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| FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |
On this page you can find the answers to many frequently asked questions. Please check here before emailing us with your queries as we are trying to cut down on administration time. If you want to volunteer with us please see the "Volunteer Programs" page for details of the application process and if you want to donate, please see the "Donations" page. Click on the question below to see the answer
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| Q.How much does it cost to volunteer with Traveller Not Tourist? |
A. We charge a one-off Administration Fee of $100 Please see our Volunteer Programs page for more information |
| Q.How much do volunteers normally spend? |
A. Obviously this depends on the person and what you do but here are some prices to give you an idea... Before June 1st 2013: (Optional) Accommodation in the Traveller Not Tourist volunteer house costs $230 per person per month (we also require a returnable deposit of $60 per person which will be refunded to you when you leave provided that you have not caused any damage or lost your key!). Please note that, if you book in advance, the booking fee is NON returnable. The rent includes gas, electricity and water but not food. After June 1st 2013: Accommodation in the Traveller Not Tourist volunteer house costs $65 per person per week (we also require a returnable deposit of $60 per person which will be refunded to you when you leave provided that you have not caused any damage or lost your key!). Please note that, if you book in advance, the booking fee is NON returnable. The rent includes gas, electricity and water but not food. Spanish lessons, which we provide, cost $8 per hour and are normally one-to-one. After June 1st you'll be able to get a course of 36 hours for $331. These are arranged on arrival. Food is not provided but fear not - Arequipa has a range of restaurants to suit all budgets and tastes (including vegetarians and vegans). The volunteer flats all have fully equipped kitchens so you can also cook for yourself. At lunchtimes you can get a set menu (bread, soup, drink, main and dessert) from around 7 soles or a dish from the menu ("carta") from about 12 soles. Internet costs from 1 sol per hour. Many machines have Skype (a cheap way of calling home using the internet - see www.skype.com). Photocopying and printing are normally between 30 and 70 centavos per page for black and white. Fun is obviously important when you are working hard. A beer costs 7 soles for a small one, a rum and coke is 9 soles (although lots of places have Happy Hour). Go Karting costs 10 soles for 20 laps (roughly 3 minutes per ticket). The cinema costs about 15 soles and they generally show at least some films in English (with Spanish subtitles) Transport is very cheap. You can get a bus anywhere within the city for 80 centavos and a taxi within the centre for 4.00 soles. To get to the orphanage and back you will spend 1.60 soles per day (we normally use buses). After June 1st a tax from the accommodation to the centre of Arequipa will cost 5 soles and from the accommodation to the orphanage will cost 8 soles. We recommend that you call and book taxis in advance as this is the safest way to travel (especially at night) but please be aware that this will add 2 soles to the price of your journey. Cigarettes cost 1.20 soles for a pack of 5 if you get Hamilton, a bit more for other brands. Tours vary in price depending on the length and costs included. See our "Book Tours" page for more information. To convert the prices above into your own currency, go to www.xe.com. All prices above are in the local currency Nuevos Soles or US dollars (as stated). |
| Q.Can I use US dollars in Peru? |
A.You can spend dollars in some places, but not many. There are a lot of places where you can exchange dollars for soles, the best money exchange places are in Calle Jerusalen (a short walk from the centre of Arequipa and our office). Please note that the conversion rate between dollars and soles constantly fluctuates so we have set prices in each currency which may not convert exactly. This is so that we can avoid losing money due to unfavourable conversion rates without changing our prices all the time. You are welcome to pay in whichever curreny is more convenient for you. |
| Q.How much should I donate? |
A.Donations are completely voluntary and we don't expect anything but if you do decide to do some fundraising, the main idea is to get as much as you can! Unfortunately it is difficult to plan what to do before you get here as it depends on what people who come before do, the volunteers, skills and resources we have at the time etc We prefer volunteers to come and see what the current situation is like before deciding on a mini project or items to buy for the project they are working with. We also have lots of great ideas of things we would love to do but just don't have the money for. Below are some prices to give you an idea of what you can do with your money over here. Check www.xe.com for up to date exchange rates) Bread rolls = 6 for 1 sol |
| Q.What will I be doing if I volunteer? |
A. Work at the Casa Hogar Luz Alba Orphanage involves helping with the day-to-day running of the orphanage, this includes tasks such as cleaning, cooking, ironing, washing clothes, helping the children with their homework and general care. You can also teach the children English, arts, crafts, music, dance, drama etc and play all sorts of games with them. For more information on projects please see the "Our Projects" page |
| Q.Can you provide me with accommodation and food for free? |
A.We are unable to provide free food or accommodation for anybody. All our resources go into the projects and/or into making our organisation sustainable. |
| Q.What should I bring with me? |
A.Essential items are:
If you want to, you can bring games, books, toys etc for the children but it is often more cost effective to buy items here. Some of the bilingual (English and Spanish) books from other countries are really good though so if you find them and don't mind carrying them, do bring them along. Some people like to bring something typical (or photos) from their country to share. Some volunteers and supporters have things they would like to send to Peru from their home countries so if you are interested in carrying some items (e.g. shoes, clothes, books etc) please get in touch with us stating what country you are leaving from/travelling through and when you are leaving. Of course, you are under no obligation so if you feel the items people want to send are too big you can just say no - we know what it's like to lug a huge pack around! |
| Q.What will the weather be like? |
A.It is Rainy season from December to March and Dry season from March to December. During the rainy season it normally only rains a bit in the afternoons but the rain can be very strong. It can get cold enough for a thick jumper at night all year round (but luckily there are plenty of lovely, warm Alpaca jumpers on sale here!). The sun in the day is very strong during both seasons and you have to be careful of sunburn, sunstroke and dehydration. |
| Q.Is there a required level of Spanish? |
