Saturday, August 16, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Congratulations Landon!
Hello Landon community,
This is Ross writing from Peru and I just wanted to say thank you to the Landon students, and also Brett and WLS instructor Jason Hunter, for a wonderful trip. My time spent working witn you was inspirational and I can say you are one of the hardest working and most committed groups I have seen. We will continue to work on the ground here in Chilca to ensure that the guinea pig barn and cafeteria are put to good use. We will update you on the progress of these projects as they continue to take shape and also send an update of how your donations are being used both in the project completion (cages, etc.) and in future maintenance. It was a complete pleasure to work with both the students, parents, faculty and administration of Landon! Thank you again to the Gages for the airport coordination. We will be in touch shortly,
Ross
This is Ross writing from Peru and I just wanted to say thank you to the Landon students, and also Brett and WLS instructor Jason Hunter, for a wonderful trip. My time spent working witn you was inspirational and I can say you are one of the hardest working and most committed groups I have seen. We will continue to work on the ground here in Chilca to ensure that the guinea pig barn and cafeteria are put to good use. We will update you on the progress of these projects as they continue to take shape and also send an update of how your donations are being used both in the project completion (cages, etc.) and in future maintenance. It was a complete pleasure to work with both the students, parents, faculty and administration of Landon! Thank you again to the Gages for the airport coordination. We will be in touch shortly,
Ross
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Chilca Reflections
Well, we have already been in Peru for about two weeks and this is my first blog entry, so I will have a lot to talk about. In short, I am having a really awesome time: my homestay family, the kids on the trip, and are the areas in which we have been traveling are all great.
Our few days in Ollantaytambo were a nice way to ease into Peruvian culture. There I was introduced to coca té (tea from coca leaves), the frog game, and short door frames…ouch. I really enjoyed the shaman’s Despacho, offerings to the earth and mountains. I was completely captivated by the massive “cerros” as the Peruvians call them. “Cerros” translates to “hills”, but the “hills” are much larger than any mountains I am used to seeing. After a few days, I was ready to get out of Ollantaytambo, which is a very touristy town, to see authentic Peru.
Our rafting trip was a lot of fun. We went through some fairly soft but fun rapids, got out and swam down one, threw pounds of seaweed at each other, went down one very big rapid, and jumped off a bridge into the water. Cullen threw Halter off his boat into the water.
We got off the river and took a cool walk for about two hours to get to Chilca. Along the way saw some interesting rural homes and families as well as stunning views of snow-capped Veronica, a roughly 19,000 foot peak.
Chilca has been awesome for me. Unlike a few of the kids on the trip, I can’t get enough of my Peruvian home and Peruvian family, and I think Cullen would say the same. I’m living with a very nice family of six: the parents José and Isabel, their son Alex (age 16), and their three daughters, Nevesca, Eliana, and Graciela Angélica (ages 10, 7, and 4 weeks respectively). Alex is really cool; Cullen and I have spent a lot of time helping and hanging out with him, and the parents are so nice and very funny. José and Isabel constantly (jokingly) pressure Cullen and I to find a Peruvian girlfriend to take back to America, take one of their adorable children back in our luggage, and to learn Quechua. So far we haven’t done any of those things. I think we might be somewhat of a disappointment: according to our Peruvian mother “they don’t know how to do anything but eat and sleep.” We get laughed at a lot.
Our house supports healthy populations of guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, cats, cute children, and one dog. Our family also owns pigs, cattle, and horses; luckily they live outside. They also harvest corn and what looks to be enough wheat to solve the world’s hunger problems.
Our family also operates a store where they sell a lot of grain and beer. Cullen and I have returned from our evening meetings several times to find some of the locals sharing bottles of giant Pilsner beer. They always excitedly invite us to drink with them, insisting on sharing their beer with us. Usually we say “No, drinking is not allowed for us” about fifteen times before they pass out and leave us in peace.
