PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog updates per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received late in the evening or overnight will be posted the following day.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
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 JUNE 26
Hola!
This is your crew from Peru Spanish Service Adventure, and we are so excited to kick off session 1 of summer 2024!
Today is arrival day (part 1)! Everything is ready for our students to arrive and experience everything that Peru and our home base town, Pisac, have to offer! Most of the students were picked up at the airport in the morning/early afternoon at the Cusco Airport, with some students having changes to their flight itineraries. (Our last student, Kiera, will be picked up tomorrow by GLA staff due to a flight mishap!) Students then took a 1-hour taxi ride to the beautiful and rustic village of Pisac in the Sacred Valley of Peru. They are settling in and getting used to the Peruvian winter, which is warm during the day and chilly at night. How brave!
At the home base, students were able to mingle with other students, explore their new home base, and rest/shower after a long day of travel. The students also went to a cafe to take advantage of the wifi, ate dinner, met the GLA Spanish Service Adventure staff, and played 2 truths and a lie to get to know each other!
Although students shared that they were exhausted from the traveling, they were super enthusiastic and looking forward to the adventure and service days to come!
We can’t wait for the next two weeks of service, learning, lifelong memories, and deep friendships that await.
We hope that you can use this blog to keep up with your student’s adventures and as a way to experience this journey with us!
From the ecstatic GLA Peru Spanish Service Adventure team,
Ali Jei Salazar (Local Director)
Serenity Dzubay (International Director)
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 27
Hello GLA families,
Today was day two of our journey in Perú. We woke up around 7:30 this morning and started to get ready for the day ahead. We started our day with fried eggs, bread and a delicious strawberry jam. As the morning went on we were happy that our small group of 4 people became 5 as Kiera joined us around 8:30. We moved from the dinning area to the court yard to go through orientation. Even though it took us a total of 3 hours, it was important, helpful and relevant information that we had to cover to make sure staff and students are safe and happy.
Around 12:30, we had lunch then headed upstairs to get ready to go to the Pisac Ruins. We took a van to the top of a mountain to experience just a small part of what the Incas created. All the students could agree the 15 minute car ride was the most beautiful one we had ever been on. Mountains and valleys surrounded by wildlife that looked like it was out of National Geographic. It was truly magical. We took photos and asked almost TOO many questions to Ali Jei! We drove down and once we got back to home base we were greeted by Cesar who graced us with a beautiful Peruvian ceremony about thanking and apologizing to mother nature for everything we have and haven’t done. César then led us to a field where we buried our offering in the ground almost as a way to deliver our gift to Mother Earth.
Once our spirits were cleansed and pure, we headed back inside for a little free time that we filled with multiple competitive games of UNO. We were called down for dinner and finished the day with mentor groups. We asked questions to get to know each other and wrote letters to our future selves about what we hope to get out of this trip. It was fun and exciting to only think about what our journey will be come.
I hope everyone back home is as happy as we are here.
Goodnight,
Caroline H 🙂
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 28
I started my morning off with a freezing cold shower as I made a mistake while turning on the water, which my group and I found very amusing! During breakfast we learned a new word “Sullpaiky ”. This means “Thank You” in Quechua which is one of the indigenous languages in the Sacred Valley.
After breakfast we were introduced to our spanish teacher, Heidy. Despite being initially intimidated to take Spanish classes from a teacher I had never met before in a foreign country, Heidy welcomed all of us with a smile and a welcoming attitude. During class we reviewed some common Spanish words and some simple conjugations.
Almost directly after Spanish class we walked to Kusi Kawsay which is a small private school in Pisac and where we will be doing most of our service work. The school is an amazingly beautiful place perched atop a hill overlooking the stunning village and mountain ranges of Pisac. At the school we met Melva who is the teacher of permaculture at the school. Melva taught us all about the medicinal qualities of the different plants that the school grows. I was surprised to learn that nobody at the school takes any over-the-counter medicine and instead uses herbal teas or pastes to heal illnesses or wounds. We ended our tour by visiting a classroom of students our age. Here we did our best to talk together and we drew some important things in our lives and cultures. Despite the language barrier, I feel I was able to make a genuine connection with the student I talked with.
