hand or through direct observation.

The mother had such a complicated life. Her husband was often away from the house trying to find odd jobs, often involving construction, because he didn't have the education to find or hold down a 'regular' job. He was the sole provider for a family of seven - five kids, his wife and himself. They owned guinea pigs which they raised and then either sold to make ends meet, or ate as a delicacy (a tradition in Peru). What was even worse was that even though we had good intentions in helping this family, I couldn't help but feel as though we were effectively just throwing a pebble into a lake. We may have made a slight difference, but people all throughout this community live exactly like this family does. I know that I should concentrate on the proverb 'think globally, act locally' (a phrase usually intended as a think-green initiative, but equally applicable here), but it's just so hard for me not to feel completely useless, to totally absorb what I sensed as a resonating helplessness from a class of people who have basically been forgotten by their own government.

Strangely enough, as I returned to the school to collect my things to go home for lunch, I started to smile. In a project like this, it's easy to be overwhelmed by newness and forget why you're here - many people brush it off as a holiday with a little manual labour, or categorise what they're doing. But that doesn't hide what I, in that moment, remembered as my initial intention for coming here, and what the intimate work at the school was achieving: helping these people.

Thursday came and school was cancelled, giving us the perfect opportunity to begin our long, long task of re-painting the school. We stayed considerably longer today than we were used to. Despite illnesses and several of us feeling either slightly under the weather or just really fatigued, we pushed on and almost finished the job in the four and a half hours we had. The school was so quiet without the kids, too. By now we've grown accustomed to working while classes are on, meaning a relative level of silence, but this felt different; in a sense, almost eerie. Returning to my surrogate home considerably later than usual, I couldn't get my mind off the weekend, of this family that has taken me in as one of their own, of leaving not only them, but here. Peru. I know everything has to end eventually, but some endings are easier to prepare for than others. That only leads to one question: will I ever really be prepared to leave here?

And then it was Friday. Instead of work, the three GapBreak guys and I played frisbee. School was off again, as the kids were participating in one of the Peruvian Independence Day parades. Missing Rachel and Jasmine, the eight of us- accompanied by Nico- headed down to the main square to watch the marches. It was strangely fitting that the end of their march marked the end of our work with Pumamarca. The four of us stood in the middle of a circle the teachers of the school had organised the kids into. They cheered for us, thanked us, sang for us, presented us with postcards of thanks, and then, finally, hugged us, one by one. Just like how we started.

We then headed back to the school to get what we were gifting to one of the families of the community. It was a lot more than I was expecting us to give, and it struck me in such a way that I could barely breathe as I saw the kids carrying chairs, tables, a mattress and food to the taxi, to be taken to someone that really seemed to deserve it.

And that is unfortunately where my stream of consciousness ends; my story ends here. My time in Peru is over, my crystal ship is leaving. My mind is racing but I only have one last question. There are only two people in my world: you and me. You are my surrogate family, everyone I worked with, everyone I met, everyone I didn't meet, and everyone I am yet to meet. You are Peru, and you made my trip here, my job here, my time here- mean something. Is this our last goodbye?

'And gazing out the window, as I descend into the sky
But I'm the one who's left behind.'
-Kevin Parker

A brief update from our week in Cuzco

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching and Construction
WRITTEN BY: Kymon Mansfield

Week one brought with it a plethora of newness: new faces to meet, places to explore and things to do. In week two we continued with our scheduled classes, teaching the school kids art, sport, and English, while also helping to prepare their breakfasts each morning. It is still the cutest thing in the world to hear a 5-year-old kid say 'ensalada de frutas.' The work on the greenhouses is progressing well, as we've been working on completely remaking the roofs. This involves taking down the original roof, tightening up the wire support structure, and then putting up a new roof and keeping it in place. The theory is that hopefully a new roof on each greenhouse will allow less air to escape unnecessarily, consequently allowing more sunlight to the plants during the day.