Cullen and I have been fishing with Alex a few times after I expressed my love for trout fishing to them. We usually fish briefly then get distracted or too cold (we wade in the water and use our hands), but one night, on my way to the evening meeting, Sergio, a slightly crazy but very funny 14-year-old friend of Alex’s, stopped me as I passed his house to invite me to fish that night with his cousin and uncle. I returned to his house well after dark and we set out with headlamps and a cast-net. Turns out Sergio’s uncle, Beltrán, is the man: because of the darkness, the fish could not see him or his large net, and after about a half hour he hauled in three beautiful trout. I left early, but they went on to catch five more that night.
Before I get into the amazing overnight hike we finished yesterday, I will briefly summarize Peruvian meals. We have been eating very well. Everything that our family serves is steaming hot, plentiful, and delicious. We eat a lot of rice, potatoes, carrots, corn, fried eggs (laid daily by their hens), fried bananas, and bread. Chicken and beef are the two main meats and we are still waiting to try the guinea pigs. Breakfast always comes with coffee while lunch comes with some sort of juice. Every meal is served with a lot of tea.
Although Chilca has been tons of fun, I thoroughly enjoyed escaping to the Andes for two days on the most amazing hike I’ll probably ever take. Despite the thin air we breathed at up to about 15,000 feet, a mid afternoon snow storm, and sneakers, we managed to trek for about 8 hours up the steep Peruvian Andes to our beautiful campsite about three quarters up a massive “cerro” surrounded my snow caps to spend the night at 13,500 feet and like 20 degrees. I’m almost positive I fell asleep but I can’t be sure. Along the up we saw many funny looking alpacas, a massive and endangered Andean Condor, and absolutely no humans or buildings. On our way down, we passed through some extremely primitive, impoverished, and remote villages located at least a 4 hour hike from any road.
The trip has been just about paradise for me so far. Immersing myself as best I can in the Peruvian life (an opportunity afforded to me by my Spanish studies at Landon) has provided me with an amazing perspective on humanity. I can’t even explain how cool it feels to be out here living this simple but satisfying life that the rural Peruvians live, where lack of material wealth exposes the substance of their sustainable, simple, beautiful, and seemingly incorruptible happiness: strong personal relationships. My family lives less than a half hour walk from about 4 families of aunts, uncles, and cousins. The trust, respect, love that they share is contagious and breeds good emotions. The work ethic and loyalty amongst my Peruvian extended family provide an example to follow, one which will make me a better friend, brother, son, leader, and person if I can manage to remember it when I return to my opposite world. I can’t thank the World Leadership School, Landon, Mr. Mayer, my parents, all the kids on the trip, and my Peruvian family enough for this phenomenal experience.
--Brian Reilly
Hi. We are just finishing our second week in Peru and going into the homestretch. So far the trip has been amazing there has been so much culture to experience and absorb. The people are some of the nicest I have ever met. My homestay family has treated me so nicely. Whether it is the meals, boiling water for me to drink, or just treating me like their own son they have been so nice. They have a 2-year-old daughter named Lucia, who is the cutest little girl in the world, a 10 year old son Daniel who we are teaching English, and playing soccer with, a 16-year-old daughter named Carmen who goes to school in Ollantaytambo. Then 2 older daughters and a 24 year-old-son son who are not around the house that much, I have loved staying with this family so much they are such wonderful people, I am happy we are able to help them out with our service project.
The service project is going great. Today we hope to finish the guinea pig barn which would be awesome. Then tomorrow we would start a cafeteria also for the school. I am really excited to see what this barn will look like when we finish. Lately more towns’ people have come and helped out with the barn which has made the work a little easier and a little faster.
Yesterday we got back from an awesome hike through the Andes. We started at about 10,000 feet and then hiked to about 15,000 feet where we hiked through a snowstorm which was one of the top ten coolest things I have ever done. Then we continued hiking to the camp site (13,500 feet). When we got to the camp site then tents had been set up and then hat hot drinks for us which was so nice. We had a good dinner and then went to sleep. I barely slept at all maybe 10 minutes total, it was tough to breathe in the altitude. The next morning we woke up watch the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. Then ate breakfast, packed up and started our descent back to Ollantaytambo. The whole hike was amazing it was also nice to get a short break and change of pace from Chilca, but I was ready to get back to my homestay after the hike and be in a real bed.
