And we're off!

After enjoying the sunshine in London today, we've made it to Heathrow and are finally on our way!

We're not sure when we'll next have access to the internet to keep you updated, but watch this space or enter your email address into the box on the right of your screen to receive a notification when we write a new post! 

For now, our chariot awaits - our plane seems to be nicknamed 'The Magic Red Carpet'! 

See you on the other side. 

Lots of GOLD love, 

Team Peru

Fourth Briefing

The final meet!

So final briefing has been and gone! It is definitely feeling very real now. We are less than two weeks away from our adventure!

Hard at work

We have had a productive weekend finalising our planning, making resources and adding more and more to the kit list… 

We have also enjoyed exploring the farm and our evening entertainment of Monsters Inc and munching lots of Cadbury’s!

Team kit!

We were very excited for the arrival of our new team kit and name badges and have been showing it off over the weekend.

Cover of Country Life Magazine anyone?

Catching some fresh air with the dogs

 We were delighted to have six new additions to the team thanks to the lovely people at Minifigs! We have each created our own lego GOLDie. Look out for them on our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout our project!

Our minifigs getting ready for the real Machu Pichu

Caroline’s family kindly put us up on their farm, Hoe Grange, for the weekend, where we had 250 acres to roam with the dogs during our breaks! We made some friends along the way…

Meeting Jess and Oliver

We enjoyed a lovely family dinner of fajitas and were joined by Caroline's grandma, a former County Commissioner and Trefoil Guild member who was very excited to hear all about our project.

Dinner with grandma

Our mascot from Girlguiding

Now we are ready and raring to go! Only 11 days until the adventure begins... Watch this space!

Lots of GOLD love,
Team Peru

Challenge yourself!

Songs, games and pretty badges

After third briefing, the Brownies and Guides in Chingford, where Caroline is a Brownie Leader, have been busy earning their GOLD Peru 2014 Challenge Badges!

Our pretty badges!

6th Chingford Brownies, who are all aged between 7 and 10, have had several different sessions around the topics of GOLD and Peru.

Some of the letters to Peruvian Brownies and Guides we
have received from units taking part in the challenge

As well as writing letters to Peruvian Brownies, they have learnt some Spanish, discovered some Peruvian culture and found a new favourite game – llama, llama, alpaca (instead of duck, duck, goose). The Brownies had great fun making Peruvian shapes in their sixes too – there were some very inventive versions of Machu Picchu!

But they didn’t neglect the GOLD side of the challenge badge either – they loved having a go at panning for gold and each six created their very own treasure hunt, complete with prizes, for the other Brownies to have a go at.

6th Chingford Brownies panning for GOLD... 

...getting their hands dirty...

...and loving it!

Caroline also visited the nearby Guide unit for an evening to run some Peruvian-themed activities. As well as sharing some Spanish songs and games she learnt in Chile on her previous GOLD project with the Guides, aged 10 to 14, Caroline also showed them lots of exciting photographs and talked to them about the international opportunities available for young women just like them through guiding. One of the Young Leaders will soon be old enough for GOLD and may even apply for INTOPS.

Caroline then ran a few activities to help the Guides understand what our GOLD project is trying to achieve. One of the activities, focussed on the topics of leadership and the importance of communication, went down so well that we will probably use it on the National Board of the Peruvian Guide Association during our project!

Chingford Guides leading from behind

Getting the giggles

One leader, at the back of each group, has to direct their blindfolded team around an obstacle course without talking – with some pretty hilarious results! However, once the giggles died down, the Guides were quick to draw on the lessons they learnt from the race. Hopefully our trainings will be just as effective in Peru!

Making it to the other side!

The Guides will be completing the badge in the autumn.

If you fancy having a go at the Challenge Badge, either by yourself or with friends or your unit, you can still order badges up to 18 July 2014. 

Lots of GOLD love,

Team Peru