We had the pleasure of meeting with Intiwawa on our last day in Arequipa and getting a tour of their non-profit organisation. And what great work they do!

Intiwawa is a dynamic organisation that fights poverty in the slums in Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. Founded in Peru and Germany in 2007, today their network consists of multiple teams in Holland, France, England and Hong Kong. Their main focus is in a small settlement on the outskirts of Arequipa called San Isidro.

We dropped off our donations and got to meet some of the kids. Thanks to our amazing supporters, our GlobeDrop was larger than normal and our donations consisted of notepads and pens, cereal (both hot and cold), sewing needles and threads, toothpaste, toothbrushes, safety pins, soap, water paint and balls.

Intiwawa are always looking for volunteers and donations. You can visit their website at www.intiwawa.org. Alternatively, if you would like to participate in your own GlobeDrop, you can visit GlobeDrop's website at www.globedrop.org.

Any donation, no matter how big or small, is worthwhile.

Travel often - travel meaningfully!

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse - it did. We broke down multiple times in Peru, ended up spending every single $ we had, couldn't find a place to live, had to have emergency dental treatment not once but twice, faced enormous fees to finally get our vehicle back on the road...and on top of it all we had to find the money for our exit fees which ran to over US$2,000. Sounds like a very bad plot for a movie, right? This happened to our family recently and we contemplated quitting our long term travel plans more than once. But the sad fact was that while we didn't have the money to stay, we didn't have the money to leave either. Stranded in Arequipa, Peru was pretty much the size of it. And as I write this, we are still here - in Arequipa that is - but hopefully not for much longer.

And boy did we learn a lot from this experience.

1. You learn who you can count on. I am not too proud to admit that things got pretty rough there for a while but it was the ones who stood by us while we slowly kept sinking deeper and deeper into the hole and enabled us to laugh about it and keep our focus that maintained our trust. It was the ones who reached out to us, even if it was just a message or words of comfort, that taught us the true value of friendship and family. Believe me, we couldn't have gotten through this period without all of those kind words and messages of support. 

​2. You can't travel long term if your heart is not in it. Our heart was in it, then not, then in it, then not - for a period of many months we stopped enjoying our travel yet couldn't seem to find any way out of it. We got disheartened, sad, mad and frustrated. Then we regrouped again and again - every time something happened we went through the cycle. Hopefully we have come out the stronger for it. We love to travel and hated losing our passion for travel to a set of bad circumstances.

3. You can always change your plans. Our original plan was to go to Bolivia - we had arrangements made with friends, volunteer positions set up and ready to go, free accommodation en route. We were ready - except we couldn't afford to leave. So after toing and froing we decided to cut 5 countries off the itinerary - that was 5 border issues we didn't have to deal with, 5 countries we didn't have to source accommodation for - immediately our hearts felt lighter. It was never about seeing as many countries as we could, it was always about being able to provide a wonderful educational experience for our family as a whole. So we turned around and focused on Ecuador.

4. You are stronger than you think. While at times we didn't feel very strong, in reality we were. We faced being penniless and homeless in a foreign country with two kids - and you know what - we survived. We worked and worked hard to better our unfortunate position - we tried to stay strong and quite often we failed. But you know what we stuck it out - we made it through sanity (just) intact!

5. You are more resourceful than you think. We got to our last cent many times during this situation. As the van sucked our savings dry we had no backup. As a freelance writer, the money flows sporadically and when clients are slow to pay then I can't afford to eat. My husband got a job, I started working for a local travel company - every little bit helped.

6. Amazing opportunities can open up. We made some amazing new friends in Arequipa and visited some wonderful sights. I got a delicious gig reviewing some of the local restaurants in Arequipa on behalf of Peru This Week. Emilia and I even got to enjoy a cooking class together. None of this would have happened if it weren't for the problems we faced. I am not saying I am glad they happened - but I am thankful for the opportunities that arose as a result. Every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.

