Stu Rich

We received an update from the Brad (Director of Youth International) on Thursday on the status of Dylan’s South America trip.  The text below is from Brad’s email:

Dear Family and Friends,
The fall 2008 Youth International South America team is in Peru and off to a great start!
I will be sending out general e-mail updates on the team about every week and a half or so. You are on this list at the request of someone on the team. If you would like to have your e-mail address removed from this list, please let me know. Or, if you would like to have addresses added to this list, please send them to me, and I would be happy to do that.
I remain in contact with team leaders Ben Bogosian and Casey Welch, by e-mail and/or phone, every 2 or 3 days on average throughout the course of the trip.
I had the pleasure of getting to know everyone on the team during our three day orientation in Estes Park, Colorado. It is a great group! I was very pleased at how engaged everyone was during a very full schedule of workshops on health and safety, cultural sensitivity, team building etc. Attached to this e-mail you will see a picture of the group that I took on our afternoon hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.
As most of you know we had to take Bolivia out of the program at the very last minute due to political violence which has made the country too unstable to send the group. This was very unfortunate and very disappointing to all of us. However, we have put together a fantastic alternative program.
The group flew out of Denver on Sunday morning, and were on the same flights they were originally scheduled to be on until Miami. In Miami they flew out just one hour later than originally scheduled on a flight to Lima, Peru, instead of La Paz, Bolivia.
They landed in Lima very early Monday morning, and had a full day to site see, and explore Peru’s capital city. They spent their first night in a hostel in central Lima and then yesterday boarded a bus and headed north to the town of Huaraz. Huaraz is beautifully set at the base one of the Andes most spectacular mountain ranges, the Cordillera Blanca. Today the team is in Huaraz, acclimating, and preparing for their upcoming trek. Tomorrow (Thursday) they will have another day to acclimate while taking a trip to the nearby ruins of Chavin de Huantar. A UNESCO designated World Heritage Site, this fortress-temple was constructed between 1200 and 300 BC and is the only large structure remaining from the Chavin culture.
On Friday morning the team will head off on a trek into the Andes Cordillera Blanca, along the famous Santa Cruz trail. For four days they will hike through some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, past crystal mountain lakes, and will sleep at night in tents. The team will be part of a full expedition along with local guides, porters, cooks, and donkeys.
Please note that team members will not have direct access to phone or internet while they are hiking in the Andes mountains.
On Monday (Sept. 29), in the late afternoon, the team will return to Huaraz for the night, before returning to Lima by bus the following day.
From there forward, here is a basic outline of the new schedule that we have put together for this team………………………..
Sept. 30: Overnight in Lima hostel.
Oct. 1 to 6 - Amazon Basin safari.
Oct. 7 to 8 - Cuzco: sites and exploration. Staying in hostel.
Oct. 9 to 18 - Cuzco: Home stays. Spanish language lessons in morning. Volunteer work in afternoon.
Oct. 19: Nazca. Fly over top of Nazca Lines.
Oct. 20 - bus to city of Arequipa.
Oct. 21 - Arequipa: Site seeing and exploration.
Oct. 22 to 25 - Trek through Colca Canyon.
Oct. 26 - Travel to Puno, Peru for week and a half of home stays and volunteer work.
From October 26 forward, the itinerary will be essentially identical to the team’s original program. I will provide more details on each segment of the program in my general updates as the trip progresses. Please understand that we are still ironing out finite details of the new itinerary, so minor date and program shifts are still possible.
If you ever have any questions or concerns at all, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at any time by e-mail (director@youthinternational.org), or by phone at: 1-416-538-0152. That phone number is also our emergency line and me or Alex will always be there to answer it, or will get any messages and return them very quickly.
Thank you for joining along vicariously on this South America learning adventure. Your interest and support is extremely important the success of this team and this program.
Very best wishes, Brad

Just got a quick email update from Dylan.  He is at the Denver Airport on his way to Peru.  The Bolivia portion of the trip has been rescheduled due to political unrest in that country.  We have yet to hear about an updated itinerary.