So, what am I doing, exactly?

It's feeling a bit surreal that I am leaving for Peru in less than five days. The last few have been both relaxing and stressful. Relaxing, because I have had the opportunity to spend time with my family and friends while I have been home in California. Actually, today I had Moroccan food for the first time with two of my awesome friends, Karen and Brian. The food was a bit pricey, and it seemed like most of the meal was a gargantuan appetizer, but it was major deeeeeelish and I am glad I went! After pigging out, we then went and saw Juno, which was a fantastic movie.

The past few days have also been stressful because I was a complete fool and saved a lot of the planning for a week before I leave. Horrible idea. Surprisingly, things have been coming together just nicely, and I think I will be set for before I leave.

Prior to volunteering in Ayacucho, I am leaving a couple of days earlier so I can explore Lima and Cuzco. I felt that it would add more depth to my cultural experience, so I did not want to pass up the opportunity. Who knows when the next time I visit South America will be? Anyway, so, I made the decision to depart sooner for Peru earlier this month. However, as I had said, I did not start planning anything until a week before!

I am pretty lucky that I got flight details taken care of. Otherwise, this week would have been completely terrible. Luckily, Travelocity worked with me to book my flight to Cuzco. The staff member who helped me book my plane tickets, Cathy Karlovich, was very pleasant to work with. She let me have complete autonomy over which flights I wanted, to the point where I was able to go onto the travelocity website, look up some flights, and pick the ones I truly wanted. Anything I was not able to accomplish, she helped me take care of. I even got to talk to her about San Francisco weather while working with her (I was at school in Baltimore at the time), good times. For the flights to go from Lima to Ayacucho, Cross-Cultural Solutions took care of them for me. Awesome!

When I will be in Lima, I will be staying in the Miraflores Antigua Hotel. It got rave reviews on Expedia.com so I figured it would be safe. I decided to book the rooms myself, since the prices on Expedia seemed steeper than I would like. Furthermore, booking my lodging in person would allow me to negotiate some deals. For example, I found out from the Hotel website that I could be picked up from the airport, and could take on an offer to receive a tour of the city. Expedia, on the other hand, made no mention of either of these perks. The staff for Miraflores Antigua was very kind while I was making arrangements with them over e-mail. Sometimes they were slow when it came to replying, but were also good about getting back to me by the next morning sometimes at least. I am sure the process would have been faster had I been less stingy and handled everything by making a few international calls. However, if you're willing to wait, e-mail worked fine for me. For Cuzco, my friend Sarah, who I met through Cross-Cultural Solutions, booked the San Agustin International Hotel. It got pretty decent reviews as well.

I will be in the Cuzco area for two days. The first day I am there, I plan on just exploring the city and taking in the sites. The next day, I will be touring the beautiful ruins of Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. Because of the limited amount of time I have set aside for being in Cuzco, Machu Picchu would have to be a one-day excursion. Sadly, many tour companies recommend two days. Oh well, it gives me an excuse to go back! For this trip, I booked the one day tour package through SAS Travel. For about $200, you get a fantastic deal for booking with them. Their package includes transportation from the airport to the hotel you are staying at for whenever you arrive in Cuzco, price of train tickets to go up to Machu Picchu, transportation from your hotel to the train station, tour of Machu Picchu, price of tickets to enter Machu Picchu, lunch, and all of the return trips to get back to your hotel. Sweet, huh?? In much of the same fashion in which I had booked my hotel for Lima, I had booked my Machu Picchu tour via e-mail as well. The staff for SAS travel were also extremely kind. Moreover, they replied within a day! They were all around awesome. I will report about how things unfold when I actually experience them further next week.

So, those are some logistical issues I had to tackle over the past couple of days. Next entry, I will update you all on some of the nitty gritty trip stuff I am still trying to deal with, including packing, cell phone rentals, immunizations, etc.

Introduction

Seasons greetings everyone! I hope this holiday finds you all happy and healthy.

Welcome to my blog. My name is Jeff, and I am a senior Public Health Major at Johns Hopkins University. I was recently chosen to join the ranks of those who are eagerly committed to bring change to the world- Travelocity's Change Ambassadors. I am so excited for this new opportunity. Travelocity truly just opened the door to an exciting adventure that I would not have been able to afford had they not awarded me this grant of 5000-wompin'-dollars! As if the money was not enough, Tara Edge, a staff member I have been working with to fund my volunteer trip, has been extremely courteous and helpful since she called me to tell me I got the award (and subsequently trigger the water works while I was studying in my school's library).

With my grant money, I am going to be working with an organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions (CCS). Cross-Cultural Solutions is an international volunteer organization with programs in more than 12 locations throughout the world. Those who participate "get that much closer to achieving a shared vision of a world where people value cultures, different from their own, are aware of global issues and are empowered to effect positive change" (Steven Rosenthal, Founder and Director of CCS). Just by reading about CCS's mission, I immediately knew that this was the organization I wanted to work with. Those who I have been in contact with there, Jessica Madrigal and Laura Fortinsky have been an amazing help with making my trip go as smoothly as possible. I chose the right organization to work with, though you cant really fail with any of the options Travelocity provides.

What I have chosen to do, is volunteer at a hospital in the city of Ayacucho, Peru. Ayacucho is located in the central highlands of Peru. It was once home to an infamous terrorist group called the Shining Path, an organization that advocated for social change in Peru during the Maoist revolution world wide but only brought violence and bloodshed to the region for decades. Since the conflicts that enveloped Peru in the 1970s-1990s have died down, it has been on a steady recovery. "After years of bitter violence [Ayacucho] stands as one of the symbols of peace in Peru today" (Cross Cultural Solutions Participant Handbook, Ayacucho, Peru).

To play a part in Ayacucho's healing has me totally stoked about this trip. Thanks to Travelocity and CCS, I will be able to experience something extraordinary that few people get to in their lifetime. I hope you enjoy this blog as I write about my notes from travels.