Grants

Looking back over my summer in Peru the thing that hit me the hardest was the extreme diversity in standards of living there. Whilst we spent most of the expedition in the remote mountainous areas, we also had the chance to visit the richer, more developed areas in the capital city of Lima.

Our base camp was situated on the edge of a small town called Hualcayan at roughly 3100 meters. To say thank you for the town's people for their hospitality about 8 of us took small gifts of packaged chocolate flan and flying kites to the local school. The children there appeared so happy and showed us all the things they'd been so proud to learn. But whilst the children were singing us another Peruvian song, the headmistress of the school told us that after 14 years of age, 95% of the children would have to leave school and begin a life of farming as the nearest (14+years) school as 1 and a ½ hours drive away.

It seemed so unfair to waste their talents and just before leaving Peru we stayed the night in a highly prestigious, international boarding school in Lima. The place was huge with facilities as good as any school in the western world and whilst teaching the students a lesson in how to cope with altitude, we asked them if you knew of the poverty. They didn't seem to really know or grasp how different life was in other areas of Peru. It was almost sickening. How can a country expect to lift itself out of poverty with a new generation that doesn't understand its extremities?

Aside from this, the expedition pushed me to and past my physical limits. 23 days straight trekking up fantastic gorges and on glaciers beneath the +6000 meter peaks was such an amazing experience. I can still picture in such vivid detail the beauty of the majestic iced peaks and the feeling that I couldn't go on at every turn in the ever-widening paths. They just got steeper as we rose 890 meters (according to the GPS) in one day to reach a high altitude pass at 'Punta Union (4790 metres high) in Peru.

I'm not sexist but the guys in our group were generally faster than the girls and on this (optional) hike I was one of only two girls. Our leader, Vijay, set a rapid pace and I can count the number of times we stopped on a single hand! Wheezing, a friend of mine and I trudged on, ever inspired by the young Peruvians hauling, ( no doubt American) visitor's packs up the mountainside for them.

From the top we could see the whole way down the 'Santa Cruz Valley' with its intimidating geographical features and icy turquoise lakes (that we just had to jump in!) But can you appreciate such a view if you haven't had to challenge yourself to get there? There is something incredibly liberating when you've got everything you need on your back and you're pushing yourself past any remaining limits your body has to throw at you.

Arriving at home I couldn't wait to see my friends and family and eat the Longley's ice cream that I'd been deprived of. However, my friends and my life at home seemed to have changed. Or was it me? These experiences are supposed to change you. Right? A once in a lifetime, that'll make you a better person. Well maybe I am a better person but I hope it wasn't a once in a lifetime thing. That would be a waste of a lifetime and I hope I have many more incredible experiences to look back on when I cannot explore anymore.

Frances White, Peru, Summer 2006

 


Visting the village school near the base camp.


Some of the boys in the class...


...and some of the girls.

Note from Editor - Below are some of the images Frances sent to the Parish Council as part of her grant report. They show the beauty of Peru and the hard work that Frances and her companions went through to complete their expidition.

The hard work



















and the magnificent scenery of Peru