From now until the end of the year we will be having a year end blog-a-thon where we will be putting together our favorite things to see and do in Peru. Being that traveling is our main area of focus on this blog (as well as getting your bucks worth), we thought it best to start by highlighting our favorite hostels from a year of intensive travelling. After the jump is a location specific list of hostels you should have in mind when visiting Peru on a budget. [Continue reading...]

After being thrown a curve-ball upon arrival in Puno (altitude sickness kept me hostel-bound yet again) I conjured the energy to take a boat trip across Lake Titikaka – the world’s highest lake that isn’t frozen over. [Continue reading...]

When I started planning the itinerary for The Global Citizen Project, my 12 country, 12 volunteer project over 12 months plan to give back, Peru was a priority. I toyed with volunteering in places I know, love and have seen need in, like Cusco and Puno, but decided that this was an opportunity to give Lima a fair shake – and not simply for an overnight stint. [Continue reading...]

Last week our newest volunteer, Justin, flew into Lima, and (loyal welcome wagon that we are) our little Karikuy family all traveled to the airport to greet him. As I stood outside of customs, intently inspecting every male that walked by like a girl waiting for a blind date, I saw a lot of backpackers come through. At one point, two girls walked out, went up to the first taxi driver they saw, and asked him (in heavily American-accented Spanish) how much to get to Miraflores (Miraflores is the ritzy, US-influenced section of Lima). It got me thinking; tourists that come to Lima and only see Miraflores, or the plazas with their beautiful buildings and fancy hotels and restaurants, don’t really see Lima. They see the glitz and the glam [Continue reading...]

PERUVIAN TIMES – Climate change continues to wreck havoc in Peru’s southern Altiplano, where the arrival of freezing temperatures since March — almost three months earlier than usual — have killed more than 237 children. The extreme cold – which has brought snow, hail, low temperatures and strong winds – has claimed the lives of 237 children so far this year, more than recorded annually for the past four years. One-third of the deaths were registered in Puno, an important agricultural and livestock region located in southeastern Peru. “The prolonged exposure to the cold is causing hypothermia, acute respiratory infections, pneumonia, and deaths, mainly among young children,” said Walter Britton, country director for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency Peru. “The greatest needs right now are for blankets and warm [Continue reading...]