Anxious in the Airport!

My first blog entry will begin today as I sit in the Charlotte airport waiting for 2 hours to board my next plane to Miami. From there I will continue to Lima on an overnight flight and finally arrive in Cusco, Peru around 8:30 tomorrow morning where I will be met by a staff person holding my name like you see in the movies. I am feeling an array of emotions from excitement to nervousness and even sadness from when I left my mom and dad this afternoon at the Detroit airport. I miss them already and my doggie, Tito, as well who I won’t have to snuggle with. I am happy that I got to see some Michigan friends this week before I left. It really meant a lot for Jessica, Amanda and Val to come over to see me off and catch up before my trip. I am glad that I will actually be able to stay in contact with everyone through usage of the internet down there. Who knows how speedy it will be, but at least it is something. I also have an international plan on my phone to talk to my parents because there is no way I could go without talking to my mom everyday like I am accustomed to. Okay maybe I won’t talk to her every day, but I would go crazy not being able to talk to my best friend and tell her about everything going on on the other side of the hemisphere.

For those of you who don’t know exactly what I am doing this trip for, I will start off by explaining. This is not through school and I am not taking any classes while in Peru. Instead, I will be volunteering my time Monday through Friday for 8 weeks to work in an orphanage through a program I found online based out of New Zealand. I got a scholarship through my school however that is paying for half of my trip provided that when I return I give ten talks about my time abroad and what I did and learned. Some have asked why I wanted to volunteer and this is my answer: I believe that if you are going to travel to another country for a long period of time, why not do it to benefit the citizens of that country, not yourself? They are hosting you and allowing you to come into their country, so a way of giving back to them and thanking them for me is working with the poor population that really needs the help and is often ignored by the rich upper class and the government. Also, I plan on going to graduate school for social work after I graduate from USC next May and this will look great on a resume as opposed to simply just studying abroad. With volunteering, I will get to use my minor of Spanish and be immersed in Peru much deeper than I would have been had I just gone to take classes. I will be working side by side with the people that I aspire to help with my future career and I could not ask for a better opportunity than this one. I am taking a hold of my life at this time and doing exactly what it is that I have dreamed to do and that is help less fortunate people who cannot escape the poverty that claims most of Latin America. I am just one person, but I hope that my efforts this summer will make a difference, even if it’s just in one child’s life. I will be teaching English, playing with the kids, doing arts and crafts, helping with chores and cooking, doing some small construction projects like painting, etc. On the weekends I will be free to travel with other volunteers to the many beautiful sites in Peru. I have a tour to Aguas Calientes and Machu Pichu scheduled for May 30 and a three day, two night tour to the Amazon scheduled for later in June with two Canadians I have been in contact with for the past couple months. I hope to do some other touring as well to Lake Titicaca and possibly even some white water rafting. Cusco is at about 11,000 feet above sea level in the middle of the Andes, so it is going to be a much different climate than I am used to. Family, friends and doctors have been worried that with my asthma I might have an even harder time adjusting than the average person because there is a significant decrease in oxygen that high up, but that is why I have packed about 5 inhalers and my mom has made sure to send me with a full pharmacy in case anything were to happen while I am away. We spent the last week since I got home from school shopping for weird things I will likely never use after this trip like lice spray for my hair and headbands, bug spray for my clothing and sleeping bag, extremely high SPF sunscreen since I am at such a high elevation, and lots of mosquito spray with deet to fight off the rest of the nasty insects that are down there. I am traveling with two very large suitcases that are packed to the brim along with two carry-on bags in order to fit all of my stuff. Due to Cusco’s unique setting, it is warm during the day and very cold at night, so I had to pack clothes for everything! I have stuff from shorts all the way to flannel pajama pants. Peru is also a Catholic, conservative country that is still very set in their traditional gender roles. Because of this I had to pack clothing that would cover up everything. That means one piece bathing suits, no low cut tops, longer shorts, etc. I am hoping some studly Peruvian man will help me carry my heavy baggage once I get there because I am going to look pretty silly trying to lug it all around! However I am going to be very cautious when it comes to trusting people especially since I am a single, American, blonde, female traveling alone. It would be very easy to prey on me and on the way home I am going to be like a hawk over my bags so that no stupid little smugglers try to put crap in my bags and end up making my stay for 10-15 years longer than I wanted. Life is going to be extremely altered for this little American girl who is used to having the ‘normal’ things daily. Until July 10th, I will be hand-washing my clothes in a creek, sleeping in an insect repelled sleeping bag, drinking only bottled water, wearing hiking boots, and speaking only Spanish, but I am so excited to jump right in to such a rich and historical culture and learn about Peru’s past, present and future. I am hoping to learn and grow from this trip as a person and academically in order to bring my experiences back to tell about. Once I arrive, I will have tomorrow (Sunday) to get acclimated to the altitude and then I have orientation on Monday where I get my orphanage placement and learn everything I will need to know for my stay. I am sure I will take pictures as soon as I arrive and post them here and on facebook so you all can see them. I will write all about Cusco once I arrive and get settled in and meet all the other people I will be living and working with for the next two months! Hopefully I will get to ride an alpaca down a mountain the first day for my best friend Kristi and I can fulfill her image of me in Peru and post a picture for her. So amigos, for now: Adios America and Hola Peru!

-Hillary-