Dutch volunteer Hannah Timmermans recalls her adventures volunteering and biking in Peruvian streets!
I had the best time working volunteering at a clinic in Cusco, Peru, getting to know the country and culture!
During my first month, I lived with a host family which included three generations. Since I’m a typical Dutchie who just loves biking I was lucky with two kids in the family who were very excited to learn how to bike.
I bought a mountain bike my first weekend and started to explore the city with the kids. The altitude did make it quite hard, but after some weeks I was used to the altitude and I could climb some hundred meters with my bike.
During my first week in the host family, I also took Spanish classes at Proyecto Peru. I came here with a basic level of Spanish, so I needed some classes to improve it. I had private lessons for four days and learned especially a lot of grammar. I had a nice teacher who was able to specify the classes for my work in the clinic. And this was very useful because the second week I was starting my volunteering work as a physiotherapist in the clinic.
The clinic was quite good equipped, but I immediately found out they still used devices we don’t use that much anymore. So I had to learn how to use it and was more of a helper the first weeks. Since my Spanish was improving and I got to know the way they work I was able to help patients independently.
At the clinic I worked with disabled children who lived there and outcoming patients from the hospital with all different kinds of diagnoses.
During my time there I became friends with some of my colleagues. One day we were shopping after work and at one point it came to the conversation about going to Bolivia for the weekend. Well I got to know how it works here, you can organize everything last minute, and in some days we were in the bus to Bolivia. It was a very nice trip and traveling as a ‘local’ was the best experience!
Because I had off Saturday and Sunday, I was able to do a lot of day-trips from Cusco. Because there are so many beautiful places just some hours away from the city! With other volunteers, I did a lot of day-trips like lake Humantay, Sacred valley, Machu Picchu, Maras & Moray, Rainbow Mountain and lots more. And during full weekend trips I got to see Paracas, Huacachina, Nazca, Arequipa, and Puno!
I loved the combination of working during the week and traveling in the weekends. You are improving your Spanish and learning about the culture during the project and you can see the country in the weekends, the perfect combination!
Right: Hiking to Lake Humantay with a group of students from Proyecto Peru.
After some weeks in the host family I moved to one of the shared apartments. It was nice to meet other volunteers and it was quite common to go for a spontaneous drink at Plaza de armas. This was a ten-minute walk from the apartment, so the location was very nice.
During the week we would meet up with all the people who are in Cusco with Proyecto Peru for the ‘Thursday activity’. These nights were nice to meet new people and as well learn to make Pisco Sour or salsa dancing. During the four months I think I never had one Thursday night the same. We had a thanksgiving dinner, secret santa, game night, pub quiz and lots more!
Now I’m back in Amsterdam and I just hope to return very soon because it’s a beautiful country with lovely people!
just like Hannah, we had many volunteers that had a great time volunteering with Proyecto Peru! Find out more here!