We ate a Quinoa lunch at the school and a delicious passion fruit cake for dessert. After lunch we were able to take part in a Permiso a la Tierra or an Offering to Mother Earth ceremony. This ceremony is very important to the Quechua people and its purpose is to ask Mother Earth for permission to plant crops. During this ceremony, a gift of sacred leaves and flowers is put together and burned as an offering to Mother Earth.
After our time at the school we took a beautiful walk around Pissac and purchased homemade juice from a local shop. Back at our hotel or “Home Base” we participated in an activity where we debated the effects of social media and cell phones as a whole. We also did a variety of small other activities such as a trust building exercise. Overall we had a busy but very interesting day. My favorite parts were meeting the students of the school and participating in the Permiso a la tierra ceremony. I am very grateful to have had both of these experiences.
Sincerely,
Max
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 29
Today, we started breakfast with avocado and cheese sandwiches complimented with orange juice to help it go down. After breakfast, we prepared our belongings and got our supplies together for Spanish class. Once our teacher Ms. Heidy arrived, we learned many irregular verb conjugations. We also learned a game called Nervioso where the deck is split evenly among the players and we go around the circle coulting one through thirteen in spanish as we flip a card. If the card is the number said, you must slap the pile in the middle. Whoever saps the pile first gets to distribute the cards out. The person who runs out of cards first wins.
After Spanish class, we got ready for our day at our service sight, Kusi Kawsay. When we arrived to Kusi Kawlsay, we were greeted with a delicious lunch consisting of rice and “olluco”- a potato, carrot, and chicken mix. We were also given a rich chocolate cake and warm ‘jamaica” juice to wash it down. After lunch we sat and met Lucia, our textile teacher for later. We then followed the principal Ina to a classroom where she gave a presentation about her history and the history behind the school. She showed us a mini-movie she made with her daughter contining with a poem Ina wrote in relation to preserving indiginous culture and language. She also showed a music video that her students made during covid to bring awareness to the terrible treatment of home life during covid.
After her presenation, we hiked back up to our main area of the school, meeting Lucia for a lesson on textiles. We spent about two hours weaving bracelets with a lot of help from Lucia and another teacher, Melva. We were able to keep the bracelets as souvenirs. Ina led us into another classroom where we participated in an activity that recognized and thanked our ancestors. After the activity, we began to head back to the hotel, stopping for juice on the way.
Once at the hotel, we had about an hour of free time and then had dinner. We ate a chicken and quinoa soup. After dinner, we recieved our phones and made our way to a cafe to prepare for our debate. Most of the cafes were closed at that time, but Ali-Jei found a pizzeria that was open late enough for our plan. We ordered pizza and juice and then prepared research and our statements for our debate. Our debate consisted of four points of view (Indigenous language preservation committee, Andean parents committee, Ministry of Education, and the UPNO, an imaginary political party) and one moderator. The debate got a litte heated by the parents (Sam) not appreciating the “lack of effort” from the Ministry of Education (Caroline). The debate went well, however. After the debate we had a little bit of time at the cafe for tech time before heading back to the hotel and going straight to our rooms for the night.
Cheers!
Kiera
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 30
This morning, for breakfast, we had avocado, yogurt, fruit, and granola. After breakfast, we started the day with Spanish class, where we continued working with new words, and playing Spanish card games. Today, Spanish class was a little bit shorter, because of a surprise music class added into our day! For music, we learned how to play the song Mi Casita on instruments called Siku.
Then, once we had finished with our music, we headed over to Kusi Kawsay for lunch and some service. After eating, we went out to an old garden to turn up the soil in order to make it usable as a garden in the future. Melva taught us how to use the tools and showed us where we should work, all the while making us laugh of course! Once we finished there, Lucia set up a new type of textile making for all of us. Today, we also were making bracelets similar to yesterday, but the pattern was more complicated, in a swirl. Lucia was so patient with all of us as we continuously struggled with the pattern and she always stepped in to help! We didn’t finish the bracelets today, but Lucia gave us everything we need to finish it at home base in our free time!