As far as exploring Cuzco goes, I'm still enjoying my regular walks up and down the main streets. Last week I visited the Sacred Valley where I bought hands down the coolest backpack with a llama on it. I also bought a guitar this week, with the intention of possibly introducing some music into art classes at the school. I've never owned an acoustic guitar and really wanted one so am honestly just excited to have it!

The one thing I've really noticed is just how fast my time here is passing. It feels like my first night in Lima was only a day ago, but surprisingly, I'm already halfway through! And I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to leave.

Gap students begin project work in Peru

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Building
WRITTEN BY: Lydia Searle

Hola amigos!

Our first week in Cusco has come to a close, and we are all beginning to feel settled in- and very tired! We have spent this busy week orienting ourselves in Cusco, visiting the beautiful Sacsayhuaman (or “sexy woman” to the gringos!) ruins and doing some early souvenir shopping at the markets all over the city. We were also welcomed by the children we will be teaching at Pma Marca school with hugs, a song and confetti that we were finding in our clothes and hair for days!

Our teaching and construction programs began late in the week. Between the Unibreakers and the Gapbreakers we have three groups teaching the children English, art and sport. We are quickly learning how much English the children know and what we can teach them, as well as mastering the very important “silencio” and “atencion”! Puma Marca school has over 100 children in years 1-6, so there is never a dull moment in our classrooms! The children are so excited to see the volunteers that a lot of our time is spent playing, giving hugs and high fives.

When we aren’t teaching we are out in the greenhouses, which need a lot of work. Our first few construction sessions have been focused on weeding and clearing out the greenhouses so that new crops can be planted. The food produced in the greenhouses is used to feed the schoolchildren and any leftovers are taken to the markets by the community members to be sold for profit, along with the flowers grown in the greenhouses. Once cleared out, we’ll be working on re-roofing and irrigation for the greenhouses to make them even more efficient.

To end the week we had a welcome dinner at an “Australian” restaurant near the Plaza del Armas. On the menu were alpaca meatballs and of course Pisco Sours! Mostly everyone has tried one but not many are keen to have another!

We are now all settling into our homestays and the routine of life here in Cusco, and looking forward to the weeks to come!

Hasta luego!

Goodbye Peru, You've Been Fabulous!

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Katie Bergan

Our last week was really hard. Absolutely no one was ready to leave and many tears were shed. For our final construction work the greenhouse door was painted with much love and the school kitchen was tiled and cleaned.

Classes were chaotic because the kids were so excited for the holiday season. There was very little concentration amongst the children

We were lucky to visit a local family home and thanked them with gifts of food, toilet paper, mattresses and a new bed, tiles for the roof, and a new guinea pig hutch. Nico translated what the mother said about their living conditions and family life. She was so grateful and absolutely a beautiful person. On the day of the school’s Christmas party she brought us each a hand made bracelet with our names on it. The party was really fun and everyone was able to give the presents we bought for the children (soccer balls, pencils, Dr. Seuss books, colouring in books, paints, t-shirts, bubbles, Mr. Men books, hot wheels, mini koalas, etc.) The mothers made us lunch and the children sang songs and danced.

Parting was hard and there was a fair amount of time spent hugging everyone in sight. We took some of the staff out for dinner to say farewell afterwards. Leaving our host families was also difficult because it felt like we had been building our lives around these homes and people. We wanted to express our gratitude so we went to the local Tupac Amaru markets to buy some extras gifts for them (a fig tree for their garden and some Christmas decorations made from flowers), and handed over gifts that people had brought from home.

The last weekend was spent in Cusco; shopping, eating out, and enjoying the nightlife. Greens Organic restaurant was very popular for their great smoothies and mango ceviche. Mama Africa had great salsa music and Mythology and was also a hit for dancing. We have all really bonded over the past month; the term ‘friends for life’ comes to mind (if you want to be a little corny). Going our separate ways was really hard because it meant that the experience was really over. Most of the people we had to say goodbye to asked us the same question, ‘you won’t forget us will you?’

Of course we won’t forget. These moments have been so special.

