Curahuasi is located in Peru, in the heart of the Andes mountain range at an altitude of 2,688 metres. It is one of the nine districts of the Abancay province in the department of Apurímac. The town has 16,500 inhabitants. The inhabitants’ main occupation is the cultivation of anise(ed), hence Curahuasi’s nickname of Global Anise Capital.
The languages spoken in Curahuasi are Spanish and Quechua. In town, most people speak both, the further away from the centre, the more people only speak Quechua.
The Casa Lena building is located:
- at a 15 minutes’ walk from the Curahuasi centre;
- 10 minutes away from the Diospi Suyana hospital (a German non-profit organisation);
- 25 minutes away from the thermal baths in Cconoc;
- 1 ½ hours away from the city of Abancay;
- 2 hours east of Cuzco city and the Holy Valley, where Machu Picchu is located.
Volunteers and students who arrange their accommodation through Oye LENA get a room at the main building of Casa Lena. There are private rooms and shared rooms. The bathroom, kitchen and living room are shared.
The project takes place in the classrooms on the ground floor of the building.
If friends or family are coming to visit you, they can stay in a hotel in the village or in the Casa Lena B&B. The B&B has three rooms, each with a private bathroom and a shared kitchen and terrace.
Take a look at casalenaperu.com for pictures of the building, rooms and surroundings!
Volunteers and visitors can also ask Casa Lena for tours in Curahuasi and its surroundings (canyoning, puenting, river tubing, horseback riding and so on).
Our project building has four different classrooms:
The orange room is the “learning-through-play room” where all the puzzles, building materials, board games, Smart Games and boxes related to different themes such as fine motor skills (pearls, plasticine,…) can be found.
The green room is called the “creative room” and contains all the craft materials. Apart from that, there are also a lot of toys to play with like balloons, hoops and more.
The black room is the “multi-sensory room” in which we offer different stimuli (visual, audible, tactile, those regarding taste and smell)
The white room is the “movement room” where we give physiotherapy, Sherborne or other similar activities.
Finally, there is the ‘relaxation class‘. In this room, the children receive as few stimuli as possible, ideal for children with autism or other disabilities.
The “We-pretend learning centres”: the little shop, kitchen, theatre, doll section, car section & construction area we install outside.
Outside we have two playgrounds: a big square with a house, a swing and a slide, and a lawn with a climbing rack, a swing, a slide and a seesaw.
Oye LENA 