7. Things will get better. Yes they will, it may take 6 or 7 or even 8 months or even longer but they will. We knew that deep down but we faced seemingly insurmountable problems that at times despite all reasoning there was no way around. While our problems have not fully sorted themselves out, we are moving forward. It is just at a much slower pace than we would've liked. 

8. No one has it all figured it. I am not one to put on a brave face when things go wrong but nor am I one to get down in the dumps or seriously depressed unless I have good cause to do so. No one person I know has a perfect life - everyone is faced with some kind of relationship issue, money problem, family drama, whatever it may be. The only way we got through it was by talking about it. No good comes of anything when you pretend things are rosy 24/7 and you never know that one person who may be listening might just be able to help.

9. Regret is wasted. So the mechanics we encountered along the way didn't really know what they were doing and took our money without properly servicing our vehicle. So we spent thousands of dollars on our vehicle which we have no way to recoup. So...so...so...what! We lived to tell the tale. We aren't focused on money per se - we are only focused on money at the moment so we have a way to leave the country and continue on our way to Ecuador. If we don't have the money at the border they won't let us leave. If we don't have money for gas we can't drive there. The rest will sort itself out.

10. There is no point in trying to control everything. We don't thankfully - but if we did our problems would've been a lot worse. We are go with the flow types naturally and usually things don't faze us. But of course when you have kids there has to be some sort of plan. We had no way of controlling this situation at all. I could earn more but I couldn't earn enough to make things better. Every day we stayed was costing us more in fines. We had to take a big leap of faith - one which we are still hanging onto as we speak.

11. Adventure is a lifestyle. So we got off track. So we cut 5 countries off of the program. Our experiences to date have not been too shabby. We are raising two wonderfully strong and independent children in a foreign country. We didn't even speak the language when we came (not that we can now mind you). But this foreignness is our version of normal - going to a supermarket in Peru does not seem weird to us. Our life is an adventure everyday and we choose to make the most of it.

12. A bad travel experience will not put you off travel. As much as we liked Arequipa, it was seriously sucking us dry, whichever way we turned. But you know what, we are excited to get back on the road and hang out in Ecuador for a couple of months. We feel like we have earned our own private beach retreat. Bring it on.

13. You can always help others. When things are low and you have no money you can still help others. We did not one, but two, GlobeDrops for non-profit organisations in need due to the support and kindness of others. Gratitude is a big part of what we do and we are truly grateful for every day we get to travel and live life on our own terms. So we do what we can and give what we can - even when we are experiencing massive problems of our own. There is always something you can do for others.

14. You learn to cherish the little things. Not that we really needed it - but we got a reminder like no other. We made do with the basics - we had our gas stove and that was all that we needed. Who needs a fridge or a microwave or a TV? We appreciate when we have hot water because sometimes we have no water. We appreciate when we have electricity because for mysterious reasons that can go off too. And we appreciate our ability to plug into wifi whenever we can - that is truly a lifeline to the rest of the world. We appreciated a roof over our head (sleeping in the van is not easy or comfortable) and we cherished our friends more than ever.

15. The world really is a beautiful place. Yes we were stranded and verging on the homeless. Rent was so much more than we had prepared for. Dental bills were overdue. But there was no better place to be than right where we were. The weather in Arequipa was gorgeous and sunny, the views of the nearby volcanoes were spectacular. And we had each other.

We get asked a lot how people can help us with our journey. So for ease, I thought I would put a blog post together letting you know just how you can help us. We have a myriad of supporters - some just follow our journey, others share our stories, some have pre-purchased our book, others have donated some money along the way. We have hostels and lodges who have opened up their doors for us in exchange for promotion or social media assistance and we have brands who are happy to share a meal or provide a product in exchange for our honest feedback. Here are some of our suggestions for those who would like to see us continue on the journey ahead.

Like our Facebook Page
Stay in the loop at And Off We Went and keep up to date with where we are and what we are doing.