We leave for Aguas Calientes (hot baths) on Saturday morning and then Machu Picchu. I am really excited to go to these places but am sad to leave my wonderful homestay and Chilca. After Manchu Pichu we are off to Cusco and the Pisac market. Then we fly to Lima for a day of sightseeing and then back to the airport for the flight back to America.
--Halter Cunningham
I am writing to you all from Primavera. Last night around 8 o’clock we arrived back to our homes from some relaxation time in Ollantaytambo, and before that a grueling two day hike, most of it at close to 15,000 feet. The first day of the hike started slow because the bus broke down and we didn’t leave until close to 10:30 that day. The first leg of the hike was full of steep and demanding passes that left most exhausted and ready to tank by the time we reached our camp site, around 4. It was first class camping all the way. When we arrived our tents had been set up and the cooks of the trip had already begun preparing food for us. Although I realize that the two entries prior to mine say that they barely slept, like most people, I slept close to perfect and I wasn’t cold at all. I actually started sweating during the night. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise, one of the coolest things of my life and prepared for our descent into Ollantaytambo. The hike back was easy and fun and once we arrived in Ollantaytambo Joaquin allowed us to use his sauna and we had an incredible meal in his restaurant. Although the first leg of the hike was awful and was not fun at all, once I had completed it I had an amazing feeling of accomplishment and it was fully worth it.
The family that Charles Gage and I are staying with is incredible. We don’t see much of the father but he seems like a very nice man. The mother, Rosa, and the 9-year-old, Daisy, are awesome. They couldn’t be nicer or more hospitable. We are in a beautiful valley with amazing views of Mt.Veronica right from our room. The food is all tasty (except for the beets) but completely lacks variation of any kind. One in our household (or any from what I have heard) is guaranteed one bowl of soup daily, and either rice or potatoes in every meal, usually both. The other factor that could cause on to become tired of the food we are served is its over-abundance; the portions are massive beyond belief. Chilca is a incredible place and our family could not be better, but I am definitely ready to move on to the last portion of our trip. Early Saturday morning we’re taking a train to Aguas Calientes for a relaxing day, followed by our day at Machu Picchu. The trip has been great and a ton of fun so far, but at the same time it makes you miss certain aspects of life at home.
The building we are working is a guinea pig breeding barn. It is meant to bring in revenue for the school and to act as a model for the kids who want to do something other than farm. It is a great idea and I really hope that it is a success and that they maintain the business.
--Pat Yarborough
Hola amigos. We arrived in Ollantaytambo yesterday afternoon after our overnight hike. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing in town after a long descent from our campsite. After a week and a half in Chilca, the basic comforts available in Ollantaytambo seemed like paradise. The group divided their time between the internet café and Joaquin’s hostel. At the hostel, we could either use the sauna or just relax in a hammock with a cold Inca Kola. We ate dinner at the hostel’s restaurant, where I had alpaca for the first time. The restaurant was a nice break from the monotonous meals of soup, rice, and potatoes in Chilca, with incredibly large portions of each. After our delicious dinner and dessert, we headed back to our homestays. I welcomed the return to my bed in Chilca after getting little to no sleep the night before at our campsite. With the exception of our alarm going off three hours early this morning, I got a perfect night´s sleep. This morning, after a large breakfast of rice and chicken, with instant coffee to wash it all down, Pat and I headed to the school. As we left the house, our family was already back out in the fields after breakfast. At the school, with the guinea pig barn nearing completion, most of us began to work on the cafeteria, hauling rocks for the foundation.
