TIME CAPSULE LETTER
Written by Maria Gonzalez
Hello fellow GLA adventurers!
It has been 3 months since our time together back in Ollantaytambo! We are remembering the journey… from you playing soccer with the locals, looking for the next soccer ball that would not deflate, or the next inka kola to drink, translating and guessing words in Spanish, moving bricks while asking countless 21 questions or getting that exact word match, to going up the Andes, setting your intentions into the coca leaves, listening to one another and simply being yourselves. It might feel like yesterday, or maybe ages ago. In any way, we wish the memories you made are still echoing in you!
Each one of you 7 boys made this experience unique. You made a big jump in your lives coming all the way to Perú, getting out of your comfort zone and exploring new ways of seeing with the Peruvian culture and with one another. This email might find you back in school, navigating your junior or senior years, perhaps doing college applications or facing changes in friendship or family dynamics. Wherever you are, we wish your learnings from your GLA adventure serve you in your lives back at home.
The impact that you had with your service work is greater than you imagine, you left the girls’ homes better than how you found them. Your work helped keep the project moving forward and expanding, and in that way create a new spot for a new girl that might need it. You gained a deepened understanding from the world by immersing yourself in a culture, being in service and working in a project that transforms the lives of the girls that come from the high mountains you trekked on. Now it is your chance to make use of that learned knowledge, in your own authentic way.
Last summer we closed our time together, you set a collective intention together to BE TRUE TO YOURSELVES. You reflected about the power of being able to be yourselves and open up in this experience, and set the intention to check in with each another and have a reunion in 10 years, or maybe less 🙂
How is it going?! Have there been any changes in your personal lives or your communities? Thank you for striving to BE THE CHANGE!
Sending you all our best regards from Costa Rica and Perú!
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
Here are a few things you can expect:
- We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week here at GLA Headquarters from our program staff and students, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post daily – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors, including but not limited to internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes onsite program staff are only able to send text back to Headquarters, where our team updates the blog.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
Cell Phone Policy: The GLA cell phone policy is currently in place this summer to help foster meaningful connections between students. This means your student’s phone will be collected every day and returned to them after activities are completed to have with them through the night. Actual tech times and regularity will vary greatly by program location and time zones. During designated ‘tech time’, your student may use their phones as they wish. Please note that your student may not always choose to use this time to get a hold of their parents. If you are not hearing directly from your student each day, you can assume that no news is good news! We strongly recommend you follow the blog to follow your students’ experience without talking to them every day. If you are a parent and would like to get in touch with your student directly, you can call us at +1-619-758-3031 and we can set up a formal time for you to connect with your student.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JULY 23
Written by Alejandra González, International Director
Hello dear families!
We have started our journey in the sacred valley with great spirits! We had all of our students arrive safely and happily to Perú. The group’s amazement and gratitude for the stunning mountains, local town and beautiful Home Base filled the atmosphere with joy and ease. We enjoyed some nice lunch at our main lunch restaurant Uchucuta with the first 5 students.
Afterwards we had some time to relax and rest after the long flights. Soon enough students were playing football in the Home Base garden. At that time the group became complete and our last two students arrived! We went out to explore the town and looked for a soccer ball as students were eager to play soccer with the local boys. The main plaza was full of kids and we all enjoyed the time playing and interacting together. With infinite energy, our students wanted to keep playing and continued the game in another soccer field close by home.
This program is one of GLA’s few male only programs happening and it sure feels like a special crew!
My kind regards from Ollantaytambo!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 25
Greetings from the Sacred Valley!
We had such a beautiful and full day! Our day started with a grounding orientation session where students learned about each other through fun games and music, reflected about code of conduct expectations and safety boundaries from a self responsibility perspective, and established community agreements to build a learning environment together. We also had our service site director introduce the important work students will be doing at the local girls’ homes.
We celebrated one of our dear student’s birthday – Grant! We sang and ate cake at lunch which was a delicious highlight. Also, students tried alpaca for lunch!
In the afternoon students learned about the history of the Incas as we went up the amazing archeological sites we have in front of our home base. We visited the temple of the sun and students remained curious and engaged discovering the ancient traditions and admirable architecture.