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Pre-order our Travel Book
If you love hearing about our travel adventures, then I recommend you pre-purchase our book "And Off We Went". Visit our pre-order page for more information.

Book Michelle's Writing Services
Michelle is an accomplished ghostwriter and content writer and would love to help you with your next blog post or article. Click here to view her rates or email Michelle at michelletupy@hotmail.com for more information.

Sponsor us
We are open to a variety of corporate sponsorship options including book advertising, product endorsement, promotion or otherwise; contact us for more details.

Accommodate us
We are only happy to review or write an editorial feature about your hotel, bed and breakfast, hostel or lodge in exchange for accommodation. Matt is a hotel manager by trade and is more than qualified to help provide honest reviews about the way you are managing your hotel. Michelle is also a whiz at social media and blogging and is only too happy to provide advice on the subject should you need it. 

GlobeDrop Donations
From time to time we will ask for donations for various GlobeDrop charities and we would love if you could support us and them. We will shop for the items and hand them directly to the charity in need - no need for a middle man. Meaningful travel is very important to us.  

Volunteering and Housesitting
If you know of any volunteering or housesitting opportunities available during our travels, we would love to hear about them. We are travelling with open minds and seeing where the road takes us.

Donate
Any and all monetary donations are welcome. While we work and volunteer as we travel, sometimes the money doesn't stretch as far as we would like. We seem to have quite a number of wonderful supporters who are living their dreams vicariously through us and we appreciate them all.

We welcome all the support that we get from our friends, corporate sponsors and supporters and know that we couldn't have gotten this far without each and every one of you. We don't know how long our journey will take or what we will encounter along the way so every little bit helps.

Thank you from the bottom of our heart.

We signed up with GlobeDrop last year (in fact they are a huge supporter of our travel journey and the book we are writing) so it was with much anticipation that we were finally able to add our first experience to the long list of blog posts I had to write. We would have done it earlier but there aren't many GlobeDrop organisations on the list in Peru - in fact there are only 3 at present; 1 in Cusco and 2 in Arequipa - so as soon as we arrived in Arequipa, it was our mission to help out immediately.

As part of our meaningful travel plan, we planned to donate items to Casa Hogar Luz Alba, a children's shelter in Arequipa (http://www.casahogarluzalba.org/). They were in need of antibiotics, children's clothes, balls, pens, band aids, blankets, books, pencils, cotton buds, toys, diapers, juice boxes, jump ropes, paper pads, pasta, powdered milk, rice, soap, socks, sugar, tooth brushes and water paint so we had quite a task ahead of us.

Emilia and I had a budget - 300 soles - so we set off to the grocery store to buy as many of these things as we could - we needed to make our money stretch as much as possible. It was a great exercise for Emilia - she was helping me decide what we should purchase and then we would look at the costs and see what was the best option. The final tally came to 298.05 - not bad at all.

Following our shop, the experience was fairly simple. We logged onto the GlobeDrop website and let Casa Hogar Luz Alba know exactly what we would be donating - choosing a 3 day window delivery period. The drop was confirmed and we made our way over to the children's shelter with bags in hand.

Casa Hogar Luz Alba were very appreciate of our little effort - they noted everything we had donated in a notebook and gave us a tour of their premises. We got to meet some of the children and had a peek into the nursery where all the babies were sleeping. And it was great for Emilia and Matthew to see how directly we were able to help another organisation.

GlobeDrop.org is a social enterprise that allows travellers to contribute to social welfare establishments and NGOs around the world while travelling. They offer a free web and mobile application that can easily connect travellers to verified social organisations - no middle man required.

They carry the motto, “Travel Meaningfully”, which concisely describes what GlobeDrop.org and our trip from Cusco to Niagara Falls is about. In their own way, they promote responsible travelling by locally buying in-kind donations to help the community livelihood. Using the GlobeDrop application can also create social awareness through immersion when travellers buy goods to be turned to in-kind donations in their chosen local market communities.