SAM - (Peru and Ecuador)

Hi Again

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:39:00 +0000

Happy thanksgivin! The Sammers celebrated a little early by enjoying a huge feast and playing secret turkey for each other. We all are very well rested after a very amazing and spiritual stay at our yoga retreat. Sunday, a very sunny woman at that, shared her Hindu practices of meditation, astrology, and all the different yoga types and philosophies with us. The courses were intense, we sang, danced, meditated, and most of us are capable of doing headstands now. That is until Keegan farted and everyone had to kneel while he just laughed. The food was wonderful as well. Healthy and tasty. Plus since Sunday is from New Mexico we got a little taste of home in the US. Every part of the yoga retreat was inspiring, especially baby Mira Vie.

Now with full bellies, we are ready to take part in the very anticipated final part of the trip, a 5 day trek to Macchu Picchu. We are all very aware that this is our last week together and hope to make it the best one yet! But we can´t wait to see you soon! Love and kisses,
K&K

Hi

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:15:00 +0000

Floating islands, a place none of us have ever expierenced before. The people create their land from condensed dirt and place piles of yellow reeds on top. The sun light reflects beautifully off of the islands as well as the lake, which creates a gorgeous contrast. Along with the reed monster boats that dock outside their homes. These islands literally float and in order for them to stay in place stakes need to be pressed down, and weights thrown over the side. The communities are very friendly though when in disaggrement, they have been known to pull stakes out of their neighbors part of the island to hopefully have them drift away. The islands that we visited were Uros and Taquiles. It was a very scenic boat ride to get to both islands, although our boat driver fell asleep on the way there time to time. We were graced by double halo rainbows which surrounded the sun throughout our trip. When we got the Taquiles we took a 20 minute walk to the top where we ate lunch. Jeff ended up dying along the way in our current game of lover. Then we returned to the boat with our happy tour guide since we were the happiest group and played chess and cards the whole way back to Puno.

Although Puno was relatively small, we were all able to do many activities in the town, such as the carnivals and coca museum. Alot of us hiked up to the look outs, one having a pointing statue of Manu Chipac, the first born Incan. The other look out had a giant Andean condor statue that provided a much larger and breath taking view of Puno, literally breath taking because of the altitude. One night after dinner, we stumbled upon a professional womens volleyball game, Puno vs. Juliyaca. We all had a roaring time as we acted like 12 year olds yelling ¨JULICACA!¨ although most of the time we thought Puno was playing Cuzco. Keegan also caught a volleyball that was thrown in the crowd during halftime. After having the ball for five minutes, a little sweet kid came to him and asked him for the ball very politely. Bugged eyed and mouth grinning, Keegan shouted ¨¡ES MIO!" and cackled, making the boy run to his mama. After all the insults we threw at JuliCACA, #6 Thunder Strike and #10 Big Mama, led Juliyaca to victory. We left with happy faces knowing we would be in Cuzco soon.

We got a welcome to Cuzco gift by getting some of our stuff robbed on the bus ride there. We put it behind us with all the fun things we did. After all the strenuous research we did at all of the many travel agencies here, we decided to go zip lining and horseback riding. We giddied up and rode em horsies all around the ruins. It was amazing to see the advanced engineering the Incas did to make these ruins, but mainly we were more excited just to ride our horses. Then we strapped into our harnesses and zipped and zipped and zipped. We had a blast riding the 3 zip lines the park provided, but had a crazy time repeling down a 100 meter rock. Kieran seemed like she had the most fun doing that. While Shelby wasnt so fond of taking other peoples advice while repelling. What is special about these zip lines are they are the highest in the world, but only above sea level. It was nice having amazing adventures in Cuzco before we left to volunteer at the House of Miracles.

