13 November 2007
Intrepid students from St Cenydd Comprehensive School have returned from a month-long expedition to Peru where they ventured through mountains and jungles in search of ancient ruins.
The trip gave the pupils and staff a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit various Inca sights such as Machu Picchu - ‘The Lost City of the Incas’, Cusco - the Inca Capital and Lake Titicaca.
As well as sightseeing the group worked on a community project in a secondary school in Huaraz, which included painting walls and glazing some of the older classrooms. The school trip was funded by two non-uniform days and some of the money raised was also used to equip a local orphanage linked to the school in Huaraz.
In the third phase of their trip, the pupils walked up to 20km a day to complete an 8 day high altitude trek as part of the famous Huayhuash Circuit, where the highest peaks reached over 4,900 metres. After camping out in freezing temperatures they were glad to reach the Amazonian city of Iquitos where they stayed in a Jungle lodge and enjoyed watching monkeys and birds as well as playing with the friendly pet capybara (a huge rodent) called Charlie and an Anteater called Dennis, they even went Piranha fishing!
A group spokesman said, “It was a wonderful experience and everyone would like to thank Morrisons and ASDA, Caerphilly for their help in raising funds for the trip.”
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