Lifeworks teen summer community service and adventure summer camps and programs.

Lifeworks Peru exposes students to a part of the Sacred Valley often unseen. Behind the beaten path of the tourist attractions live children and families struggling with poverty, and physical and environmental health issues. Working with local agencies, we seek to offer help to underprivileged single mothers by providing baby care so that the mothers can gain an education and a future. We teach English to them and build confidence and skills in the children by playing games and leading arts and crafts activities. In areas where most cooking is done in the home over an open fire without adequate ventilation, we construct and install cleaner burning stoves that improve air equability for impoverished families. We construct new water filters and distribute them to families who have no sour se of clean water. We also aid in reforestation initiatives and more.

Amidst our service work, Lifeworkers explore the beautiful architecture and ancient Incan ruins of Cuzco and the Sacred Valley. Excursions include horseback riding, hiking, whitewater rafting, and visits to colorful markets, rural communities and, of course, spectacular Machu Picchu.

The Amazon rainforest, one of the most exotic and adventurous destinations in the world, is home to an extraordinary array of plants and animals. Staying in an authentic jungle ecolodge, where wildlife watching is available a step outside the cabins, students learn about and tour the amazing biodiversity, as well as participate in vital environmental and humanitarian projects. Students often find this excursion challenging and rewarding, beautiful and inspiring.

Those students standing on for Peru Plus experience all this and more. After 21 days of fun and service in the Sacred Valley and Amazon, students have an action-packed week while exploring the sights of Puno and Arequipa. At 12,500 feet in elevation, Lake Titicaca, with its colorful cultures and unique inhabitants, has a surreal beauty. Students explore these legendary, fairy-tale islands and take a paddle around the beautiful blue waters. Arequipa, the "White City", and the neighboring countryside is explored on foot and bike, while Colca Canyon, at a depth twice that of the Grand Canyon, is a sight to see with quaint villages and awe-inspiring views of the western hemisphere's largest flying land bird, the Andean Condor.

(^Back To Top^)

For our Peru programs, we maintain a 5:1 student to staff ratio with a maximum of 16 students per program.

(^Back To Top^)

Nights in Lima, Cuzco, Puno, Arequipa and on excursions to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley will be spent in comfortable, clean and safe hotels or hostels. Lifeworks has longstanding relationships with many local hotel owners, who consistently provide warm, welcoming hospitality and delicious food! In the Amazon, we stay at an authentic jungle ecolodge, where exciting wildlife watching is available right outside the cabins. Feel free to give us a call for more information on this year's accommodation.

(^Back To Top^)

Lifeworks maintains a 5:1 student to staff ratio for this program. Our staff travel with the students full-time, and are available to the students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Lifeworks students also work closely with our community service partners in Peru. For many of the adventure activities, we additionally hire local guides and naturalists, ensuring authentic experiences with the highest safety standards. Take a look through the Staff FAQs section for more information on our Lifeworks staff.

(^Back To Top^)

Depends on where you are! The cooler dry season runs in Cuzco and the Sacred Valley from June to August. The Amazon is warm and rainy, while Lima is warm and dry. We'll be sending you more information on what to expect (and pack!) after enrollment into the program.

(^Back To Top^)

Of course! However, the quality and availability of phone systems in Peru varies greatly depending on where you are. Phone centers in major tourist areas are often cheap and good-quality. Phone centers in certain rural areas and the Amazon are often unavailable or unreliable. We mention this so parents understand there may be occasions where insisting on a phone call is not feasible. Please note, though, staff make every effort possible to provide students opportunities to reconnect with people back home. In the unlikely event of an emergency, staff are always in possession of an emergency cell or satellite phone and keep consistent contact with our Florida main office.

Many of our students find that their cell phones work in parts of Peru as well. However, personal calls can be distracting during program activities and disrupt the group from its goals. For this reason, staff collect cell phones after students call home for the first time on arrival day. We readily make phones, public and cell, available to the students at appropriate "free time" portions of the itinerary.

(^Back To Top^)

Phone calls, in general, are best made and paid in cash to phone centers, although using a local payphone and calling card and/or cell phone is also possible. Lifeworks staff orient students to the methods of calling home after arrival on program.

(^Back To Top^)

The easiest way is for students to place a quick call home to let Mom and Dad know what's going on! Sometimes this doesn't happen though, so we also have a trip update system in which, at the end of each day, the "Leader of the Day" journals the day's activities and stories. When time and local internet service is on our side, we type up student entries and post them, along with photographs, on the Lifeworks website. On certain occasions, we are able to post podcasts as part of these blogs as well.

(^Back To Top^)

As Lifeworks Peru is a mobile program, sending letters to students on program is not feasible. However, just because you can't send any letters doesn't mean that you shouldn't get any yourself! Insist on a postcard from your student from every major location. Even if it just says -- "Hi! I just saw the sun rise over Machu Picchu! -- Love you! -- Gotta go!" At least you can look at the pictures and dream...

(^Back To Top^)

Most hotels and hostels in Peru have internet capability. Staff also provide students time to visit local internet cafes, so it should be possible to stay in touch this way.

However, internet in certain parts of Peru can be slow and unreliable. We mention this so parents understand there may be occasions when insisting on an e-mail is not feasible. Please note, staff make every effort possible to provide students opportunities to reconnect with people back home.

(^Back To Top^)

As required and recommended vaccinations often change for countries around the world, please visit the CDC's (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website at www.cdc.gov and check with your physician or a travel health professional for the most up-to-date information regarding vaccinations for Peru. Please allow plenty of time before your trip (CDC suggests 4-6 weeks) to see your health care provider.

(^Back To Top^)

Students come from all points of the compass, so coordinated air travel is of vital importance. For this reason, we ask that all students flying to Peru book through Reservation Services International as they regularly obtain the best fares available, arrange group seating, and provide close monitoring on travel days in case of flight difficulties. As airlines often change their schedules, Lifeworks cannot be responsible for the coordination of air flights that are not booked through Reservation Services International.

For those booking through Reservation Services International, a Lifeworks representative will meet the group at Miami International Airport to help with this transfer. In most cases, this representative will also be a guide for the program and will fly to Lima with the group. Additionally, it's often possible for us to help families connect with other families in their area to coordinate students flying together on the domestic portions of their itineraries.

For more information on flight itineraries and travel information, please contact...

Leah Hernandez
Reservation Services International
1.800.329.9000
(Texas +1.281.528.7727)
leahctn68@hotmail.com

(^Back To Top^)

We ask that all of our students fly together on a specific flight to Lima from Miami. For this reason, using frequent flyer miles, though not impossible, is sometimes difficult for the international portion of the itinerary. Please contact our travel coordinator Leah Hernandez of Reservation Services International for our flight information to see if it qualifies for your frequent flyer program.

(^Back To Top^)

Please visit the Peru section of the U.S. Department of State's, Bureau of Consular Affairs travel.state.gov website or contact the Peruvian Embassy in your home country for the most up-to-date information regarding passports and visas. At the time of this writing, U.S. citizens need valid passports to enter Peru. 90-day tourist visas for U.S. citizens are issued upon arrival.

(^Back To Top^)