Well we all crammed into a cozy little van and headed off to House of Miracles, an orphanage in the Sacred Valley. To get there we did the unmanagable and fit all ten of us and our bags into a wee little car. Its a colorful building full of love. The American couple, Marie and Allen, who manage and fund the place are so sweet and genuine. They welcomed us with coca tea and smiles. Charlie, Blue, Rover, and Sid all gave us barks of kindness. We spent most mornings weeding the drive way to help bring down the lease of the property. In the afternoons, we chilled with the homefries playing games and sharing jokes. Jose Luis was the name maker of the group. Will being Chubaka, Kieran being rat..but its only cause she taught them egyption rat screw, Keegan, Princess Leya, Dan as Squished Tomatoe, Jeff was Girrafe, and Andy was the sad clown. One of the days we took a 2 hour hike stright up the mountain an Incan Ruin. After exploring the girls and Milo sat in the wide opened feild and played the the dancing sparkles. We giggled and wondered why we were seeing these white specks and balls of black. At one point all four of us were waving our hands in the air, all with smiling faces. The rest of the boys kept walking and went to the Incan tower. On the last day at the orphanage, we had an indoor bon fire where we all laughed and feasted on smores. In the morning the kids gave us hugs goodbye and we went to Cuzco for just a night. Now we are all excited for the yoga retreat and are savoring the few days we have left.

Until later,
with love,
Kieran and Keegan

Lake Titicaca

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:49:00 +0000

Here we are - it´s free travel time! We are in the tourist haven of Puno right now, super fried after our two weeks of spanish classes in Arequipa.

Colca was incredible, as you could probably tell from the pics.

After a 6 hour bus ride in a double decker, flying on all sides of the ¨road¨ through the most picturesque landscapes of the Peruvian mountains we arrived here with mouth fulls of coca to ease our aching heads - Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. It is beautiful here. This morning, Raul, a very different Shaman than ours from the Amazon, did a ceremony to the Pacchamamma (Mother Earth) with us. He taught us about the pre-Incans´ belief that the three most holy animals are the snake, which connects you to the underworld, your innerself and the knoweledge of the earth, the puma which connects you to the physical world and your drive and inner warrior spirit, and finally the condor which connects you to father sky and the cosmos. All of the Andean philosophies also believe in the concept of duality, creating a balance between opposing forces: the positive and negative, or the masculine and feminine energies in everyone and everything. On our journey to ¨the door of knowledge¨ we first sat at the rock of the puma where four cat foot prints lay embedded into an acient rock, then we traveled across the spine of the snake which was a long ridge leading to the nest of the condors, which was a series of natural rocks in the shape of condors overlooking a cliff. Along the way we participated in two rituals - one where Raul supported us as we leaned out with open arms over a cliff and released the negative parts of our past so that we can better face the future. The second was at the ´door of knowledge,´ where we became one with the earth, entering columns carved into the cliffs by either natural means or the ancestors of humans. We entered one column, felt its energy, and then entered the other, finally ending between the two, literally in the door, where we also felt the energy from the Pacchamamma.

After we all did this ritual, Raul and another Shaman prepared an offering to the Pacchamamma: sweets, coca leaves, wine, and the fetus of the llama. We all offered a handful of coca leaves, expressing our best thoughts for the universe, and then they burned the offering in a fire pit made of cow poo. The poo turned white as it burned, a sign that the Pacchamamma accepted the offering.

Tomorrow we head to the floating islands, and then Tuesday night we will be bound for Cuzco! WE GET TO RIDE A HOT AIR BALLOON OVER THE SACRED VALLEY HAH!

Peace out from Team SAM
Your bloggers, Maddie and Andy

A peek into our weekend...

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:46:00 +0000

More later!!!
Love, Team SAM

Greetings from Arequipa!

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:45:00 +0000

We have emerged from the jungle and now we have arrived in Perú!

Our week in the Amazon was muy interesante. We stayed in a lodge on a ridge above a village on the Puyo-Pongo river, and our project for the week was to build the stairs to get to the lodge! The path was steep and slippery and in need of a lot of maitenance. We perfected our machete skills chopping up trees to make steps and spent hours pounding them into the ground. We also got to trek through the jungle and visit a shaman. Andy got to hang out with a monkey. It was pretty chill.

The shaman visit was fascinating. He began each of our cleansing rituals by smoking a cigarrette and demonstrating how the cigarrette represented each of our bodies. Then he stuck the wrong end of a different cigarrette into his mouth and blew smoke all over us. The stains on the cigarrette were our ´mal aire´or bad energy. To cleanse us, he did a series of rituals like spraying us in the face with sugarcane alcohol, blowing smoke on our heads, and using magical rocks to call spirits from the jungle and cleanse us. We were all given a specific herb to smell six times per day, three times in the morning and three times before bed, for three days. After three days our current sicknesses we supposed to be healed. I think as far as shamanism goes it is nessicary to believe to be able to see, rather than to see to believe. For some of us the experience was more meaningful.

