ChloeU - Chloe Underdown

After spending the last seven years at the same school and working through GCSEs and A Levels I felt it was time for a break. So I'm leaving in September to travel for a year much to the disappointment of mum, who would much rather I went straight to uni as it would save her a lot of worry! First up is three months voluntary work in Peru with Project's Abroad; it's basically an archeology placement working on Inca ruins. And then three months travelling around South America before going to New Zealand to replenish my funds!

I want to thank everyone for supporting me, everyone who came to my curry night, Girlguiding Basildon District, 5th Basildon Brownies, Olave Baden Powell Fund and the Hanningfield Awards. And lastly to mum and dad without whom I'd be stuck in Essex and far less prepared.

Private Message Subscribe Blog Map

Blog Comments Search Blogs First Entry Latest Entry

Joined on: June 23rd 2008
Last Login: December 3rd 2008

Blog Entries: 11
Photos: 181

TB Code: [blogger=78351]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by ChloeU, order by Date newest first.

By ChloeU
December 1st 2008

Last Weeks on Inca

South America » Peru » Cusco

Dancing in Pisac

Cusco and Pisac After our disastrous journey on the Friday we had no time to do anything that night which meant collecting my police report early Saturday morning. After that I spent the day watching England lose to Australia at rugby in Nicks Sports Bar where I had the best alpaca burger! That evening I went to Pisac with some of the other volunteers. I got to stay with Mia´s old host family. She had previously been having spanish lessons in Pisac before coming to the Inca project and was welcome back at her old house. Luckily they were also ok [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
November 14th 2008

Landslides and Car Crashes

South America » Peru » Cusco

First View of the Landslide
Taken from the queue where you waited to walk over.

One of our regular bus rides into Cusco from Huyro turned out not to be quite so regular. Firstly we were leaving on the morning bus rather then the afternoon like normal as the other two girls were leaving the project and I had to go to the bank to collect my police report. There had been a lot of rain the night before and we were warned while waiting for the bus to take extra food as there had been a landslide. At the time we didn´t really twig it was definite but thought it was more a precaution as [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
November 12th 2008

Community Work and Cuy

South America » Peru » Cusco

It´s not torture - I promise!
Applying fluoride to the poor boys teeth. I think he was terrified.

Community Work - First Aid and Fluoride Some of our community work recently has been around First Aid boxes and Fluorisation. The first aid boxes were a contribution to all the local schools, from two previous volunteers as part of the Hummingbird Collective (where you raise money and use Projects Abroads contacts to help distribute it thus ensuring all the money goes where you want and none is wasted on admin). We had to visit all the schools to check they were using them correctly; including the use of a control book to monitor the injuries/illnesses. Some schools were really go [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
November 8th 2008

Vitcos, An Inca Social - and how to party in Peru

South America » Peru » Cusco

Volunteers and Enzo at Vitcos

Vitcos - The Inca Project Social Our eagerly anticipated Inca Social to Vitcos arrived last week. On Tuesday we had a talk from Tim about Vitcos and its significance. Vitcos is where Manco Inca fled after being defeated by the Spanish at Ollantaytambo. Him and his sons lived there for years trying to route the Spanish but eventually all were killed and Vitcos and Vilcabamba fell into disrepair. The Spanish knew about Vitcos and it is where they would send envoys to meet with the exiled Incas. Vilcabamba is much further into the jungle as was hidden from the Spanish and [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
October 26th 2008

Footie Parties, Clearing Cochapata, Chickens and Rafting in Cusco

South America » Peru » Cusco

Mapping the Ruins

Inca Trail Mapping After visiting the Inca Trail and seeing the clearing that had been done by the INC we have returned a couple of times to map some of the ruins just of the trail before they fall down. This involves lots of holding a tape measure while Dan or Jhon draw the diagrams and note the measurements. This is made more difficult by all the plants that seem to want to grow right where you want to put the tape measure! The second time we went I was sitting on one of the wall, as I wasn´t feeling too [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
October 5th 2008

Moray, Salinas, Chinchero, Ollantaytambo - and a dead rat.

South America » Peru » Cusco » Sacred Valley

Moray
The main ´bowl´at Moray.

Birthday Fiesta We were casually walking home through Huyro, minding our own business, when we are accosted by a group of kids all yelling "Hola!" and we hear "Meet my posse" coming from the darkness. It was from the familiar voice of Dan, our Supervisor who then promptly invited us to join the party for Frieda´s (staff member) Dad and having barely sat down we are given a huge plate of food. Everybody there welcomed us to the party despite most of them not actually knowing who we were. There was a lot of dancing going on to Peruvian music and [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
September 27th 2008

Incatambo, Kindergarten Kids and Pisac Ruins

South America » Peru » Cusco

Visiting Kids
The little girl at the front turned around purely by chance as I took the photo.

Incatambo Incatambo is a area of mountain/valley containing several ruins which I haven´t visited before. We hiked up to the top of the mountain, which I was totally unprepared for. I thought we were visiting lower ruins and as I wasn´t feeling particularly great, the uphill hike wasn´t the best. The views from the top were spectacular you could see right along the valley. Unfortunately I left my camera back at the house so will have to nick photos off of other people. It generally wasn´t my day! We were hiking along an old Inca path which is essentially just a [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
September 22nd 2008

Mountains, Cusco, Miss Andina, Cocal Mayu and Markets.

South America » Peru » Cusco

Inca Carcel

Mountains and Machetes Over the last two weeks we have been up the mountain several times. First couple of times it was a short uphill hike, after a combi ride on the road, before we reached some Inca ruins. Jhon, the resident archeologist, believes them to be farmer´s houses due to the quality of the stone work and the fact that they are fairly spread out with no roads in between. Earlier this week we visited a house which actually had a tomb inside. Not my idea of a good dinner companion but apparently it was common to have the tomb [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
September 6th 2008

Machu Picchu

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu

MP41

Machu Picchu - it is amazing! If i say nothing else that will say it all. But I´ll start from the beginning. We left Friday afternoon and after being dropped off at Santa Maria caught a combi (like a minibus) to Santa Teresa and then a taxi to Hidro Electrico all for about three quid! The road was just a dirt track and wound it´s way along the cliffs which was slightly stomach churning at times! The views were amazing but some of the bridges really didn´t look like they would hold and when going round tight bends the driver would [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
September 6th 2008

Inca Project Life

South America » Peru » Cusco » Sacred Valley

Painting the wall!

I arrived safely in Cusco and was met at the airport by Care Supervisor Yessika. What I didn´t realise is that it was a five hour car journey from Cusco to Huyro where my project is stopping in Urubamba to go to the Projects Abroad office. After a quick chat with Tim the director for Peru we started of again. The journey involved going over a really high pass (like 4000m) and then back down the other side. I wasn´t quite prepared for how bumpy the ride would be! The roads aren´t paved or anything they´re literally dirt tracks and I´m [View Full Entry]

TravelBlog » ChloeU

ChloeU | Chloe Underdown | Travel Blog

ChloeU - Chloe Underdown

Blogs & Travel Journals

Last Weeks on Inca

Landslides and Car Crashes

Community Work and Cuy

Vitcos, An Inca Social - and how to party in Peru

Footie Parties, Clearing Cochapata, Chickens and Rafting in Cusco

Moray, Salinas, Chinchero, Ollantaytambo - and a dead rat.

Incatambo, Kindergarten Kids and Pisac Ruins

Mountains, Cusco, Miss Andina, Cocal Mayu and Markets.

Machu Picchu

Inca Project Life