Finally we had a truly special traditional ceremony, to honor reciprocity with Pachamama (Mother Earth in native language Quechua) with the Qeros indigenous community members. This manifestation of faith to nature and the spiritual leaders’ open heart to bless each of the students dreams was very touching for many of us.
We closed our day with a leadership activity around self knowledge, learning about personal practices and self care as the starting point for leadership.
We are having a beautiful and very meaningful time already. The journey just begins!
Alejandra González
International Director
BLOG POST FOR JULY 25
Written by leader of the day, Sebastian Floreani:
Hello parents!
Today we woke up late making us leaders of the day. We went to our first service where we uprooted the weeds in the garden. After 5 hours and a good lunch we left back to home base. We later went out to the markets where we bought necklaces and ponchos.
When we went back we were invited to listen and ask question to 2 guest speakers of the ancient Incan priest hood. After a very interesting lesson about the history we had dinner and came back to home base. We did a lesson on listening and then did an exercise where we spoke about challenges in our own lives and practiced listening to our group partners. After an eventful day I look forward to what’s ahead in the coming days.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 26
Written by leader of the day, Gabe:
Dear parents,
Today we did our service 1 hour away in calca. There we tore down a wall brick by brick in order to preserve the bricks in order to rebuild the wall. After that we took a short bus ride to a market in Pisac where we purchased souvenirs such as ponchos, bracelets, necklaces, etc.
Later we came back to base camp for mentor group where we debated on weather to build a road to the indigenous people’s village. During this Grant took the role of a government representative and had the final say on whether or not it was built. Ultimately Grant decided to not build the road, however, Manuel our local director then taught us about how the roads really help the indigenous because it allows the people to get medical attention and other access to important services relatively fast where as before it would’ve taken at least half a day by horseback to get to a hospital.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 27
Written by leader of the day, Grant Stumbles:
Today was a long day for the boys. 7:30breakfast followed by 8:30 departed called for another early morning. The boys worked hard today from 9:30-12 moving bricks, digging ditches, and peeling bark. The group then headed to Cuyo Chico to gain a glimpse on local life in the Andes. They made their own bracelets and necklaces, played soccer with the locals, and exchanged info on everyday life with the children of the village. Most importantly though, they gained knowledge on the ancient beliefs and customs passed down by the Incan people. Overall a tiring but successful day for the group!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 28
Written by Leader of the Day: Jack Beauregard
Friday July 28th started with a 8:30bus ride the the maras salt mines. Upon arriving at the salt mines, our bus ride was able to stop and overlook the mines from above. The mines consisted of hundreds of white salt baths, that local community members would work on yearly, to provide fine quality salt for the whole country, if not world.
After leaving the salt mines, the group headed towards the bustling city of Cusco. Cusco charmed everyone. From the Spanish colonial architecture, to the ancient cobblestone streets, the entire group was surprised by Cusco and curious from its beauty. We had lunch in the town square(one of the most beautiful places in the world) and then toured the streets – learning about the city’s rich history.
After walking Cusco we headed towards our hotel where we ate dinner and rested for a short period of time until we went to a Peruvian independence celebration at the Cusco center for art. Here we watched various dances and songs performed by locals. The dances and songs included traditional clothing and meaningful dances. After finishing the pleasing performance, the group returned to the hotel for the nightly group activities and sleep.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 29
Written by Alejandra González, International Director
Good day dear families!
Today was our adventure day! Waking up early after our cultural night in Cusco, we traveled to the river lodge to embark on a day of rafting and zip lining. The students were thrilled even though the water was cold! After some exciting rapids we were received by a relaxing sauna and delicious soup followed by a chicken potatoes and veggies main dish.
Later on the team zip lined across the river, happily and safely we flowed through this beautiful and eventful day. The long 3 hours bus ride was a good time to relax with music…
All our best from the sacred valley!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 30
Written by leader of the day, Dan Alireza
Hello!