After a dirty ass week in the amazon, we took off for Quito at 6 in the morning with bags full of wet clothes and mud. Upon arriving we chilled in Quito for two days. Some of us got to visit el Mitad del Mundo - the official equator - while others got the chance to have a private tour of the US embassy with Jeff´s friend Mike, the head of security there. The US embassy in Quito is brand new, cost $80 million dollars, and is considered small. Don´t try breaking in, even to use the water-conserving toilets that can actually handle toilet paper (a major novelty in these parts). After a couple of days in Quito we all wke up at 3 in the morning to catch a flight to LIma Peru and then transfer to another flight to Arequipa, our new home...for two weeks.

Arequipa is a cool city - it´s hot and dry during the day and cold and dry at night. It´s actually on the north end of the Atacama desert... or you could just call it Tatooine. We´re living with wonderful families. OUr mornings are spent taking intense Spanish classes. Tomorrow we apparently have to give speeches in front of the entire school, to demonstrate our bomb spanish skills. Andy, Milo and Dawn entered an agreement on Monday: Andy and Milo would quit smoking for five days, and Dawn would fast. Andy and Dawn are holding strong on day THREE, but Milo not as much... and he has paid the price - he TOLD us to pants him if he smoked... and Keegan is not one to let him go back on his word.

We´ve passed the afternoons exploring this new place... we saw the market on Monday - anything you would ever EVER need. Yesterday, we went to the Monastary and explored the seemingly never-ending labrinth of bedrooms, kitchens, and sanctuaries. We´re also in the midst of planning our weekend to Colca Canyon - hopefully we can find a mule (or puma. or condor) for Maddie and her knee to ride down on! Free travel plans are also in the works - Lake Titicaca, here we come!

Peace from the SAMtastic team!

Hasta luego - photos to come!

Your bloggers, Maddie and Andy

Alto Choco

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:12:00 +0000

hello home! que tal? we have some bad news... ecuador lost the world cup qualifying game...we were in quito that weekend and the streets were crazy. we even tryed a little dancing in one of the clubs that night... an interesting experience that some of us enjoyed more than others. then we packed up and headed into the cloud forest of Alto Choco for the week. we were planing on staying there for two weeks but our plans changed and come monday we will be at another reforestation project in the amazon! how great is that!!??!! hopefully no one gets jungle fever...uh ohh. i am personally hoping to see some monmkeys or an andaconda or soemthing very unique and tropical-like. in Alto Choco we planted a lot of trees, helped build walls out of bamboo, cooked, and went nof a very beautiful hike. the mornings were so beautiful- it aint called the cloud forest for nothin. right now we are in a cute little town called banos...we may even go to the natural banos tonight. today we all went rafting...it was a lot of fun. i am planning on posting pictures tonight on our shutterfly so keep checking that if you need to see more. we know that you guys love to live your lives through us. we love you. we miss you. muchos besos.

your blogggers- Shelby and Milo

A Week In Otavalo

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:23:00 +0000

This cloudy friday morning finds us once again happily settled in the mountain town of Otavalo. We´ve spent the week attending spanish school, practicing spanish with our new found ecuadorian families members, hiking liberally around the area, and imitating bird calls in an attempt to tease flight out of Andean Condors. We eagrly await reuniting with our group mates, now lost amongst the forest of clouds. This weekend there is a highly anticipated soccer game and if Ecuador can win and score 3 goals they automatically qualify for the world cup. The tension is palpable, and we look forward to being in Quito this weekend to witness the excitment boil over from the stadium and into the streets. We´re trying to upload pictures but are having complications due to poor internet connection. Hopefully we will have success soon. Till then, we miss you all and hope your time at home is magically delicious.
With much love,
Will, Dan, and the rest of the SAM crew

Hiking a Mountain!

