When I first came to South America I was consumed with thoughts of Argentina and Buenos Aires. Dubbed the Paris of the south, this city had captured my imagination in more ways than one. From the nightlife to the love of steak, I knew BA was a place that I wanted to live. Upon arrival I thus planned to stay in this city for at least six months before beginning any travels. And as expected, within days I had fallen in love with the Buenos Aires.

Thus when my housemate decided to take a trip up to Peru a month into our stay I was caught a little bit off guard. My initial reaction: why would anyone want to leave a place this great so soon? With time, however, the thought of accompanying her became more and more appealing: I knew, that if I wanted to I could always come back to Buenos Aires. It´s not as if I was moving out of BsAs but rather, I thought of it, as taking a very long vacation. A month after my friend first breached the subject, we were on the road headed to Pisco, Peru.

You might be thinking, why Pisco? (For those of you who are unfamiliar with South American geography: Pisco is a tiny city on the South West Coast of Peru; let´s just say it didn´t exactly make the cut for top ten places to visit in Peru, it claims two pages in SA’s Lonely Planet’s guide). Given our intents to volunteer, however, the lack of tourist attractions in Pisco was not exactly an issue . Indeed, our time was kept busy with the construction of houses for local families. Not only did this experience add some real substance to my travels in SA, but it was incredibly fun as well. If you have the time to do some volunteer work during your stay I highly recommend it.