Coming Home

At long last my daughter, Kate, is coming home on Sunday.  At the beginning of January, she left on her big adventure, traveling to Cusco, Peru.  She wanted to do something for others less fortunate than herself, so she found an agency in Cusco where she could volunteer, booked a flight, and applied for a visa, all before I knew what to say.  To be honest, I wasn't originally very happy about it, but she picked Peru because her father, that she barely knows, is from Peru, and she wanted to experience the other part of her heritage. Here she is with a local young lady who is dressed up for a festival.  

  Cusco is surrounded by mountains, and although it was summer when she arrived there, because of the elevation, it was still  somewhat cool and often rainy.  

  Kate was quite taken with all the dogs that roamed the streets and captured a few of them in photos.  

 

 

  Her first placement work was at a home for teenage sexually abused girls.  Her job was to teach them English, but that's not especially easy to do when you don't know much Spanish.  Regardless of the language barrier, she bonded and fell in love with these girls.  

 

 

Here she is with her roommate, Genevieve, who arrived at the same time as Kate and just left for home last week.  Genevieve is from Boston, but volunteers came from numerous countries, and friends were made from all over the world.

There was a lot of sight seeing on weekends with a trip to Sacred Valley . . .   

 

  . . . a jungle trek to Machu Picchu   

 

 

 

  . . . a trip to Bolivia to see Lake Titicaca  

  . . . the world's largest salt flat - Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia  

 

  . . . and a trip to the jungle.  

  Fun times.  

  The second part of her time there she worked at a daycare center and had tons of fun with the kids.  

 

  Last, but not least, was a trip to Lima to meet aunts, uncles, and cousins.  This may have been the high light of her trip to meet the family she never knew and see beautiful Lima on the Pacific Ocean.  

  Welcome home Kate, my daughter and best friend!  So glad to have you back.  Lots of yard sales and flea markets waiting for us to explore.