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:48:00 +0000

Today we encountered our first mountainous obstacle as a team...literally. We climbed a mountian. We scaled one of the largest mountains in the area around Otavalo, a mountain by the name of Fuya Fuya. The views were incedible and the acsent steep, but we enjoyed every second of it, relishing in the challenge. At the top the clouds wisped up the mountain and enveloped us like a blanket left out all morning to collect dew. It was one of the most amazing experiences of the trip thus far, especially considering it came right on the heels of the group reunion after a seemingly never ending week of being seperated by many miles of forest. We all had fascinating stories to relate while many a hug was shared. While the other group was staying with their homestays in Otavalo and going through rigorous spanish lessons, myself, Will, Shelby and Milo were spending our week in the Cloud Forest teaching basic english (and sometimes basic spanish) to a fine group of youngsters living in the area. Even though some of the children (especially the young ones) proved to be more of a challenge than was expected, we still had a marvalous time. The other group explored Otavalo and the surrounding areas in the mornings, and perfected their spanish in the afternoons. They also visited many sites around the city like the Cascada de Peguche where our fellow traveler Kieran´s shoe descended the waterfall only to be retrieved by our fearless leader Jeff. More pictures to follow this weeks activities..

Photos!

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:06:00 +0000

Due to complications with Flickr, we created a brand spankin´ new account through shutterfly, which allows all of us to sign in under 1 username. Here´s the link, check us out: http://www.samcarpediem2009.shutterfly.com

greetings from otavaloooooo!

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:40:00 +0000

This dark saturday eve finds us nestled in between mamma and pappa volcanoes in the ever magnificent Otavalo Ecuador. After two weeks spent working the farm at Rio Muchacho, today we were able to satisfy our insatiable American need to consume, storming one of the largest handicraft markets in South America, scouring the streets for gifts, plauging store owners for their unnescesary knick knacks made of alpaca hair. We now set off with misty eyes as our group seperates for the first time. Half bound for the cloud forest to teach the younglings of ecuador, and half to work on our ever improving spanish vocabulary and grammer at a language school in Otavalo. Soon we shall reunite in a joyous embrace, until then its off deep into the forest for Dan and I. Wish us luck, we miss you all at home.
with love, Dan Will and the rest of the Carpe Diem SAM trip

Bueno

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Hi Family! We are having such a great time in Rio Muchacho and want to tell you all about our trip so far! We started out at Saiunanda, a beautiful place just outside of Bahia. Alfredo, the owner, opened our eyes to a new way of living, as we all tried something new and did a singing bowls meditation. Peacocks roomed the land, along with many other birds and animals including iguanas, sloths, horses, parrots, dogs, puppies, cats and much much more. Each meal was delicious, even the sloths tried to sneak into the refrigerator to grab a bite. One of our favorite days was going to the mangroves with Cati. We covered ourselves with mud!! Getting dirty never felt so good. We laughed, were happy, and felt blissful as we connected to the Earth, wildlife and to our new friends. Now at Rio Muchacho, an organic farm, we are eager to get our trip up and rollin! In the day time we experience as much farm work as possible -shoveling poop, making compost, pulling weeds, feeding the animals, and helping in the kitchen. But at night is when we get it poppin! We jam every night -Keegan on the drums, Andy on the guitar, and everyone else joining as they please. Dawn and Dan play shit boots but you better watch out cause Dan will jack you up son! Milo brings a calming wisdom and offers meditation for us all. Maddie likes take small childrens soccer balls and kick them off a cliff (Thanks, Kieran, writes Maddie). Shelby enlightens us with her metal singing skills. Kieran helps keep the bugs away, and is always willing to give a WHOO WHOOOOO! Will is always the person to look at when you need a smile, giving us a lot of insight and laughter. And Jeff has been doing a swell job at providing a monologue that always cheers us up. We have one more week in Rio Muchacho where we will begin our Spanish classes, which we all are super excited for. Hopefully we will vbe able to enter another blog post before we travel to Otavalo for our next adventure!
Bloggers Kieran and Keegan

p.s. we made a flicker account! go to www.flickr.com/samcarpediem2009 to see the pictures

Greetings from Bahia!!!

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:48:00 +0000

We´re here!!! After a verrrrrry long day of travel, we have arrived at our orientation location on the coast.

We´ve been released into the city of Bahia de Caraquez by Jeff and Dawn, who (very lovingly) said to us this morning, `Now leave this beautiful hostel we´re staying in, fend for yourselves, and come back for dinner! No, we won´t be helping you. At all.´

So here we (Will and Maddie) are, having just finished a delicious meal of rice and beans and chicken and beef at a restaurant overlooking the Bay. We will spend the rest of the afternoon seeking out transportation options and other hostels as `foreshadowing´for more responsibilities we will be taking on later in the trip. Woo hoo!