A.No, I have seen volunteers do a great job with very little Spanish (lots of pointing and body language though!) We believe that volunteers will get more out of the experience the more Spanish they can speak so we recommend learning as much as possible beforehand and offer Spanish lessons for volunteers so they can improve while they are here. |
| Q.Do I need a visa? |
A.If you are coming from a country which is not in the Andean Community (Bolivia, Chile etc) you will need a visa. Normally you will be given a form to fill out on the aeroplane or on the border if you enter by land. This usually gives you the option to stay for up to 3 months (90 days) although you do need to specify this and check it when you get your visa. If you are planning to stay for more than 3 months, please contact us. We regret that we cannot provide sponsorship or assurances for those who need it, the majority of people will not. |
| Q.Is there a minimum and maximum volunteer period? |
A.Yes - 1 month If you are interested in volunteering in any capacity, please see the "Volunteer programs" page which also has details of how to apply. |
| Q.Can I get references from past volunteers? |
A.Yes, the best way of doing this is to join our facebook group. It is easy and free and when you have been accepted as a member you can send messages to other members, see and share photos, take part in discussions and see all the latest news. Please follow the instructions below to join: 1) Click on this link to go to the facebook website 2) If you are already a member, sign in using the boxes to the left hand side of the page. If you are not a member, create a free account by clicking on the button marked "sign up" on the right hand side of the page, then sign in. 3) When you are signed in, write "Traveller Not Tourist" in the box that says "Search" on the left hand side of the page. 4) Our group should be at the top of the list, you should recognise the logo from the website. Click "Join group" on the right hand side and as soon as you are confirmed, you can start sending messages, looking at photos, reading our news etc I do not want to put email addresses on this website as I think this compromises the privacy of volunteers and may lead to more junk mail for them as well as genuine emails from potential volunteers. There are, however, a few volunteers who have offered to act as referees for us. If you would rather not go through the Facebook group, you can find their profiles on Facebook by doing a simple search using their names and send them a private message to ask them what they REALLY think :-) These volunteers are; Nicola Pembridge, Phil Gomizel, Samantha Tonkin and William Kwan. We hope to add more volunteers to this list and keep the list updated so that you can always message someone who has been in Arequipa recently and get the latest gossip! You can also see what our current volunteers are up to on our volunteer Twitter and Flickr sites. |
| Q.Will I be safe? |
A.Arequipa is a big city and, just like other big cities, has some areas which are less safe than others. The safety and security of our volunteers is of the utmost importance to us and is a consideration in any activity we undertake or offer to our volunteers. The volunteer house (Cusi Wasi) is very secure. Of course volunteers are partly responsible for security in that they must close doors and windows which they open and must not bring strangers back to the house. We are very careful who we employ and invite into the house. The projects have been developed with the safety and security of volunteers in mind at all times. We have written an information sheet which includes safety and security information. Click here to download it. We encourage our volunteers to spend their social time together (by organising regular events) so that they are never alone. Obviously we cannot guarantee anyone's safety but we are sure that, as long as our volunteers exercise appropriate caution and follow our advice, they will have a safe and enjoyable stay in Arequipa. |
| Q.Can I send things through the post? |
A.Unfortunately we cannot accept any kind of donation through the post. We have tried in the past but the customs fees we were charged to collect the package actually cost more than buying the entire contents of the package ourselves! This applies to items send both via airmail and via ship. If you have items you would like to donate you can bring them with you if you are coming to volunteer with us, contact us to see if we can get another volunteer to take them for you or, if you are not, you could always have a sale and send us the proceeds. Of course, it is never a good idea to send money through the post but since we do now accept credit and debit card payments via our paypal account, you don't need to! Click here to go to our Donations Page. |
| Q.Can I fundraise using JustGiving? |
A.JustGiving is a website which allows you to publish your fundraising event and collect funds. We are not registered on JustGiving, and do not plan to be, as they charge £15 (UK) per month plus a 5% fee. We try to minimise costs wherever possible to keep the Admin fee we charge our volunteers as low as possible and to avoid taking any money from donations for Administrative purposes. If you are doing a sponsored event, you could do one of three things: 1) Ask the people sponsoring you to give the money to you so that you can bring it with you (if you are coming to volunteer with us), this way you can use the money for a specific project or to buy a specific item when you come (see"mini projects") 2) Ask sponsors or donors to send the money directly to us using the paypal facility on this website (unfortuately this makes it very difficult to track how much money you have raised). 3) Email info@pachawawas.com ("Pachawawas - Children of the Earth" is a registered charity in England and Wales run by one of the Founders of Traveller Not Tourist). Jay will then write an article about what you are doing, make a personalised PayPal donation button for you and post it on the Pachawawas website. Click here to see a previous example. You can then ask people to sponsor you/donate using this button and everything you raise this way will be trackable. If the people donating are UK based, we may also be able to claim Gift Aid on their donations, thereby increasing your fundraising potential! When your fundraising is complete Jay will let you know how much you raised and post a "Thank you" article on the website. We would also be very happy to publicise your event or activity on both the Traveller Not Tourist and Pachawawas facebook and twitter. |
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Two of our volunteers, Jen and Chris White, giving lessons at our community project site. They say "We had such a great experience! Working with the children was wonderful. We will recommend this program to everyone we know". To find out how you can volunteer with us go to the "Volunteer Programs" page
With the help of Pa'Enrique Horse Tours and AST Transportes Turisticos we took about 45 children horse riding in June. See the "Events" page to find out more.
Holidays and special occasions are always a good time to be volunteering with us, not only do you get to do lots of fun stuff with the children, the volunteers also tend to celebrate, well, anything there is to celebrate! The pumpkin above served not only as a great halloween decoration but also to help teach the English words for facial features. If you would like to help us continue our work, please go to our "Donations" page. |
