Activities
VOLUNTEER ACTIVTIES
The volunteer will be received at Cuzco’s Alejandro Velasco Astete Airport by the institution. For their acclimatization to the altitudes of the Peruvian Andes, the volunteer will spend two days or more in the house of a Cuzqueñan family, with which he or she will participate in household activities, thus initiating their volunteer services. Following acclimatization, the volunteer will travel to Vilcabamba, ¨The Final Incan Stronghold,¨ incorporating him or herself in the institution’s programmed activities.
The volunteers who lack sufficient understanding of Spanish will spend their afternoons in Cuzco taking classes at a language center until an acceptable mastery is reached (approx. 15 days). Concurrently, during mornings, the volunteer will partake in other activities. According to the proximity of their living spaces, he or she could work in a school for blind children, schools for special children (Downs’s syndrome) or in the clinic for children with physical disabilities (paraplegics, quadriplegics, etc. ). After completing these activities, the volunteer will then travel to Vilcabamba to realize his or her other programmed activities.
For volunteers with training in medical sciences, authority will be granted so that dramatic health improvements can be made in accordance with the institution’s wishes.
Morning hours will be spent on home activities in Vilcabamba, after which the volunteer will attend an assigned health center to participate in various programmed services and the administration of superior health care to patients.
During afternoons after receiving lunch from their respective home in Vilcabamba, the volunteer will work on improving the insufficient infrastructure of the educational and health service buildings of the community. Other activities may be more ecological and may involve the teaching of environmental awareness, thus developing both cultural and sanitary practices.
During nights, the volunteer will participate in other home activities with the host family.
For those volunteers lacking training in medical sciences, activities will be organized in accordance with their individual specialty and may involve art education, agricultural work, animal management and others.
During mornings, activities will be realized in their Vilcabamba homestay. Following morning activities, the center of education, communal farm or other service center will be attended to complete volunteer activities in accordance with the guidance of the institution.
During afternoons after receiving lunch from their respective home in Vilcabamba, the volunteer will work on improving the insufficient infrastructure of the educational and health service buildings of the community. Other activities may be more ecological and may involve the teaching of environmental awareness, thus developing both cultural and sanitary practices.
During nights, the volunteer will participate in other home activities with the host family.
This plan is not obligatory for participants and is realized at the end of the volunteer’s experience in Vilcabamba. This plan involves the transport of volunteers to very distant communities that require two to three days of travel to reach. These are areas of extreme danger in which a variety of diseases including malaria and ¨leishmania¨ are endemic. These regions also possess marvelous flora and fauna where natural habitats of the spectacled bear, the cock of the rock, orchids and many other species are found. Within these regions are isolated communities with many needs that will be addressed by the group of volunteers. Areas of concern include insufficient infrastructure, health and education. (this plan is dependent upon the physical condition of the volunteer and his or her availability)
Following the program in Vilcabamba, the volunteer will return to the city of Cuzco to partake in a variety of mostly touristic activities. These activities include a basic city tour, a visit to the Sacred Valley and finally, a journey along the Inca Trail ending with a visit to Machu Picchu, a true wonder of the world. The final day will be free and will be spent in the city of Cuzco, thus completing the volunteer service of the participant.
NOTE: The plan assigned to the volunteer is personal and depends on his or her time commitment, linguistic skill and in some cases, physical condition (Plan 3).
