Being prepared mentally

To prepare for the upcoming awesome trip we are about to take you must take a moment to be prepared mentally for this trip.  What are some things you can do to prepare?  Glad you asked!  Take time to read the culture information that will be posted here and emailed to you.   Search for articles on line about Peru and the cities we are going to: Chincha & Lima.

Greeting one another!

Allowing new friends to greet us too!

 One culture difference you can practice now is to take the time to greet everyone in a room when you enter and when you leave take the time to say goodbye (to each person individually). Culturally this will be a very important practice for you in Peru.  Our team members will call you on it if we see you not doing it.  Why is it important?  Because Hispanic cultures have a different way to determine “schedule” and priorities; one practice they have is to “check in” with each other.  What I mean is in the United States generally we have a schedule to adhere to: 8 am get to work do a, b, c, then at 12:00 go to lunch eat, 12:30 do a, b, c, etc.  Our schedules are very chronologically time driven.  While they do have schedules in Peru and other Hispanic cultures, the importance of community and people override it.   Taking time to say hello and good bye gives us the opportunity to “check in” with this person to see if there is something they need before I continue on my activities.  Please practice as this will help you to start mentally checking into your communities, slow down, and pay attention to people around you (always a good thing)!