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Hampshire Scout Expedition Trip to Peru (August 2010)

Approximately 18 months ago I found myself given the opportunity to go to Peru for 6 weeks with a group called Hampshire Scout Expeditions, and although I felt it was quite a long time to be away I was desperate to go. During the 18 months leading up to the trip I attended many training events such as a week in Scotland practising winter skills and spending weekends in the Lake District, South and North Wales and the New Forest. The training helped us all to become friends and we all bonded as a team, as well as improving our fitness levels.

We had to raise £3000 for the trip and Welbeck’s Vice Principal (Military) was extremely supportive in helping me to apply for a Combined Cadet Force Association (CCFA) grant for people going on expeditions. I was very fortunate as my grant application was accepted and I received £500 towards my trip! In addition to my grant from the CCFA I was also very kindly given some money from the Lions and Rotary Clubs. To raise the remainder of the funds I did numerous things such as selling items on EBay, organising a pool night, a Peru meal, a quiz night, a World Cup sweepstake and a duck race.

We set off for Lima on the 3rd of August all packed and buzzing to finally get to Peru. We travelled directly from Lima to Cusco then to Orapeasa where we would spend the next 2 and a half weeks at the orphanage there. When we arrived at the orphanage we were greeted by about 30 orphans who were all so adorable and excited that we had arrived, and although there was a slight language barrier we spent all night playing games and football with them. During the first weekend, before we set to work on the orphanage, we visited some ancient Inca ruins at Tipon and spent a day white water rafting which was great fun! After evaluating what we could do at the orphanage we decided that we would finish a building that a Scottish school had started (they had built a thatched roof and laid some stones for foundations) and that the orphans would use as a dining room or classroom. On the first day we weren’t really sure how we were supposed to do anything as the Peruvian builders didn’t speak a word of English, so it took a while for us to understand what they wanted us to do. They had very different techniques and ways of doing things from builders in England - for example they mix concrete on the floor using a special technique and we really messed it up by doing it too “rapido”. The builder thought we were all “loco”! but we soon got the hang of it and soon we were working very quickly. We don’t know how, but we managed to finish the concrete foundation before the end of Day 1 when we thought it was going to take us 4 days! Bricklaying started on Day 2 and for some reason I was the only person who could cut a breeze block in a straight line so I soon became the team’s ‘master stonemason’. Mixing was probably the most physically demanding job, and I always found myself doing it, so I also soon became the member of the team who knew exactly what consistency the Peruvian builders wanted it, so if you needed something making up I was your man! We laid the wall extremely fast, finishing it the next day. Building so fast however meant that we had run out of materials and we needed some sand for rendering and the frames for the windows and doors. Rather than buying the sand we decided to save the money and collect it from a local flood plain 300m away which took us all day to collect a whole truckload full.

With new building materials we started work on rendering the building. Rendering is something you have to take your time to get right so the work rate dramatically slowed down. Although I had a chance to learn the art of rendering I spent most of my time mixing the render mixture so I was still working hard. While we rendered some people got to work on cutting the window frames to size. The window frames were also a slow job because only the welder could put them together. As well as the building work we also built some new football goals with stronger nets that we had made, did some plumbing work, built a new set of stairs, fixed locks onto all the toilets and shower and on the last day we undertook a massive clear up of the whole site clearing about a skip full of rubbish. On the last night we had a leaving bonfire with some traditional Peruvian musicians, we exchanged songs and had a great night with the orphans but when the time finally came to leave them it was very sad. Most of us had become very close to the orphans, playing with them during the day and at night after we finished working so it was very hard to say goodbye.

Following our work on the orphanage we started the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. Usually the Inca trail is a 4 day walk, however we were able to walk 3 days of the Huayani trail beforehand and we hardly saw a single person on this trail. With awesome views while walking, and even better ones from our tents when camping, this was definitely a worthwhile extra few days. When we joined the actual Inca trail it was different from what we thought it would be like with hundreds of tourists and even more porters walking it at the same time as us - it was busy to say the least. Just because there were many more people this was no reason for us not to have a great time on the trail with more amazing views and many Inca ruins on the way to explore and learn about. We managed to walk much faster than our guides expected, and although hardly any of us had given any of our personal kit to the porters our walk was cut to 3 days.

On our final day we woke up at about 3am so that we had enough time to eat breakfast, pack up and walk to the sun gate before sunrise. My friend Bertie and I raced to the sun gate so that we could be the first to see an unspoilt view of the sun rising over Machu Picchu. Unfortunately though it was extremely misty at the sun gate and we couldn’t see more than a metre in front of us. We walked down from the sun gate to Machu Picchu and found lots of llamas so we spent some time taking comical pictures with them. Little did we know that an absolutely stunning view of Machu Picchu was about a couple of metres around the corner – it came out of nowhere! It was an amazing place with so much to learn about the Incas and we spent the morning on a tour of the site so that we could get a feel of how the Incas would have lived in this sacred place. Many people went back after the tour, but me and a couple of others spent the whole day just exploring, talking and relaxing in possibly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It was nice to finally get a real shower and clean our clothes after about 3 weeks of doing our best to stay clean with no real sink or shower. The day after Machu Picchu we had a much needed relax in the hot springs then travelled back to Cusco.

We spent about 4 days at Cusco where we were given some freedom to do whatever we wanted in the city. Since we had already done a full city tour while at the orphanage we did lots of shopping, spent time at some Scout meetings, explored the city, had some fun nights out and on the last day had a very nice traditional Inca meal where all the others tried some roasted guinea pig (a traditional Peruvian dish) but unfortunately I was ill that day.

From Cusco we travelled down to Puno which is a fairly large city on the edge of lake Titicaca. We spent 2 days on the lake staying in a traditional Peruvian house. We started our time on the lake on a reed island (yes, they do actually live on an artificial island made out of reeds). They showed us how they built the island and gave us tours around their houses. I was also able to post all of my postcards here on the ‘only floating post office in the world’. The lake is massive and it took us a while to get to the island we would be staying on. When we finally got there we walked to the peak on the island where once again we were disappointed by some highly unusual cloud. In the evening we all dressed up in traditional Peruvian clothes and had a fiesta which was great fun! The next day we visited another island called Tequilla where we learnt more about the very interesting culture on these islands.

From Puno we travelled to what would be one of our last stops – Arequipa and from there on a trip to Colca Canyon. On the way there were some amazing views and lots of wildlife. Watching the hundreds of llamas, alpacas and the beautiful vicugna felt a little like we were on safari! We stayed the night at a beautiful little city called Chivay and spent the afternoon at some more very relaxing hot springs. In the evening we had a meal where a great Peruvian band played and there were some traditional Peruvian dancing which can only be described as “interesting” but I loved the music so I brought their CD! We set off from Chivay to Colca Canyon which is supposed to be one of the world’s deepest canyons. When we were there we were able to see some condors fly directly over our heads – these amazing birds have an average wingspan of 3m and were definitely one of my highlights of the trip! Back at Arequipa we had a city tour of the historic Spanish city which is surrounded by volcanoes. We also spent some time at a go-kart track which was a lot of fun especially as Peru doesn’t have any of the safety rules that we have in England!

We travelled back to Lima where we spent just a couple of days before saying goodbye to Peru and leaving for home.

Overall it was a great trip where we were able to properly explore and learn about the great country and its culture. My personal highlight of the trip has to be the experience at the orphanage though - our days working there were great fun and the orphans were so nice and friendly to us. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend £3000 and six weeks of my summer holiday!

James Craven, Alanbrooke 09E

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