Lisa Meehan is the United Planet Peru Program Intern and a student at Tufts University where she is majoring in Spanish and International Relations. Lisa works daily with our volunteers in Peru to ensure that they have a successful Quest experience. We asked her to write about her work in Peru, and this is what she had to say!
This past weekend, the United Planet volunteers in Peru and I decided to something a little out of the ordinary! We celebrated the 4th of July by experiencing Peruvian culture – we went to the zoo and the Incan ruins in the town of Tipon.
The first stop was the zoo. Luckily, I am friends with the zookeeper so he gave us extra special treatment! Fist he climbed into the bear pen and played with the bear, giving it a back massage and running around with it. Then he took out the parrot and the sloth, and all the volunteers got to hold both of the animals! Then, we went up to the condor cage and took a group picture with the condor.
After that, we had a nice picnic and hiked up the Incan ruins on the top of the mountain next to Tipon. I was really impressed with how everyone did with the altitude! The Incan ruins were amazing – they are the only Incan ruins left in the entire world where water still runs through the aqueducts. The afternoon was extra nice because the ruins weren’t very crowded at all – they’re pretty obscure so not many tourists know about them.
The volunteers here really get the full experience of Peru, not just a typical tourist experience. Our bonding field trip to Tipon was one example of that – it’s great to have so many friends and staff here that know where cool things like the Tipon Zoo and Incan Ruins are.
The day was amazing and I can’t wait to do more fun things with all of the Peru volunteers! The next thing on my to-do-list is a photo scavenger hunt in Machu Picchu.
Stay posted for pictures of that next week!
Thank you Lisa for sharing this story with us! Your vivid descriptions and renditions of events truly put us in the moment. We look forward to hearing more, and will post updates as they come! If you are interested in an experience like Lisa’s, click here to find out more about United Planet’s Peru Quests.
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