Hasta luego, amigos! Sending good vibes your way.......

Maddie and Will

we´re here!

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:06:00 +0000

hola amigos! we have made it here to ecuador and are in la ciudad de bahia de caraquez! this is our first stop so we havent seen much of the city, but the hostel we are staying at is mucho bien. there is even a sloth that live in the kitchen. we are on a scavenger hunt and are hoping we find some great things. the new culture is sometinhg we enjoy a lot....but our spanish is not as good as we´d like...hopefully we dont get too lost today! xoxo padres we love you

Nosotros Estamos En Ecuador

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:56:00 +0000

Sup guys its Dan and Keegan reporting live from an internet cafe in Bahia, Ecuador!! Being the first ones to post on this blog and to find internet access by ourselves we would to take this time to congradulate ourselves... After a strenuous day of traveling were eager to explore more of this town on foot. Our hostel that we are staying at is luxurious, very peaceful and full of delicious meals. There were many interesting creatures that inhabit our hostel, from terantualas, to sloths! Well, we still have a lot to discover so until next time.. adios.

Let the Journey Begin!

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:47:00 +0000

I've just spoken to Dawn and Jeff and the group happy, together and are heading through LAX airport security as I type this blog. With one slightly delayed student everyone arrived without injury and with all bags present - truly, this promises to be a wonderful and affirming semester!

Please stay tuned for regular blogs from our students on a mostly weekly basis.

Yours in spirit,

Ethan

Let It Begin:)

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Well Hi Thar:)
This is your future co-leader team, Jeff and Dawn, just checking in with you, sending out warm welcomes. We have been spending many days together now, running around Portland doing last minute errands, talking Heaps about our upcoming adventure and how truly excited we are to meet all of you very very soon, and simply learning about each other. We've been going over our itinerary, finalizing a few things as well. Anyhow.
So this is the first of many Blogs to come, which ya'll will eventually be taking over; it is a way to share with friends, family, and loved ones what we are all up to. You may notice that there are previous entries from the last group who were on this trip...we want to keep these old Blogs as an ongoing way for everyone to access past memories and to see what future groups are up to!
We are sooooo very excited to meet you guys, and to have the opportunity to share such amazing and magical moments with you all.
Yippee Kye Aye,
Jeff and Dawn

SAM and beyond

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sat, 23 May 2009 05:49:00 +0000

Well, its been a fantastic journey through America del Sur, and it has now come to an end. To recap:
After we got back from the yoga retreat, we had a successful trek to the famous city of Machu Picchu. Along the way, we met a lot of nice people, saw some amazing scenery, and felt the presence of the ancient Inca in every footstep. For some, it was our first time backpacking, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Watching the sun rise through the mist as we got our first view of MP on day four of our hike was unforgettable. The only drawback was that Tessa had injured her knee and so her and HEather had their own journey through the sacred valley - on horseback and raft instead of on foot. We had a happy reunion at Machu Picchu, toured the site as a whole group again, and then, tired but happy, hopped on our train back to Cusco. We were sorry to say goodbye, but every good thing comes to an end, and we have many amazing journeys ahead of each of us. We will always keep the memories of the past three months with us as we go forward in the world.
Paz Afuera
Adam, Heather, Jenn, Tessa, Karen, Amanda, Paul and Onyx

Omm Govenda Ommmm.

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:58:00 +0000

We just got back from our Yoga retreat. Wow, what an amazing experience that was.

We got there Sunday night, and started right into a yoga philosopy class. We learned about the begining of yoga. We had our first yoga class that night. That night was really just spent relaxing and getting our yoga on.

We started our next day and everyday after that, with a session of meditation, then went right into our yoga. The mornings were always nice there. It was a very interesting week, we put our bodies to the test of how well could we all really bend. I got laughed at a bit by Jenn, for my non felixble body. We all laughed alot at some of the postions, ¨ ok now everybody, sexy cat.¨ But there were some great partner yoga postions, some of mastered some crazy headstands.

