Language Immersion & Service Peru

Preparing for the Demands of Your Trip

Service, language learning and cultural understanding require dedication, selflessness and hard work. Begin your preparations for a great summer now by organizing your luggage, clothing and gear. As the summer nears, stay active and fit through sports and exercise. The more you prepare, the more you will enjoy your program. Then once your program starts, commit yourself wholeheartedly to your group and all of its activities.

Special Health Requirements

Overland advises students traveling to Peru to consult with their family physician for information about traveling abroad.

Luggage

On Peru programs we travel light—we cannot emphasize this enough.  Please bring just one hiking backpack (specifications below) and one small day pack for weekend excursions and day hikes. Use your day pack to carry essentials on the plane (but do not use this bag as additional luggage space). Be sure to tag all items with your name, address and phone number. If you are checking your backpack as luggage, ask the airline to bag it for you. This will help protect the pack.

Packing for Your Program

Please stick to the following guidelines when packing for your program; your group will have access to laundry on a weekly basis. In many of the places we visit, it is culturally inappropriate for girls to wear short skirts, short shorts or spaghetti-strap tank tops; this clothing can bring unwanted and possibly unpleasant attention. Please pack accordingly. Be sure to bring comfortable clothes that can get dirty and be worn while volunteering.

A note on weather:  We will be visiting Peru during the "Dry Season."  This means that during the day, weather will mostly be sunny and pleasant, rangning from 60-80 degrees Fahrenheit.  However, at night, especially at higher elevations, temperatures can drop to 30s and 40s (Fahrenheit).  Please pay close attention to the warm layers below - you'll be grateful for them along the Inca Trail.   

Clothing

• Tennis Shoes or Sneakers. Comfortable shoes to wear all day while volunteering and on day hikes.
• Sandals or Flip Flops. Tevas, Crocs, Chacos or similar with a heel strap for rafting trip.
• Waterproof Raincoat. Must be waterproof!
• Fleece Jacket and Fleece Pants. The fleece should be medium to heavyweight and reasonably compact.
• Synthetic Long Underwear Long-Sleeve Shirt and Pants. One top and one bottom.
• Winter Hat and Gloves/Mittens.
• Comfortable Shorts or Skirts. Three; two pairs of shorts must be suitable for day hikes.
• Long Pants. Two pairs; one sturdy pair for volunteer work, one for evenings.
• Shirts. Five shirts or tank tops. Two of the short-sleeve shirts should be synthetic. Two long-sleeve shirts.
• Underwear. Seven pairs.
• Socks & Sock Liners. Three pairs of wool or synthetic socks made for hiking and three pairs of synthetic sock liners (thin socks worn to prevent blisters). Five pairs of athletic socks for use with sneakers.
• Pajamas. One pair.
• Bathing Suit. One only.

• Hiking Boots (Break them in BEFORE your trip!)
  Waterproof backpacking boots (recommended price range $150 to $225). Choose a comfortable boot that is designed for hiking with a medium-weight pack. Your boots should have a durable leather upper than can be treated with waterproofing wax or liquid, or have a waterproof fabric/leather combination. If the boots you like have a GoreTex liner, that is great, but boots do not need to have GoreTex liners to be waterproof; good quality leather when treated properly is waterproof. Follow the waterproofing instructions from the boots' manufacturer prior to the start of your trip; typically you must wear the boots for at least a week before they will accept waterproofing treatment.
• Backpack
  3,500-5,000 cubic inches. Before you purchase a backpack, find your backpack size by measuring your torso length and your hips. We recommend getting fitted at a store where you can try on a number of different packs. Follow REI's guidelines on how to find your backpack size:
  Measure Your Torso Length. This is key: Your torso length, not your height, determines your pack size.  Here's how to measure it: 1.With the help of a friend, locate the bony bump at the base of your neck. This is where the slope of your shoulder meets your neck, also known as the seventh vertebra. Tilt your head forward to locate it more easily. 2. Using a flexible tape measure, have your friend start measuring at that spot down your spine, following the curves of your back. 3. Place your hands on your hips to feel your iliac crest, the twin pointy protrusions on the front of your hips. Position your hands so your thumbs are reaching behind you. 4. Finish measuring at the point where the tape crosses an imaginary line between your thumbs. This distance is your torso length.  
  Measure Your Hips. While less critical than torso length, this is helpful if you're considering a pack that offers mulitiple sizes of interchangeable hipbelts. To measure, take your tape measure and wrap it around the tops of your hips. This is the "latitude line" where you can feel your iliac crest, the two pointy bones on the front of your hips. A properly positioned hipbelt will straddle your iliac crest at this line.
• Water Bottle
  One 1-liter Nalgene (or similar) water bottle. Overland will provide you with a second water bottle on arrival. A CamelBak or similar water bladder is acceptable if you have one already, but water bottles work just as well.
  
• Sleeping Bag
  Warm to 20 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lightweight and compact (when stuffed in a compression stuff-sack it should be no larger than 12" x 20"). Synthetic or down is acceptable, though synthetic is preferred as it will be more effective when wet.  Carry on the plane with you.
  
• Headlamp
  Small and lightweight. This comes in very handy in camp when it's dark and you're using both hands.
• Small Safety Whistle
  Plastic or metal with string or lanyard attached.

Gear & Miscellaneous

• Valid Passport. Also bring a photocopy of the inside front cover of your passport and leave another at home.
• Student ID. Current school identification (if you have one).
• Spanish-English Dictionary. Small travel size.
• Toiletries. All travel size.
• Beach Towel (medium size) & Quick-Dry Towel (this will be very useful for hiking and rafting trip)
• Water Bottle. Any kind, 1 Liter, to stay hydrated out in the sun.
• Leather Work Gloves. One pair.
• Sunglasses & Hat. With visor (e.g., baseball hat).
• Sunscreen (SPF 30+), Chapstick (with SPF protection) & Insect Repellant.
• Flashlight and/or headlamp. Camping along the Inca Trail will require flashlights to navigate at night.
• Small Daypack. A small pack to carry daily items in (it can also be used as a carry-on for the flight).
• Camera/Batteries/Memory Card
Optional. Interested in seeing your photographs or videos on Overland's website next year? Bring a camera with lots of pixels (10 or more) and lots of memory (4GB or more). Buying a new camera? One of our favorites is the Canon PowerShot SD960 IS digital camera.
• Spiral Notebook & Pen. For class.
• Journal. Optional.
• Pictures From Home & Small Gift for Your Homestay Family. To share with your family: something unique to the U.S., your state or hometown (e.g., local t-shirt or maple syrup).
• Community Donation Items. A few items of second hand clothing (for children or adults), arts & crafts material (e.g., markers, paint brushes, construction paper), or your favorite children's book (in Spanish).
• Spending Money. $50/week is a suggested amount for souvenirs, gifts and necessities (like more sunscreen if you run out, or stamps and envelopes to mail letters).

Note: Please do not bring any type of knife or multi-tool (e.g., Swiss Army Knife, Leatherman).

We do not permit personal electronics on our programs (for example, cellphones and iPods). We do, however, allow students who fly to their program to carry a cell phone while traveling; on arrival, Overland's leaders will collect all cell phones for the duration of the program and return them for flights home. Perhaps, a better option would be to bring a pre-paid phone card so that the leaders do not have to carry cell phones for the duration of the program.