As our time winds down in Chilca, I’m looking forward to the last leg of the trip. With one night in Aguas Caliente, another in Ollantaytambo, and two more in Cusco, our stay in Peru will be nearing its end. It will be sad to leave our farm in Chilca, with an amazing host family and great mountain vistas, but this experience has definitely made an impact on my view of third world education.
--Charles Gage
Greetings, family and friends. A lot has happened since my last blog; most prominent was the overnight hike 15,000 feet in the Andes mountains here in Peru. The views on the hike were unlike any other I’ve ever witnessed. There have been so many unique and new things I’ve done recently on this trip. Building and seeing sacrifices that ensure the mountain gods provide protection and safety was certainly one of those things. In the middle of the hike, our group had to trek through a hail/snow storm. This made the trail very moist and slippery; therefore, we all had to watch our step even closer than when the sun was out. It was awesome to stand 10 feet away from packs of llama, alpaca, and rams. Also, never before have I ever encountered a condor with a 10 foot wingspan circling over a nearby mountain. The hike was grueling and definitely a good test of both mental and physical strength. Seeing out tents waiting for us after coming around the last bend was one of the best feelings of my life. Our camp was set up on this huge cliff overlooking many mountains and even a glacier. The sunrise in the morning was, again, one of the most unique sights of my life. The hike back wasn’t nearly as tough because it was primarily downhill, as opposed to the previous day was very much an up-and-down journey. Finally stepping foot in Ollantaytambo at the very end of the trip gave me a great feeling of accomplishment.
--Evan Conley
I came on this trip to Peru thinking I would learn the most from the locals in Chilca and also have the most fun with these people. I ended up gaining more wisdom and being the most entertained by the other kids in my group from school. For me, the best part of the trip has been the times when the group is all together. In addition to working together from 8:30 to 1:00 everyday, we also gather at one of the houses around 5:00 every night. During these meetings we discuss how the day went and the plans for later in the week. We also have conversations regarding third world education issues, specifically those of Peru. One night we read Bill Gates’ Harvard commencement speech, in which he says that during his time at Harvard global education problems were unknown to students in the U.S., but now that the class of 2007 is conscious of the world around them, it is their moral duty to solve the problems. Gates’ entire speech fit in very well with what we are trying to do here in Peru, and it is from conversations like these in which I am able to learn a tremendous amount about the purpose of our service work. But for as much time that we spend being serious, at least four times as much time is spent joking around with each other (not to mention the jokes thrown in during serious times). After our meetings we try to play as many rounds of Mafia as possible and also just hang out around the house. It is because of those times that we have been able to bond and get to know one another extremely well. So, the point of me writing this blog is to tell you that the most memorable and important experiences don’t necessarily come from time spent with your host family or from the places you visit, but from all the fun time you spend with the other kids and leaders in your group.
--Jack Feely
Our days in Chilca are winding down and we have been working hard to get the roof of the guinea pig barn done. Since that project will be finished by the end of the day, we began laying down the foundation for the next project, a cafeteria. Though we will not be able to complete this project in our last couple of days here, we want to put our time to use and get a good start on what seems to be a necessary part to their school. Even though the two weeks we spent in the rural valley of Chilca have been enjoyable and very peaceful, I think everyone is about ready to move on to the final week of our trip. I am really looking forward to our travels to both the hot springs and Macchu Picchu following our last day here. I’m really glad I got a chance to go on this trip and hopefully make a strong lasting impression on the people of this village.
--Ethan Joseph
Although I miss Bethesda , when I woke up this morning I realized how peaceful it is here in Chilka. After eating breakfast , consisting of coffee, bread, rice and eggs, we went to the school at 830 to finish up our project. Everyone has put a great amount of effort into this project; moreover, we have hauled near to 1000 adobe bricks from the valley up to the school grounds, which helped us put around 8 layers of brick on the guinipig house. When I hopped down off the roof today, I looked at our almost finished project, a feeling of pride struck me; Pride in the fact that we have given up three weeks of summer to go to Peru with a set goal, and we have almost met that goal and even started to work on a cafeteria. I do not regret coming to chilka and living a different life for two weeks. Thanks to the world leadership school and Ross’s hard work it was all possible.
