The Journey, The Arrival

The Journey down to Peru was an adventure in itself. I remember when we flew over the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and into Central America and then South America we were both thinking, “oh my goodness…this is really happening isn’t it?!!?”. It was sort of a mix between super nervous and super excited, and not really knowing what to expect.

Our flight the next morning was at 8am, which meant that we had to get up at like 6 to make it from the hotel we stayed at that night. By this time we were pretty short on sleep having only had like 4 hours the night before, but that didn’t stop the excitement! Coming into Cuzco was so amazing. When flying, the plane just kept climbing and the ground just kept following us as we got further and further into the Andes mountain range. I told Alan Cahoon I'd tell him whether I got sick on the plane, I'll let you decide Alan.  Cuzco is about 10,000 to 12,000 ft above sea level, the altitude that normally on a plane they tell you that you can turn your electronics back on, just to put it in perspective. I think Edmonton is about 3,000 ft above sea level.

The local people are super friendly and ready to smile. It's not unusual  to see herds of Pigs, Sheep, or cows being  moved along this road.

From Cuzco we came pretty much directly to Oropesa, stopping on our way to meet Generation Humanitarian’s Jamie, a super energetic and fun guy who is working at Azul Wasi right now. We met him on his dirtbike with a girl named Julie on the back, a volunteer at Azul Wasi from France.

Azul Wasi.

Arriving at the orphanage we also met Reggy from Utah and Catia from Switzerland, and of course all 14 of the cutest little Peruvian kids that live here. The next day after having finally slept for more than 3-4 hours in the last 48 previous, we headed out to Cuzco to get some things we needed and made a few stops to see some of the festivities that have been happening lately in town.

Oropesa is a quiet, humble town. Henequen plants and cactus line the pathway to Azul Wasi.

After a super long and tiring day we headed back to Azul Wasi. The kids here are so loving, you can tell they soak in all the love that they can get. We're definitely not the first volunteers to be here. Within the time Azul Wasi has been around, there has been dozens of others like us here to help. We are still settling in, but we love it and can't wait to show you all more of this beautiful and humble place.

Native Peruvian women in traditional decorative dress for the parade.

These two little men are Nilo (left) and Uliño; all these kids become your insta-friends.