During the morning after breakfast we would do daily ¨selva¨which is service of making things beautiful and doing things that are beautiful. We would work in the kitchen, sweep, and water plants. After our morning selva, we would have a different class, 2 of the days we learned about Chakras, we all learned how to read Chakras as well! So be prepared parents, we will tell you what ones of your Chakras are blocked and the things you need to work on to un-block them! ;) At night we would do more yoga, and just relax before a great vegitarian meal. We were veggies all week, and boy was this food great.

Before we came back yesterday, we did a great ceremony. We all burned things that we wanted to leave at the Yoga center. We all went around and said a quote or a mantra that we wanted to leave as a legacy. It was amazing.

This week was one of the more relaxing weeks we have had, a great way to go into MAchu Picchu tomorrow. We leave around 6am, tomorrow to head off to our trek to find the lost city.

We will write when we get back from our trek.

Ciao, Onyx and Jenn.

Swine Flu - Update from Carpe Diem HQ

noreply@blogger.com (Ethan) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:58:00 +0000

The following is a post recently made to our FAQ page that we wanted to include to all of you who might be reading this blog.

Swine flu has recently been confirmed throughout Mexico and parts of the US. A few other countries have also reported possible infections. While we're in touch with the CDC and monitoring all of the international news we can put our hands on, we also feel we are uniquely placed to handle the situation given that all of our field staff are trained in Wilderness Medicine; two of our office staff are currently Emergency Room nurses; and the other is a Wilderness EMT. We also have contact with a variety of local doctors (including a few with advanced training in international and tropical medicines) that should needs require we can reach out to.

Our spring & fall 2009 programs will continue to run as scheduled although we plan on requiring flu shots for our fall programs as they have been proven (with Avian Flu for instance) to much reduce any severity of infection. We may also choose to outfit our medical kits with extra supplies such as extra hand sanitizer and the like.

Swine Flu is an offshoot of the 1918-19 flu: just as every flu since then has been. In that strain of flu as well as most that have followed including Swine, Pneumonia has been the actual concern and the one we're most on guard for. The good news is that once recognized there are very good treatments for Pneumonia and we are very familiar with good doctors in the areas our students travel. Of course we plan on continuing to take the proactive approach and deal with any medical potentialities quickly and professionally. Since that initial pandemic in 1918, the subsequent strains have historically been more and more benign. The Swine Flu is presenting thankfully as a low-mortality flu (currently, in the US as an example, there have been 50 suspected cases and only one took an overnight in the hospital before being discharged in good health). So, while this particular flu strain is stronger than the typical seasonal flu, we are hopeful that it will continue to be as easily treatable as it has been.

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:44:00 +0000

We left Pilcopata after our almuerzo(lunch), loaded up the 4x4 that would take all of our food to the community, and headed out on foot to Huancaria. Our jungle stroll took us about two hours, hiking on rough muddy roads with just our water bottles. We met our Jeep in the main plaza of the town, picked up all our supplies and walked another ten minutes to the raised and covered platform constructed for visitors of the village. Everybody pitched tents and then was ready to jump in the river.
All the little kids came to our campsite, curious to see us and what things we were bringing with us. The niños found us very funny, playing with Onyx´s hair, saying that it was sheep´s hair and naming me Small Mouth. At the same time we were all suprised to see little girls with nose piercings. The next morning we were woken up by our first rain forest rain. We headed over to the center of town, where the soccer field and the school houses are. We met with the head teacher, a woman from a nearby village named Veronica. We immediately set out cleaning the dirtiest and oldest of the three school buildings, taking out all the desks and school supplies, and giving it all a good scrubbing. Once finished cleaning it was time to paint, a fresh layer of red and yellow. We spent that afternoon playing volleyball with the children befote heading back to camp for the night. Our evenings were spent learning from our guide Andreas about the Machiganga and Machipaya people that inhabitat this community, hearing myths and legends of the native peoples, and hearing incredible stories from our contact Hugo Pepper ranging from the lost city of Paytiti to his time at Woodstock.
The next day we continued our painting of the schools and finished work on the second building. At this point we still had only had contact with the children of the village, who were constantly hanging around and in school during the day. The men of the village had been busy investigating the news that people were in their territory cutting down trees, and so were out protecting the village. That afternoon we spent time making bracelets and necklaces with Nora, the wife of Alberto the world traveling medicine man. We worked with her and her children and then had fun shooting a bow and arrow.
We spent the next day working with men and women from the village out in the fields. We split into two groups, half of us going with Guillermo to clear a field for planting and learned about the village as we talked and waiting for all the wood to burn. Land is communally owned in the village; if you want to work on a certain plot of land you do, and you are the owner of the crops you produce. It is only when you want to cut down trees that you talk with the community to make sure it is ok. The other half of the group worked on a hillside clearin land with machetes. That afternoon we got to meet with Alberto and take a tour of his medicinal plant garden - he laughs like a mad man and knows how the uses of every plant in the jungle.
The following day we left the jungle at 7 in the morning, traveling back to Cusco in one day. We had to hike back to Pilcopata, jump in our bus and ride the bumpy dirty roads of the jungle, and cloud forest, traveling from sea level to 3326m, reaching Cusco at 7pm. Food, and sleeping in beds and no more bug bites! Our jungle expedition came to a close.