--Matt Morrison
I sat in on an hour long social studies class in Chilcas local high school. I entered excited, ready to brainstorm solutions to the educational problems I inevitably would witness. I left depressed and overwhelmed, a once optimist eager to help was now plagued by the intangible problems of the system. If solely a lack of resources was the issue, then the solution would be simple. The quandary, however, was that of a teacher who read directly from a guide-sheet throughout the entirety of the lesson, and students who were expected to do nothing more than take notes for wrote memory. The outcome was as expected, some students could maintain concentration for the first fifteen minutes, but most were unengaged the entire time. We cannot change a system. All we can do is aid in the direct (donation) and indirect (building of barn which will increase monthly revenue) advancement of resources. In doing so, we hope that more textbooks and possibly internet access will do something to address the more complex problems of inattentiveness and lack of motivation. I keep my fingers crossed, but I am not so sure.
--Ben Sandalow
Hello Landon Bears Community. This is my second blog entry, the first of which, traditional in nature, Ross misplaced. Thus I had to verbally give to him via Nextel direct connect. For this reason, and seeing as we are all blogging today, I am going to mix up the format a bit to keep things interesting. Conley doesn’t like soup. Or hot drinks. Too bad for him, because they are, along with either rice or potatoes are a staple at meal time. Matt and Jack are living together and have enjoyed the company of there 10 and 8 year old younger brothers. A favorite activity is playing cars at 6:30 am. Halter has made friends with a chicken at our homestay. She laid an egg on his bed three days running. Many were amused. Halter was least amused. Ben got really sick. Ethan and I got kind of sick. A lot of people are sick of rice and potatoes, so we talk about delicious Landon lunches during work breaks. Brett jumped of the bridge, about 30 ft, without testing the depth of the water. The water looks nice but he came out with brown stuff on his face. He showered after; Morrison still hasn’t. We have enjoyed many games of Mafia. Reilly loves to narrate and does a wonderful job. Conley can’t lie and Jack is very talented. Gage seems to get eliminated first or second every game. Jason has been a great trip leader, though he thinks Rex Grossman is a good quarterback. He felt bamboozled when Jauquin took us way up hill on day two of the hike to see pre Incan ruins. He said he had seen many before and wished he was down in the valley with the mules. Cullen has sometimes acted like a pack animal. In all seriousness though, he has worked hard on the job site and is picking up some Spanish. His month long beard is coming in nicely and is darker than his hair. Yarborough has remained even keeled most of the trip. He did get fired up at some members of the group on the hike though. He was not alone in this way, and some sang Landon Forever to remain calm. He is also the only one who has a cool sun hat. Conley and Jack got conned by Ross into buying touristy imitations. Many have spent many minutes on the phone to home. We hear all is well in the Northern Hemisphere. We have all had a great time in Chilca and are looking forward to our remaining days here in Peru.
--Conor Cassidy
Our few days in Ollantaytambo were a nice way to ease into Peruvian culture. There I was introduced to coca té (tea from coca leaves), the frog game, and short door frames…ouch. I really enjoyed the shaman’s Despacho, offerings to the earth and mountains. I was completely captivated by the massive “cerros” as the Peruvians call them. “Cerros” translates to “hills”, but the “hills” are much larger than any mountains I am used to seeing. After a few days, I was ready to get out of Ollantaytambo, which is a very touristy town, to see authentic Peru.
Our rafting trip was a lot of fun. We went through some fairly soft but fun rapids, got out and swam down one, threw pounds of seaweed at each other, went down one very big rapid, and jumped off a bridge into the water. Cullen threw Halter off his boat into the water.
We got off the river and took a cool walk for about two hours to get to Chilca. Along the way saw some interesting rural homes and families as well as stunning views of snow-capped Veronica, a roughly 19,000 foot peak.
