Hey all!!! Day two involved boarding Jack (the truck and home for the next two months) and heading on a six hour journey to Misahualli, in the Ecuadorian jungle. The scenery as we travelled was absolutely stunning; rolling mountains covered in lush forests, and waterfalls everywhere. We got split into our groups for cleaning and cooking, and stopped for lunch at the side of the road. A lot more bumps and a beer later we arrived at the Pink Elephant, our accommodation in Misahualli. We had a short tour around town, introducing ourselves to the local monkey population, and returned for a swim in our murky swimming pool followed by kareoke night!! The next day we headed for a 7km hike through the jungle, but it wasn't anywhere near as humid as in Peru!! Wilfred, our ... read more

Hey all!! This week was interesting week as I got to work at the rehabilitation centre where Melissa has been working recently. It is for children with physical disability of developmental delay. Melissa has been working alongside a physiotherapist, and I got to work with the OT!! It was really interesting. Paulina (the OT) has made most of her resources herself and helps design activities for kids who have difficulty with motor control, and I've helped with painting and threading activities. Tuesday we went out for Lauren's 20th birthday, and my leaving dinner, was really good craic. We went to a chinese restaurant which was absolutely delicious, and nearly better than what you would get back home. We headed on to the Black Magic tavern, which had both great music and a fantastic atmosphere!! We got ... read more

Hey all!! yes I made it back from the jungle intact!!! It was a long torturous bumpy drive, we left 6:30am friday and didn't reach our hostel 'til 6pm, after stopping for breakfast, lunch and a flat tyre!! The scenery was breathtaking on the way down, however the roads were very narrow, winding and for the most part unpaved!!! When we finally got out of the minibus the humidity hit us like a blast from a furnace, it reminded me of florida, but of course no air conditioning here!!! We stayed in the town of Sibia, on the banks of the Rio Apurimac, which is the beginning of the Amazon. We didn't do much on friday, just went to dinner and watched the flies stick to the toilet paper hanging from the lights!! That night we ... read more

Hey all, we all survived the llama trek!! It was brilliant, we left Ayacucho at 8:30 saturday morning, in a bus packed with food and gear by Pancho, luxury catered camping!! We drove for about 2 hours to a small village about 12000ft in the andes where we met out llamas, they were such funny creatures- proud and graceful with necks held high and huge black eyes. They were all decked out in colourful headpieces and ribbons, and big bells around their necks. Our bags were strapped to their backs and off we went with two herders on horseback to guide them. The hike wasnt that strenuous but the altitude literally took our breath away. We were chewing coca leaves on the way up and stopping for water breaks so none of us got sick, but ... read more

Hey all!! Not much to report this week!! Everyone arrived back on monday evening, with amazing stories I can't wait to go!! I spent most of my time reading, learning spanish, shopping and getting followed around by strange peruvian men. Well one strange man who wanted to buy my purses and postcards and I did shake him off before I got back to the house. So been busy working at placements, a lot less busy this week thank god but still a lot of fun. Today I worked with the adults at the Salud Mental, it was sports day so we went somewhere to play volleyball and soccer for two hours in the sun!! Thank god for factor 50!!! We had a guest speaker today about traditional medicine which was mildly interesting and then missed our ... read more