Today we woke up early to walk to the dormitory in Ollantaytambo to work on sanding and varnishing the doors. It was more relaxing work than we had before. We stayed there past lunch and on the way back to home base we stopped by some secluded Incan ruins near the river. We had a few hours of free time then had a dance class where we learned some Peruvian styles of dancing from the coast, mountains and jungle. Then we went out to a new place for dinner and tried some pastries before heading back for a leadership activity about receiving and giving feedback.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 31
Written by leader of the day, Liam Findley
We started off today knowing it was our last service day in Ollantaytambo which gave everyone some mixed feelings. While we were walking over to start a long day of painting doors, we saw our friend Oscar, a stray dog from the town, who followed us all the way to the housing. Along the way we saw some goats and llamas which got us some great photos, and then we continued with our service work. After we finished applying varnish to all the doors we talked to Carmen, who works at the Sacred Valley Project, and she talked in depth about the impact that education can have on these girls lives. We then recorded a video for the girls to see when they come back, and then wrapped up our day playing some soccer and American football with kids we met on the field.
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 1-2
Dearest families,
We started August with our big trekking adventure with much joy and dedication! The team was full of amazement and cohesion as we worked together to make it up around 15,000 feet high. Our day started early departing home base at 6 30 am.
After driving through amazing views traveling into the Andes, we hiked for around 2 hours to get to our first stop for lunch. The cooking staff served us with delicious buffet meals every meal keeping us well fed and full of energy to hike. We continued our trek after lunch this time uphill, we encountered the local community celebrating the beginning of the Andean year with unique traditions like horseback racing to catch a chicken.
The students had presents for the local children like toys, and coca leaves for the adult members of the community. Our adventure was full of beautiful exchanges… one boy, Josue, joined us all for the whole trek. The boys found a new friend in him, practicing their Spanish, making races with him and even being guided by him through the mountains.
When we arrived to the campsite we were all blown away as the clouds covered the mountains, leaving only the peaks to be seen. We had a full moon that night, many laughs, hot chocolate, music and shining stars as the sky opened up.
The next day the sunrise woke us up early at 5 30 am. After a really cold night, the sunlight was truly appreciated. We started our next phase up the trek riding to the highest peak, to do our coca offering all together. Honoring the tradition of offering our intentions and dreams to Mother Earth.
After this the journey was down hill, for 2 more hours, embraced by the great Apus (mountain spirits in Quechua). We finally made it back to eat a well deserved lunch in the community of Patacancha.
The bus ride back home was silent sleep, followed by several hours of rest back at home.
Machu Picchu awaited us for the next day.
My best regards!
Alejandra González,
International Director
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 3
In our last day as a full group we went to Machu Picchu. Our day started early again, rising to take the train for the first time to Aguas Calientes, the Machu Picchu town. The train ride was a beautiful experience as the scenery already invites you to be in the here and now, and the cultural environment never stops to show us something new. When we got to the train station there were locals dressed with traditional suits dancing and celebrating.
Once we arrived to Aguas Calientes town we got another bus which took us to the park entrance, the boys were impressed by the high jungle mountains the whole way. Our tour guide, Sonia, guided us into the park, sharing about the impressive and mysterious history of how it got built, the symbolism in Machu Picchu like rocks in shapes of a condor, and the practices of the Incas, like doing ceremonies for the sun and using astrology to guide their lives.
We enjoyed our lunch in town after a full day in Machu Picchu and headed to the market before taking the train back. The train ride was definitely a high light, as two of our brave students, Luke and Grant, spontaneously modeled in a fashion show with alpaca clothes! No moments are dull with the boys 😀
In the night we had our closing activity, as Sebastian would be leaving the next day. The students presented one meaningful goal they want to commit to to be the change once they’re back home. We shared special moments as each one got to receive appreciative feedback from their peers. Finally we had our closing appreciation circle. It really feels like true friendships have been formed. We are all really grateful for our adventure together!
Kindest regards,
Alejandra Gonzalez,
International Director
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 4
Hello parents!
For our last day the students woke up to have a special breakfast at a crapes place in town. After a time for packing we went for lunch to our main restaurant Uchucuta and had an unforgettable lunch as the students had cuy (Guinea pig) to end their journey in Perú. I couldn’t say they loved it but it was sure an experience they had fun with. We also celebrated Manuel, the local director, for his birthday coming up on Sunday. So we are delicious carrot cake.
Soon after our first student to depart, Sebastian, said goodbye. The afternoon was rainy and cold, so we had a relaxing time in. We had our last dinner at home base, sleeping early to rise at 4 30 am for the next crew of students departing. There were mixed feelings, with memories to never forget and new friendships to keep. We will treasure our time together forever!
Alejandra González,
International Director