Chilca has been awesome for me. Unlike a few of the kids on the trip, I can’t get enough of my Peruvian home and Peruvian family, and I think Cullen would say the same. I’m living with a very nice family of six: the parents José and Isabel, their son Alex (age 16), and their three daughters, Nevesca, Eliana, and Graciela Angélica (ages 10, 7, and 4 weeks respectively). Alex is really cool; Cullen and I have spent a lot of time helping and hanging out with him, and the parents are so nice and very funny. José and Isabel constantly (jokingly) pressure Cullen and I to find a Peruvian girlfriend to take back to America, take one of their adorable children back in our luggage, and to learn Quechua. So far we haven’t done any of those things. I think we might be somewhat of a disappointment: according to our Peruvian mother “they don’t know how to do anything but eat and sleep.” We get laughed at a lot.
Our house supports healthy populations of guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, cats, cute children, and one dog. Our family also owns pigs, cattle, and horses; luckily they live outside. They also harvest corn and what looks to be enough wheat to solve the world’s hunger problems.
Our family also operates a store where they sell a lot of grain and beer. Cullen and I have returned from our evening meetings several times to find some of the locals sharing bottles of giant Pilsner beer. They always excitedly invite us to drink with them, insisting on sharing their beer with us. Usually we say “No, drinking is not allowed for us” about fifteen times before they pass out and leave us in peace.
Cullen and I have been fishing with Alex a few times after I expressed my love for trout fishing to them. We usually fish briefly then get distracted or too cold (we wade in the water and use our hands), but one night, on my way to the evening meeting, Sergio, a slightly crazy but very funny 14-year-old friend of Alex’s, stopped me as I passed his house to invite me to fish that night with his cousin and uncle. I returned to his house well after dark and we set out with headlamps and a cast-net. Turns out Sergio’s uncle, Beltrán, is the man: because of the darkness, the fish could not see him or his large net, and after about a half hour he hauled in three beautiful trout. I left early, but they went on to catch five more that night.
Before I get into the amazing overnight hike we finished yesterday, I will briefly summarize Peruvian meals. We have been eating very well. Everything that our family serves is steaming hot, plentiful, and delicious. We eat a lot of rice, potatoes, carrots, corn, fried eggs (laid daily by their hens), fried bananas, and bread. Chicken and beef are the two main meats and we are still waiting to try the guinea pigs. Breakfast always comes with coffee while lunch comes with some sort of juice. Every meal is served with a lot of tea.
Although Chilca has been tons of fun, I thoroughly enjoyed escaping to the Andes for two days on the most amazing hike I’ll probably ever take. Despite the thin air we breathed at up to about 15,000 feet, a mid afternoon snow storm, and sneakers, we managed to trek for about 8 hours up the steep Peruvian Andes to our beautiful campsite about three quarters up a massive “cerro” surrounded my snow caps to spend the night at 13,500 feet and like 20 degrees. I’m almost positive I fell asleep but I can’t be sure. Along the up we saw many funny looking alpacas, a massive and endangered Andean Condor, and absolutely no humans or buildings. On our way down, we passed through some extremely primitive, impoverished, and remote villages located at least a 4 hour hike from any road.
The trip has been just about paradise for me so far. Immersing myself as best I can in the Peruvian life (an opportunity afforded to me by my Spanish studies at Landon) has provided me with an amazing perspective on humanity. I can’t even explain how cool it feels to be out here living this simple but satisfying life that the rural Peruvians live, where lack of material wealth exposes the substance of their sustainable, simple, beautiful, and seemingly incorruptible happiness: strong personal relationships. My family lives less than a half hour walk from about 4 families of aunts, uncles, and cousins. The trust, respect, love that they share is contagious and breeds good emotions. The work ethic and loyalty amongst my Peruvian extended family provide an example to follow, one which will make me a better friend, brother, son, leader, and person if I can manage to remember it when I return to my opposite world. I can’t thank the World Leadership School, Landon, Mr. Mayer, my parents, all the kids on the trip, and my Peruvian family enough for this phenomenal experience.
