Camper Memories: Claire shares her stories from her time at Valley Camp

Hi! My name is Claire, and I am American and Russian.

I came to Peru with my family for six months. We travel a lot, and I usually go to local schools. When we got to Urubamba it was December, and all the schools were out on the summer break. I didn’t have any friends, and it was very boring. So when my mom signed me up for a Valley Camp, I was excited to check it out. I was a bit nervous when I saw that it lasted from 9am till 5pm five days a week. My parents and I agreed that if I was too tired or bored there I would come home earlier. Guess what? Never in the three weeks (yes, I did all three weeks!) did I come home before 5pm!

The first week was fun! We played games, and I met new kids. In the second week I met Jade – she is Peruvian and the same age as me. We both like anime and making videos. We connected really well and since then became best friends.

Cole York, the director of the Valley Camp, was there every day. She is bilingual so it helped to understand Spanish, but by the end of the third week my Spanish improved a lot. Actually, I was able to chat with both teachers and friends!

Valley Camp took place at the school campus, so we had a great outdoor space with a playground and swings. We always had different activities. Once there was a hoola hooping contest that I won! Another time we played “MataGente” which is pretty much dodgeball, but you gain lives by catching the ball. Sometimes the boys played soccer while the girls hung out by the swings.

Inside we had different classes. Every day we made different art projects. We painted and made collages, drew and used various techniques for making textures and patterns. Capoeira was another cool class we had. It’s a Brazilian dancing/fake fighting that was fun to learn.

Each week we also had a field trip, and they were always lively and exciting! One week we went rock climbing on real boulders and mountains! The instructors brought harnesses, ropes, and helmets, and we all got to use them. I climbed the hardest route!

Another time we hiked to little town nearby. We walked for an hour and at the end we were supposed to have a picnic, but we ate our lunch and snacks on the way. (We had a small ‘snaccident,’ when you eat your whole snack by accident).

The highlight of the last week was our camping trip. First a teacher explained to us what gear we needed and what camping would be like since lots of kids were new to this. I go camping with my family every summer, so I knew the drill. When we went camping, first we had to take a bus and then hike for two hours to the top of the mountain. We walked through Incan ruins and saw llamas! By the end we were tired, but it was very beautiful. We had lunch and then set up our tents. My friends and I slept in the same tent. There were four of us. After dinner we snuggled in our sleeping bags and ate our extra snacks. We tried to summon a spirit, and the teachers pranked us by banging on our tent and scaring us! It was so much fun that I didn’t want the night to end! Those three weeks at the Valley Camp were exciting. I hope to come back next year and to have even more fun!