I did it...last night I tried cuy (guinea pig). I finally found another person (leave it to an Aussie to conquer the dish with me) willing to give the treasured delicacy a try (the locals love guinea pig). First the presentation. The pictures speak for themselves, but words really cannot describe one´s thoughts when the plate arrives. Jorge (the name I gave my cuy) came wearing a tomato hat, mounted on a pastry. Jorge had one really large tooth and may have had a patch around his eye, because one eye looked like a ´black-eye.´ Based on Jorge´s expression, I am [View Full Entry]

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It seems like yesterday that I was in the Huancayo bus station with the family and volunteers cheering "Karencita! Karencita! Karencita!" as I got onto the bus to begin my next adventure. Now I am in Cuzco, returning from the remote Amazon Basin (no electricity, no internet, no phone). In fact, I did not know about the terrible earthquake, south of Lima, until Thursday. It is a tragic event. All the major tv stations are airing live, with family members begging for their loved ones. I have only spoken to a few travelers about the earthquake. One said he was 20 [View Full Entry]

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First things first, this website´s server crashed (ho-hum). So my previous entries were lost. But we have today´s entry :) I climbed Huaytapallana! On Saturday we went on an excursion to climb the highest peak in the region (aka Huaytapallana). The most challenging aspect of the hike was the altitude (we reached the top at 15,660 feet). Every 3-4 steps had my heart racing. The scenery was spectacular (see pictures). And hiking in the Andes with its towering peaks made me realize how 'small'we really are. Last week I began to visit Merarado. Merarado suffers from a rare, [View Full Entry]

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So, I am getting ready to write a new blog, and then I realize I have to write in English. Do not get me wrong...I am not fluent in Spanish (and one could argue I am not fluent in English). But almost every task, including teaching, requires that I speak/think in Spanish. In fact, today was the first day I had the opportunity to teach in English (myself and another volunteer are teaching some local mothers English), and I couldn´t teach. It was their first class, so we were just teaching greetings and numbers (we played BINGO to practice our [View Full Entry]

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After 4 days of unexpected travel 'blips' I have made it to Huancayo! Flashback recap: my flight was nearly cancelled, my luggage ended up missing, I spent hours trying to make one phone call to Huancayo, I had difficulties finding a bank that would accept travelers checks, there were transportation strikes - just to name a few 'blips'. It seems that almost every task that I attempt to complete is unsuccessful the first time. :) I had an interesting conversation with a fellow traveler about my experiences. He told me there is an expression in Bolivia; "A baby that does [View Full Entry]

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NOT FOUND [View Full Entry]

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