New understandings of 'home' come to light in Peru

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Kate Elphinstone

Our third week in Cusco involved not only teaching, but home visits to the poorest students in our class. It was confronting for all of us.

Picture in your mind the home that you live in. See each room with your belongings. Know that at any moment you can go the kitchen and eat, or head to the bathroom for a hot shower. This is ‘home’ as you know it.

Now forget plaster and painted walls, forget carpet or timber floors. Forget ceilings and insulation, lights and electricity. Forget individual rooms for your lounge, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Forget plumbing. There is running water, but it is outside, none to pleasant in the cold night air.


Now imagine that mud bricks replace the plaster and the carpet is made of dirt, flattened smooth from footsteps. The only defense between your belongings and the elements are these bare mud bricks, which can morph and crumble from too much moisture, and sheets of plastic roofing through which the sun and heavy rain falls. Being close to nature is an understatement. In this home you live and breath the earth, the dirt becomes a second skin. Now realise that for some, this isn’t fiction.

This is home for one of our students. This home, made of a single room for eating, sleeping and cooking, houses 3 people: a mother, sans husband, and her daughter aged 6 and son aged 9.

In one of the corners of this room is a pen for the guinea pigs, fattened and ready for sale. While the daughter plays with them as pets, they are also a source of income for the family- guinea pig is a specialty food dish in Peru. This home stands next to a busy road, where hundreds of tourists pass everyday.

To feed her children, this mother works at neighboring farms, or goes to the city to sell food and drink to the crowds passing by. She is just one of many women that you walk past on the street every day. Now, we have an idea of what they return to after a day in the sun or rain.

As a widowed mother, the opportunity to make an income is difficult. Centrelink doesn’t exist here, in any form. There is no Medicare to help with Doctor’s bills if they fall ill. It is an ugly reality that money is a matter of life and death. So here we stood, foreigners in a foreign home, looking at the mother and her children. We were told to ask questions. But for many of our questions, the answers were all too clear. In the night the home is freezing, and the rain leaks through the flimsy roof. We will return next week with items that she asked us for, things she alone cannot provide her children: clothes, shoes, school supplies and seeds to grow their food.

This week happened to end with Australia Day. There is no set definition of what being "Australian" means, with arguments over who and what is Australian. The sad reality is that many comments are hateful, despite our multicultural history. Non of this matters when you are standing in a mud brick home, not at all fit for the unforgiving Cusco temperature which fluctuates from hot to freezing in the space of just a few hours, if not minutes.

To enter the homes of these families, to look at the children who do not have even the basic standard of living that we have is to realise that to be born in Australia makes you, completely at random, one of the lucky ones, not more entitled than anyone else. We had no control over being born in one of the most successful and peaceful countries on earth. We could just as easily have been born here.

Birthday Celebrations for our UniBreakers in Peru!?

Hello to all from Cusco, Peru. After Chile's volcanoe did it's best to delay or detour all of our flights into South America, all four of us made it to Sunny Cusco, eventually.

Ryan, Imogen and Emma got started teaching and working in the community of Pumamarca and with Maddy's help, quickly settled into the life of a volunteer on Peru's Challenge. On the friday of the first week, Jess arrived and was welcomed into her family. . . in style with a 'Welcome Cake', card and an Elephant with its trunk up. This small celebration was accompanied by a strangely familiar Happy Birthday - sounding song. Well at least she thought it was a welcome cake. The first night without Emma's fluency in Spanish proved interesting but fun.

A couple of nights later during dinner table conversation, Jess was saying (in English) how her birthday is in February. Emma turned to Jess and said, 'Wasn't your birthday a couple of days ago??', referring to the cake celebration. Jess began a cover up in Spanish, 'Yes, yes it was. Err I mean me hermana's birthday is in february'. Turns out that cake Jess had the other night was in fact a birthday cake!! Woops!! Some how Jess must have told them mistakingly that it was her birthday on that day. Not to worry, the cake was yummy and we'll just let that one slide with the family I think.

