View photos from Peru

11 students traveled to Peru to do Spring Break service with an organization in the Andes highlands called Tinkuy Peru. The group taught English at local schools and at a local orphanage. The group also taught classes at a transitional home for young girls who were taken from homes where drug dealing and prostitution existed. The group also spent time at a nursing home for very elderly persons.

Tinkuy Peru is in Huancayo, a small city in the Andes Highlands at 3260 meters (10,700 feet). The area has beautiful mountains, clear streams and the Quechua culture is still influential in that part of South America.

The group stayed in the home of the director of Tinkuy Peru and students enjoyed getting to know his family. The director led students on excursions around town, to pre-Inca ruins, on nigh hikes among magestic hoodoos, and to authentic Peruvian restaurants. The group was also able to spend two days in Lima where they toured the St. Francis Cathedral and famous catacombs.

Said one student in his evaluation of the trip, "I feel humbled. The people in Huancayo showed me that a great life can be achieved in simplicity...I have learned so much from our hosts in the way of hospitality, culture and life in general. I will always remember the children that we worked with and how they showed us that you can have fun without our modern luxuries."

View photos from Peru