Following the advice of La Guía de Gastón, a restaurant directory book written by famed Peruvian chef, Gastón Acurio, we taxied off to Restaurant Fuji, a sushi bar in Miraflores. The Lima night air was tepid, and completely blanketed with its usually evening garúa. We stepped out of the taxi and onto a lush patio garden. Instantly, we were transported to a place not-so-Peruvian and undoubtably Japanese. [Continue reading...]

Living in Lima, Peru has been interesting and eventful. Taking cabs and combis are an adventure within itself, feeling like your life is going to come to an abrupt and sudden stop because of oncoming traffic or a truck barely missing your door. And the food, food venders available near our humble abode have really made it easy to call Planeta home. The area in Lima which you can find the Karikuy team is located near Cercado de Lima in a local barrio called Planeta. Although the local peruvians might think of this area as ‘movimento’, I have come to really enjoy living here and taking advantage of everything it has to offer. [Continue reading...]

Semi-stuffed on mediocre tasting empanadas de queso and carne, the gang and I stood on the corner of Huaraz’s busy Luzuriaga street awaiting our early morning pick-up. We were on the road to Pastoruri, a tall, tropical glacier that soars 17,000 feet in the Cordillera Blanca. [Continue reading...]

Huaraz and the surrounding area is full of rich culture and the sad past of a massive and destructive avalache causing earthquake which destroyed the town of Ancash. The second day trip taken while staying at the Monte Blanco Hotel, 80 soles a night for a double, was to see the Pastoruri Glacier which has an altitude of 15 thousand feet. Although the deteriorating glacier is the pièce de résistance, my interest lied in the ride filled with the view of the Andes approaching and interesting plants with stories and medicinal uses. [Continue reading...]

Amongst all the excitement we volunteers experienced this week in Huaraz, there was a moment of reflection and composure as we entered the memorial site of Campo Santo. To the back of the site lies Mount Huascaran standing at 22,205 feet above sea level in the region of Ancash. The mountain is Peru’s highest and is part of the Cordillera Blanca, or “white range” in the Huascaran National Park. [Continue reading...]