Amigos Peru Coordinator

Sometimes it seems almost unreal that 40 years ago I was walking dusty roads in Peru and climb

ing into buses crowded with bodies and bundles packed tight! I was often

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Be an Amigo: Vote & Join the Board!!

Watch for Your Ballots:
Two of our current AMIGOS board members are completing their two-year  appointments and will be

running for election to six-year terms. Ballots for Jim Olson of the Central Time Zone will be in your mail boxes soon;

and Steven Huffstutler, Global-at-Large member, will end his term April 1, 2004, so the election will

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RPCV Visits Peru

Marushka Lutz Hollen, of the Peru III group in Arequipa,1962-64, recently made a return trip to Peru with her son Nick Bendezu. They visited her former husband's family in Lima and then went to Arequipa where

Maru and Nick saw many friends. As she says, "things have changed!"

Arriving in Lima at 10:30 at night into a chaos of people going every which way, we made our way

outside to a taxi stand and asked for a cab. "Yes, yes, it'll be here in just a minute and will cost $15.00"  As it took more and more time the guy who took the money

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Where are they now…? 
Gerard Maguire (Bolivia  1995-1997)

Where are they now…?
Linda Gruneisen (Bolivia  1997-1999) 

I was a volunteer in tranquil Tarija, Bolivia, a town of 70,000 people in southwestern Bolivia. Tarija is known for its vineyards, agreeable climate, and friendly populace, where I was assigned to a micro-finance NGO that provided loans and business training to women who wished to start small
businesses.

I started thinking about service as a Peace Corps Volunteer when I was completing my Associates degree in Social Work. I'd been working in business management for about six years, plugging along at evening college classes so that one day I could pursue a career in social services. When I finally com

pleted my coursework and got an invitation to serve as a Peace Corp Volunteer I knew I was on my way!

Leaving behind family, friends and career seemed to come naturally since I'd been hoping and planning for it so long.   Or maybe it was that the stag

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After completing my service, I traveled around the Southern Cone of South America for a couple of months before beginning a job in Bolivia with Parker Drilling Company, an oil field services company.

In 2000, I moved to New York City, where I cur

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