--Brian Reilly
Hi. We are just finishing our second week in Peru and going into the homestretch. So far the trip has been amazing there has been so much culture to experience and absorb. The people are some of the nicest I have ever met. My homestay family has treated me so nicely. Whether it is the meals, boiling water for me to drink, or just treating me like their own son they have been so nice. They have a 2-year-old daughter named Lucia, who is the cutest little girl in the world, a 10 year old son Daniel who we are teaching English, and playing soccer with, a 16-year-old daughter named Carmen who goes to school in Ollantaytambo. Then 2 older daughters and a 24 year-old-son son who are not around the house that much, I have loved staying with this family so much they are such wonderful people, I am happy we are able to help them out with our service project.
The service project is going great. Today we hope to finish the guinea pig barn which would be awesome. Then tomorrow we would start a cafeteria also for the school. I am really excited to see what this barn will look like when we finish. Lately more towns’ people have come and helped out with the barn which has made the work a little easier and a little faster.
Yesterday we got back from an awesome hike through the Andes. We started at about 10,000 feet and then hiked to about 15,000 feet where we hiked through a snowstorm which was one of the top ten coolest things I have ever done. Then we continued hiking to the camp site (13,500 feet). When we got to the camp site then tents had been set up and then hat hot drinks for us which was so nice. We had a good dinner and then went to sleep. I barely slept at all maybe 10 minutes total, it was tough to breathe in the altitude. The next morning we woke up watch the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. Then ate breakfast, packed up and started our descent back to Ollantaytambo. The whole hike was amazing it was also nice to get a short break and change of pace from Chilca, but I was ready to get back to my homestay after the hike and be in a real bed.
We leave for Aguas Calientes (hot baths) on Saturday morning and then Machu Picchu. I am really excited to go to these places but am sad to leave my wonderful homestay and Chilca. After Manchu Pichu we are off to Cusco and the Pisac market. Then we fly to Lima for a day of sightseeing and then back to the airport for the flight back to America.
--Halter Cunningham
I am writing to you all from Primavera. Last night around 8 o’clock we arrived back to our homes from some relaxation time in Ollantaytambo, and before that a grueling two day hike, most of it at close to 15,000 feet. The first day of the hike started slow because the bus broke down and we didn’t leave until close to 10:30 that day. The first leg of the hike was full of steep and demanding passes that left most exhausted and ready to tank by the time we reached our camp site, around 4. It was first class camping all the way. When we arrived our tents had been set up and the cooks of the trip had already begun preparing food for us. Although I realize that the two entries prior to mine say that they barely slept, like most people, I slept close to perfect and I wasn’t cold at all. I actually started sweating during the night. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise, one of the coolest things of my life and prepared for our descent into Ollantaytambo. The hike back was easy and fun and once we arrived in Ollantaytambo Joaquin allowed us to use his sauna and we had an incredible meal in his restaurant. Although the first leg of the hike was awful and was not fun at all, once I had completed it I had an amazing feeling of accomplishment and it was fully worth it.
The family that Charles Gage and I are staying with is incredible. We don’t see much of the father but he seems like a very nice man. The mother, Rosa, and the 9-year-old, Daisy, are awesome. They couldn’t be nicer or more hospitable. We are in a beautiful valley with amazing views of Mt.Veronica right from our room. The food is all tasty (except for the beets) but completely lacks variation of any kind. One in our household (or any from what I have heard) is guaranteed one bowl of soup daily, and either rice or potatoes in every meal, usually both. The other factor that could cause on to become tired of the food we are served is its over-abundance; the portions are massive beyond belief. Chilca is a incredible place and our family could not be better, but I am definitely ready to move on to the last portion of our trip. Early Saturday morning we’re taking a train to Aguas Calientes for a relaxing day, followed by our day at Machu Picchu. The trip has been great and a ton of fun so far, but at the same time it makes you miss certain aspects of life at home.