After saying our goodbyes to everyone at Kusi Kawsay, we walked through the streets of the Pisac market to finish out our day with some shopping!
Thanks for reading!
Mary
BLOG POST FOR JULY 3
Today for breakfast we had crepes, along with bread and jam. After we ate, we packed our stuff for macchu picchu and our hike and took a 1.5 hour car ride to the site for our Poc Poc waterfall hike.
Once we arrived at the site for our hike, we learned some history about the city of Chinchero and then started our 3 hour waterfall hike. Once we were at the waterfall, we took some pictures, enjoyed the mist and started the walk back to the car. After a short car ride we relaxed at the hotel in Ollantaytambo, resting our legs from the long hike.
After we relaxed for a little while we went to dinner at Mijumapaq and some of us had pasta while others enjoyed fish and soup. When we returned to the hotel, we played some fun games and then went to sleep to prepare for macchu picchu in the coming day.
A personal highlight of the day was after the waterfall, the walk back was very narrow and lots of bridges over the water which was fun.
See you later!
Sam
BLOG POST FOR JULY 4
Yesterday was our visit to Machu Picchu and it was by far one of the most amazing days of our trip, filled with breathtaking history and views. It turns out just getting to Machu Picchu is a journey in itself! After starting our day off with a hotel breakfast, we took a short walk to a train station where we took a beautiful train ride through snowy mountains, and into the jungle, along a river to the town of Machu Picchu (which is at the base of the mountains which Machu Picchu sits atop). From there we took a winding bus ride up to the top of Machu Picchu.
At the base of the city, we met our tour guide Jose who knew the city by heart. He took his time showing us around the beautiful city and taking us to the best places for photos. It’s hard to describe the scale of Machu Picchu. The sheer fact that a city which housed possibly over 1,000 people was built on an almost vertical mountain in the jungle well over 500 years ago is baffling to me. But what is also baffling was the beauty of the location of Machu Picchu. In the city, you are surrounded by towering cliff spires scraping or going past the clouds. One thing I found very interesting to learn while in Machu Picchu was that the center of the city was built to support echos. This way the voices of leaders who spoke in the city center could be projected like a microphone.
We ended our day with a more in-depth visit to the town of Machu Picchu where we got lunch and then took the train back to Ollantaytambo (the town where we stayed the night before) and then drove back to home base where we wrapped up the night with some journaling.
Getting to visit Machu Picchu was truly a special experience and I feel very lucky to have experienced it.
Cheers!
Max
BLOG POST FOR JULY 5
Hi everyone!!!
Today was a great day all around! We started with breakfast as usual and got ready for Spanish class around 9:30. As we finished up we headed to empanada class where we were lucky enough to be taught one-on-one about the process that a local shop goes through everyday. We got to make and eat them which was a nice bonus to our experience.
We then proceeded to walk around in hopes of finding a copa america soccer sticker book along with as many sticker packets as we could find. We then headed back to the hotel where we chilled out and relaxed along with a lot of sticker sorting.
After we relaxed we had some lunch and a 1/2 hour discussion about about responsible photography and what it means to be responsible when it comes to not only taking photos but also how to post responsibly. We walked around the Plaza and shopped for some gifts for our families.
After we made some purchases in the local market, we came back for Quechua class where we had canvases and charcoal waiting for us. We started with a tutorial and time to ask questions to the art teacher about his process and techniques. We drew whatever we wanted for an hour and then had an hour and a half to talk about the origin of the native Peruvian language where we also learned some basic words. When we finished class, we had dinner, mentor groups, and then we all headed upstairs for some much needed sleep.
Hasta mañana!
Caroline
BLOG POST FOR JULY 6
We woke up early for breakfast at 6:45. On the way to Cuzco, we stopped to feed some llamas and alpacas and also at many archaeological sites like Tambomachay, Pucapucara, Qenqo, and the famous Sacsaywaman. Sacsaywaman was known originally as a fortress, but due to recent discoveries, it is now considered to be a ceremonial site for the Incas. It is the largest set of archaeological remains in the area surrounding Cuzco. We then headed into the city and explored the San Pedro market. We saw many small vendors, food vendors, and the meat market.
