Hands-On Explorer Trip Blog - National Geographic Kids

"Whoa!!!" I yelled when I lost traction in my wet, rubber boots. Splat!!! I was lying, facedown, in Amazonian mud. I can laugh now, but I sure wasn't laughing then. It was 8 a.m. We had just started our journey to spot giant river otters at Oxbow Lake.

I pulled myself upright. I was covered from head to toe in brown, sloppy mud. This was not the look I was going for. I was OK, but I couldn't say the same for my new camera. It was practically encased in the dirt. Perfect...

Thank goodness for Luis, our jungle guide. He took my equipment, wrapped it in a towel and put it in his backpack. We continued on our hike to the lake. Once on the boat, Luis wiped most of the grime off of my camera.

"You were lucky, Grace! The lens cap stayed on. Also, the body of the camera seems OK." The zoom control was a different story. It was a mess. I sat there looking at my suddenly-not-so-brand-new-looking Nikon camera. I was filthy and worried. I put the camera away. It began to rain--and we didn't see any giant river otters.

Hi, it's Becca again! One of my favorite moments of the trip was the school in Cusco. You get to talk to real kids from a country that a lot of people wish they could visit and see what they're learning. As soon as we got there, the kids, in awesome costumes, started dancing for us and playing in their marching band. The dancers formed lines that wove in and out of each other, twirling before us. This way and that way; it made me a bit dizzy to follow one dancer in the group (and the high altitude added to that too).

Hi, everyone! This is Becca, here to tell you all about the Explorers' Symposium '09 at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, on Thursday the 11th! I drove down from Pennsylvania and arrived at the symposium at 5 o'clock.



Before going into the hors d'oeuvres party, I walked around National Geographic's really cool sculpture garden with my dad. It had statues of lots of different bugs, my favorite being a group of leaf-cutter ants carrying the greenery on their backs. That reminded me a lot of the trip to Peru and how much I miss all of the fabulous people on it.

"All Aboard!" There it was! The Vistadome--a long strand of painted blue metal sitting heavily on the tracks at the Ollanta Station, waiting zealously for us to climb aboard, eager to carry us from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, a small village at the foot of Machu Picchu.

Never in my life had I ever ridden on a train before, so getting to ride one in Peru was an absolute thrill! Our train twisted for more than an hour on a snake-like railroad track up the side of a mountain and revealed to us a stunning panoramic of the Peruvian countryside.















Photo by Grace K

During their trip to Peru, the kids on the Hands-On Explorer expedition met up with the Global Bros, two brothers on a year-long trip around the world.

Read what Stefan has to say about Peru.
      Trip to Peru
      Rain Forest Adventures

Read Tyler's take on Peru.
      First Thoughts on Peru
      The Amazon