Saturday, February 19th

In yesterday’s post I omitted a rather important announcement: Friday was the beginning of South America trip’s “flexi-week”, in which the students design the travel. They choose the lodging, buy the food, budget the money, plan the activities, and arrange the transportation (except where border-crossing is involved). On the Unschool Adventures Argentina Trip in 2008, the group did two weeks of student-designed travel, and it was a big hit. On this trip, the students are designing one week of travel in Arequipa, Peru: The White City.

Originally I suggested that the student’s do homestays (which include breakfasts and dinners for a bargain price) for the flex-week, but they weren’t into that idea. So they went online to Hostelbookers.com and found the Bothy Hostel instead.

The Bothy turned out to be a great find. Aside from the hot water problem (they’re solar-only, and it’s usually cloudy in the summer, so…no hot water!), it has everything that our group needs, including a movie room that’s just the right size for our 13-person meetings.

The students spent their first full day in Arequipa exploring the city, buying groceries, and thinking about possible activities for the rest of the week. I spent the day scouting out all the awesome, awesome restaurants that the city has to offer. I ultimately decided that the Mexican restaurant “Tacos & Tequila” was the highest priority. Jonah, Hanna and I went there for a post-dinner snack.

Hanna went into a little food coma after the first bite of her burrito.

My taco was a work of art. LOOK AT THAT GUACAMOLE!

So happy.