The JTYAF recently supported a young man with a contribution towards a four-week long volunteering expedition to Peru. In addition to three weeks of volunteering based work, he also had the opportunity to complete a 5-day trek to Machu Picchu. An incredible experience for him and we were delighted to receive his very interesting report.

"The first camp we visited, Camp Titicaca, was the highest camp of the trip with an altitude of 3812 metres. It started the trip off, for most, with a few days of altitude sickness but allowed everyone to understand how intense the rest of the trip would be. As we were one of the first groups of the season to visit this camp the project work consisted of digging, pick axing and more digging as we made way for the foundations of the future buildings."

The second camp was completely different to the lake; Caylloma was a town with many other buildings surrounding our accommodation. The project work involved a lot of sorting and moving rocks which were then used to build the foundations and lower walls.

The hardest part of the trip by far was the 5 day Machu Picchu trek; we did the Salkantay trail which meant there were a lot less other tourists. We stayed at various campsites along the way and slept in tents each night.

Camp Moray was our last camp in Peru. We stayed in tents for the week on top of a large hill that meant the view was incredible from just outside our tents. Here the project work all happened at the local school, the projects included plastering and finishing a kindergarten and constructing a new dining room and toilet block for the children. The dining room was very important as it is a requirement by the Peruvian government for schools to have one, if a school was to not have one then the government would not give them funding."