The first two weeks have been jam packed with plenty of good experiences, fun teaching and getting to know the locals from the communities. Emma spent thursday touring around Cusco watching miriad of street parades and festivals celebrating 100 years since thee discovery of Machu Picchu. This weekend we are heading out the the Sacred Valley to tour some Inca Ruins and Paraglide through the Valley.

Anyway we are all about to head out for our long awaited welcome dinner for the night,

Hope all is well back home,'

Cusco's magical spell

I don´t think anyone could have properly described the spell I have been put under since arriving in Cusco. Sure, my trip getting here was a bit of a long one with planes leaving on South American time, i.e. hours late, others being delayed and canceled. However, now I am here and I am completely in love with this country and this place. Cusco´s cobblestone streets and alpacas are definitely a dominating feature that comes to mind when trying to describe it however there are many other things that stand out as reasons for this magical spell.

On our first night after an interesting 4hrs of Spanish classes we were struck by the sense of place and identity the people of Cusco hold. The main Plaza de Arms was packed with so many people it was an incredible sight to see in itself. After Liv made friends with a tourist guide who happened to be standing next to us we discovered that this was a special procession that happens annually on the Monday before Easter.

A huge black Jesus statue (Peruvians believe Jesus was black as they regard themselves as dark skinned), weighing 22 tonnes is transported around the streets of Cusco from 2pm to 7pm. Why the great fuss and sore arms? In the 17th century during a series of terrible earthquakes devastating the city someone pulled Jesus out from the Church and ran around praying for them to stop. They did, and this represents the respect and faith the people of Cusco hold.

After the event there were rivers of people trying to leave the main Plaza and thankfully we were able to (semi) stick together as our height, especially the boys, stood out over the fellow see of black haired Peruvians. Despite the cold that had crept over the city once the sun went down behind the magnificent mountains we were all still able to laugh at hearing Bob Marley´s song `Everything will be alright´ when we got on a bus that was so crowed the Oc Health and Safety officials in Australia would be doing back flips. This was only to be matched by another surprise Cusco threw at us when the song `I come from a land down under´ was on the radio the following night... and yes we did sing along loud and proud all the bus ride back to our wonderful hotel overlooking Cusco.

For the first week us we all got completely comfortable in the hotel we were staying. We made friends with the chefs, one of whom we hope to visit soon at his family home and share his weekly family Saturday lunch. Our three course lunches and dinners where perfected by our slice of pineapple and pear for `postre.´ We, well all the girls at least managed to mess the rooms enough so it took us some time to repack before going to our host families. We played many hours of cards in our free time and Harry even discovered the `magical´ powers of the mountain soaring high behind our rooms and learnt the painful lesson `beware of the dog!´

Unfortunately due to a few little microscopic bugs, namely bacteria a few of the group have had to spend more time than estimated at the hotel to learn guitar from the chef insted of discovering Cusco. Can we blame the 12 course lunch we had to celebrate Easter at the Spanish school that seemed so delcious at the time!!??!

Though I think secretly Bec was relieved when Cusco´s nasties caught up with the group and she had a few people to keep her company. However like me, everyone is captivated by this place. The bus companies we have been told to catch called `Zorro´, `Batman´ and `Rapido´ provide constant amusement especially when you see a `Rapido´ being overtaken at 20km/hr by a Zorro.

Meeting our families on Saturday was an exciting yet nerve wracking moment as we realised how much vocab we lacked in Spanish! Everyone enjoyed completely unpacking and settling into our homes for the next 3 months. It was lovely to be welcomed into these generous Peruvian´s homes and to be meet with smiles and often laughs when we tried to talk but generally ended up saying ´i´m sorry´ over and over again.... Easter Sunday was slightly different to Australia with the Peruvians not having Easter egg hunts but instead going to Church at 6am for a early service. Thankfully my family prefers the later 8am Mass.... We are all very excited to go to the school where we will be teaching and using our fundraising funds to build something the school needs. But most importantly it is to meet and get to know the children.

Until next time

Emma