Peru itinerary

For August, Whirls and Twirls will be traveling to PERU!

It was time to make a visit to the Western Hemisphere! But where? The world was ours. My hubby suggested that we take a cue from The Whirl Girl and one of her favorite books: Llama Llama Red Pajama. Though it has nothing to do with Peru, it features an animal we've not seen in Malaysia or Kenya. And where do llamas live? Peru!

So Peru it was. That was pretty much all I started with. That and Machu Picchu - a place high on our travel wish list. But with a couple hours of research and a little reaching out to friends (thank you Facebook!), I think we've got ourselves some activities. Like did you know that potatoes originated in Peru? Imagine the possibilities. Or that there are three distinct regions - the Pacific coast, the Andean mountains, and the Amazonian rainforest? Some familiar and some new for The Whirl Girl.

And Singapore doesn't offer much in the way of cultural events about this country on the other side of the world from us, so we are on our own, just like many of you out there who don't find Malay dancers or Kenyan plays every day in your neck of the woods.

This is what I love about this project. It reminds me of travel itself. When you first pick a place, it feels daunting to make plans - hotels, flights, sightseeing all in a place with unfamiliar names and little sense of how sites are connected to each other. And then you start to dig a little bit deeper, finding recommendations in places expected and not, and before you know it, an itinerary develops and the excitement grows.

Some good resources that I found that had Peru-specific pages:

Time for Kids - Around the World

National Geographic Kids

Travel for Kids

So, without further ado, we're off!

Here's our tentative plan for this month's trip. The reading will be ongoing and the other activities we will do throughout the month, posting about and updating them as we go.

Reading: 5 children's books and 1 grown-up book

Field Tripping:Farm visit

Cooking: Potatoes and quinoa

Making Music: Marinera, Afro-Peruvian music, Spanish kids songs

Crafting: Sun project, masks for the Festival of the Virgin Carmen, potato stamping, llama toy

Conversing: Amigo is our word of the month

Giving Back: Still unsure on this too... maybe something with education?

We're packed and ready to go! Here's some photos of Peru to get us excited for the trip:

(following photos from National Geographic)

(and these are from our friends' Peruvian travels)

*Map graphic from worldatlas and flag graphic from The World Flag Database