Paul

Welcome to the Jungle.

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:43:00 +0000

Hi all! Sorry its been so long- we have just been so so busy!
So last week, after a lovely couple of days in the beautiful city of Cusco, the group set off onto a ten day expedition... to the jungle. It took us a few days to get out there being that it was so far away and we made a few pit stops. We left Cusco on Tuesday, spending Tuesday night, Wednesday and Wednesday night at a beautiful 300 year old hacienda just outside the town of Paucartambo. The house was a big, gorgeous ranch with a big old fireplace to warm up with at night. During the day we worked to clear a field on the farm there that will be used to grow corn.
Thursday morning we hit the road bright and early and drove to a spot on the Madre de Dios river where we hopped in a boat and headed to a tiny lodge in the cloudforest called Atalaya. We spent one night there, and took some really nice hikes in the afternoon to explore the jungle. The next morning we woke up incredibly early to boat down the river to see macaws flying along the river banks. Totally incredible sight. Later that morning we continued on our way, braving landslides and some serious mud along the road, to the town of Pillcopata inside of the Manu National Reserve. We stayed one night in this little, dusty town at the Paradise hotel and finally the next morning we took off for the jungle community we would stay and work in for the next few days... Paul will take it from here to tell you all about the jungle!

xoxo Ciao!
Tessa

Triviaaa whaaaaaa.

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:37:00 +0000

Well I didn´t have this weeks trivia on my lost post, so here it is guys!

Peru is one of the leading exporters for paprika, and asparagus. As well as gold, and they have some of the best silver you will ever find!

As a lack of education in Peru, they arent able to really get into the exprting as other countries are. So they sit on the moto of ¨Poor man sitting on a golden chair.¨

Well thats this week trivia for you guys, we are heading out to Cusco in a little bit.

Hope all is well at home.

- Jenn

Jugo de Rana.

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Well tomorrow we have our last day in Spanish school. These last 2 weeks have been filled with learning and new experiences.

Today at school a few of us travel to the market, where some of us saw things we didn´t really want to see. Parts of animals that should never be shown. I know my teachers were trying to make me try Frog Juice....Ehhhhhh, no thanks! :-/ It definantly would have been a crazy ride for the stomach. They would take the live frogs just right out of this container they had in the open,and just blend them on in. I don´t think the poor guys knew what they have coming. The market is filled with so much diversity, from seafood to all the jugos you can imagine. On the 3rd level is the animals. They had the cutest bunnies you will ever see, and the BIGGEST turkies you can imagine. And of course they had cuy, I wish they were pets like they were in the state, the poor little guyswell accutally they aren´t small at all. They are huge here.

Tomorrow is our last day of class, which is definantly sad. I know I have had some awesome teachers, and have learned a lot since Viva Verde in Quito. It was nice to have a refresher on mi español. Today we received cerfificates of completion and had some really dulce postres. Mmmm mmmm good. We head out to Cusco tomorrow, on an allllllllll nighter bus everybody. Please pray for us that it is comfortable. Then we are headed on our way to meet our new contact for the rest of the trip,get this name Jugo Pepper. What an awesome name. We will shop for supplies for the jungle where we will be starting Tuesday, for 10 days.

Well thats our last week, and the rest of our weekend folks.

Hope all is bueno, up a la norte.

Ciao, Jenn.

Colca Canyon.