After the market we ate lunch at a nice restaurant which served fish with vegetables and a peach for dessert. As we ate, a small band was playing many mystical songs that are important to the region. After lunch we walked around San Blas, the main traditional artisan area of Cuzco. We took pictures at a beautiful Spanish aqueduct before finding a McDonalds. We then took a stop at a Starbucks where Ali-Jei explained a lot about what happened after the Spanish arrived in Peru and more about the history of the country, even diving into the revolution.
After Starbucks we explored many streets around the main square. We saw Qoricancha, a sun temple of Cuzco that represented the elements of nature. Atop the temple sat the Santo Domingo catholic church as the Spanish destroyed and built on top of the Incan remains.
We then were picked up by our driver and started home.
See ya,
Kiera
BLOG POST FOR JULY 7 (JULY 9 ALSO ADDED BELOW)
Note to Families: Although this session has already ended, the program staff just sent over blog post for July 7 and July 9, so we’ve added them here! 🙂 -GLA HQ Staff
Today, we wrapped up all the activities we’ve been working on this whole trip. In the morning, we had our last Spanish class with Heidy. Today we learned about the past tense, and of course, some new card games Heidy taught us!
We had lunch at the hotel, which was a delicious soup with rice and herbs! Then, we packed our backpacks for our last day at Kusi Kawsay, where we would do some agriculture work! Today, our work at Kusi Kawsay was planting flowers and bushes as decorations to the beautiful land. Melva was our leader of course, and helped us to learn the ways of planting and gardening, along with Iladia and her young daughter! After everything was cleaned up and the plants were ready to grow, we said our final goodbyes to everyone ay Kusi Kawsay and headed back down the streets to our hotel. Along the way back, we stopped in Lucia’s shop a final time and a few shops in the market for some shopping!
Then, for dinner we had delicious rice and chicken as we watched Frozen (because it’s the best movie), but everyone was tired so we didn’t finish the movie. Instead, we went straight to mentor groups and then to get ready for bed!
Thanks for reading! -Mary
BLOG POST FOR JULY 9
Hola amigos!
This was a bittersweet day as we said farewell to the 5 students who made up the first session of Perú Spanish Service Adventure 2024! This was a strange day as we woke up late, bought some Copa cards for Sam, and stopped by Lucía’s shop one last time to say our goodbyes. We also dropped off some of the Copa cards so Kusi Kawsay could give them out to students for free, a great way to restore some Karma 🙂 Then, we had a really nice lunch of pesto pasta and packed the car so we could get going!
As all of the students had flights departing from Cusco in the afternoon, students and staff were able to all travel to Cusco together! We dropped off Kiera first, while the other students waited for AliJei to leave the airport. Unfortunately Serenity had to attend to some errands at the GLA office, but AliJei continued on with the other 4 students to get one last Starbies before a big trip. Students were then successfully checked in. With final goodbyes and hugs exchanged, students said a final farewell to Perú as they headed for their respective flights.
On behalf of the staff, we want to thank every student that made this trip possible. The students’ incredible kindness, positivity, laughter and enthusiasm even after a very difficult and challenging experience truly made this trip one of a kind, and we hope that they use their newfound Quechua/Andean knowledge, leadership skills and incredible experiences/friendships in the future to become the future leaders of tomorrow and “be the change” that they wish to see in the world!
From Serenity: I hope that everyone is now home safe and sound and you have eaten all the food that you missed while here. I’m sorry that I couldn’t accompany you to the airport, but I also knew I didn’t need to worry after all of you developed and showed your leadership skills throughout this trip 🙂 you guys are truly inspiring and fill me with hope that YOUR generation will be the one to save this Earth, preserve important aspects of culture, and both practice and promote sustainable tourism. It was a privilege to get to know each and every one of you, and people like you are why I love doing this job 🙂 thanks for everything
From AliJei: I hope that you were able to know more about the Peruvian beliefs and respect for the nature that we like to practice and share to other cultures. It has been a pleasure for me to be your host during these days.
Truly wishing that someday our paths will cross again, whether in this life or the next <3
Un abrazo fuerte chicos,
Serenity and AliJei