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:49:00 +0000

Well this weekend, we hiked to the bottom of the 2nd deepest canyon in the WORLD! And there is only a couple 100 meter difference between the first and second.

Sheese it was a crazy weekend, we woke up on Saturday morning around 3:30 am, and got on to a bus and tried to sleep since we knew we had a long day ahead of our selfs.

We arrived to the Condor Park around 9:30 or so, we watched the condors for over an hour just fly throughout this beautiful canyon, some were big and some were small but good god they were a sight to see. They would fly directly over your head, and almost were praising your presence for a good photo to be taken.
From there we took another crazy bus ride for about 15 mins, to the begining of our deep desent into this goregous, almost deepest canyon. In total to get to the bottom, and to our arriving point of the ¨Oasis¨, catchy name huh? It took us about 6 hours, with an hour or so break for lunch as well in the bottom of the canyon. We arrived there in perfect timing before dark. That night we spent steripenning water for a good hour or so. We were all so tired, sore that walked down definantly kicked our ass, and we all knew that we still had to walk up the next day. We had a very enjoyable dinner, of pasta with tomatoes. It was sure nice to get a big meal. That night we stood out in front of our little adobe house and looked at the goregous moon and stars. Boy oh boy were they bright. Good thing though, we needed them at 4 in the morning.

We all woke up again, that next morning and started our ascent up this canyon around 430. Amanda and I were not feeling so well that next morning and road mules all the way up. I cannot speak of how hard it was, yet I can hear stories. Perhaps somebody who walked up will help me post a blog this week to talk about their expereince. I know that we definantly have our worked cut out for Machu Pichu, everybody. Good thing we end with that. Ha! But yeah it was a goregous sunrise that morning heading up the canyon. A bit cold but we came prepared. Everybody arrived to the top of the canyon around 8 am, nothin like a good ol´4 hour hike to start your day! :)

We arrived to this little town, and had breakfast in a hostal. After breakfast we all headed to the main part to wait for our bus. It was a funny sight to see all of us alseep in this park on the grounds the benchs any where we could get comfy. We headed out to Chivay after that, and went to the hot springs. Boy were they nice and HOT! It was so nice to soak your sore body from head to toe, it was relaxing. We ate lunch at this little sandwich shop in Chivay as well. After lunch we headed back to Arequpia, where most of us were definantly looking forward to our beds, and a nice shower.

That was our weekend, it was a crazy & beautiful weekend.

This week we are continuing a nother week of Spanish school. Hopefully on our way to fluency! Haha, probably not but we can always HOPE.

I will post more this week.

Ciao from all of us here in the Southern Hemi.
Hope all is well at home!

- Jenn

PERU!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (SAM Students) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:47:00 +0000

Hello Lima, wait, no, hello Arequipa!

We only took a pit stop in the Lima airport to use our first Soles, and taste some fantastic gelatto.

And now here we are, settled in with our families, getting used to the groove of Spanish school, and spending our afternoons walking around the Plaza de Armas under the hottest sun in the world, so says Jenn's homestay Dad Freddy. But Freddy also told us El Misti is waiting to explode (I checked to make sure, it's actually dormant) phew. El Misti, what a fantastic sight, overlooking all of Arequipa at a tall 5,822 M, thats over 19,000 feet!. But not only does Arequipa have El Misti but two more volcanos on either side! Chachani and Pichu Pichu, also very high, but smaller, and with more peaks. Snow tops all of them, which feeds Rio Chile, Chile is actually a Quichua word that means cold. Similar to chilly, don't ya think?

On the flip side of this valley, some five hours away, past the towering earth, is a canyon twice as deep as the grand canyon. It's the grand grand canyon! Also known as Colca, or "wake up early" canyon. Not that Colca means wake up early, but we're leaving at 330 in the morning tomorrow. What a muy temprano time of day.

It will be nice to take a journey out of this city, and glimpse a bit more of Peru, and its birds. Flying Andean Condors will be the focus of our first stop on the long hike, lasting two days in and up, up, up out of the canyon. It will be the highlight of Arequipa, besides maybe the delicious pastries, or the cheap magnificent chinese food, or the churches made out of volcanic rock. I've got to say, Arequipa has it all.

Chao Chao!
amanda and the group

did you know?
Alan Perez is the presidente of Peru.
(thank you Onyx. Let's hear it for Trivia master!!!!)