The building we are working is a guinea pig breeding barn. It is meant to bring in revenue for the school and to act as a model for the kids who want to do something other than farm. It is a great idea and I really hope that it is a success and that they maintain the business.
--Pat Yarborough
Hola amigos. We arrived in Ollantaytambo yesterday afternoon after our overnight hike. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing in town after a long descent from our campsite. After a week and a half in Chilca, the basic comforts available in Ollantaytambo seemed like paradise. The group divided their time between the internet café and Joaquin’s hostel. At the hostel, we could either use the sauna or just relax in a hammock with a cold Inca Kola. We ate dinner at the hostel’s restaurant, where I had alpaca for the first time. The restaurant was a nice break from the monotonous meals of soup, rice, and potatoes in Chilca, with incredibly large portions of each. After our delicious dinner and dessert, we headed back to our homestays. I welcomed the return to my bed in Chilca after getting little to no sleep the night before at our campsite. With the exception of our alarm going off three hours early this morning, I got a perfect night´s sleep. This morning, after a large breakfast of rice and chicken, with instant coffee to wash it all down, Pat and I headed to the school. As we left the house, our family was already back out in the fields after breakfast. At the school, with the guinea pig barn nearing completion, most of us began to work on the cafeteria, hauling rocks for the foundation.
As our time winds down in Chilca, I’m looking forward to the last leg of the trip. With one night in Aguas Caliente, another in Ollantaytambo, and two more in Cusco, our stay in Peru will be nearing its end. It will be sad to leave our farm in Chilca, with an amazing host family and great mountain vistas, but this experience has definitely made an impact on my view of third world education.
--Charles Gage
Greetings, family and friends. A lot has happened since my last blog; most prominent was the overnight hike 15,000 feet in the Andes mountains here in Peru. The views on the hike were unlike any other I’ve ever witnessed. There have been so many unique and new things I’ve done recently on this trip. Building and seeing sacrifices that ensure the mountain gods provide protection and safety was certainly one of those things. In the middle of the hike, our group had to trek through a hail/snow storm. This made the trail very moist and slippery; therefore, we all had to watch our step even closer than when the sun was out. It was awesome to stand 10 feet away from packs of llama, alpaca, and rams. Also, never before have I ever encountered a condor with a 10 foot wingspan circling over a nearby mountain. The hike was grueling and definitely a good test of both mental and physical strength. Seeing out tents waiting for us after coming around the last bend was one of the best feelings of my life. Our camp was set up on this huge cliff overlooking many mountains and even a glacier. The sunrise in the morning was, again, one of the most unique sights of my life. The hike back wasn’t nearly as tough because it was primarily downhill, as opposed to the previous day was very much an up-and-down journey. Finally stepping foot in Ollantaytambo at the very end of the trip gave me a great feeling of accomplishment.
--Evan Conley
I came on this trip to Peru thinking I would learn the most from the locals in Chilca and also have the most fun with these people. I ended up gaining more wisdom and being the most entertained by the other kids in my group from school. For me, the best part of the trip has been the times when the group is all together. In addition to working together from 8:30 to 1:00 everyday, we also gather at one of the houses around 5:00 every night. During these meetings we discuss how the day went and the plans for later in the week. We also have conversations regarding third world education issues, specifically those of Peru. One night we read Bill Gates’ Harvard commencement speech, in which he says that during his time at Harvard global education problems were unknown to students in the U.S., but now that the class of 2007 is conscious of the world around them, it is their moral duty to solve the problems. Gates’ entire speech fit in very well with what we are trying to do here in Peru, and it is from conversations like these in which I am able to learn a tremendous amount about the purpose of our service work. But for as much time that we spend being serious, at least four times as much time is spent joking around with each other (not to mention the jokes thrown in during serious times). After our meetings we try to play as many rounds of Mafia as possible and also just hang out around the house. It is because of those times that we have been able to bond and get to know one another extremely well. So, the point of me writing this blog is to tell you that the most memorable and important experiences don’t necessarily come from time spent with your host family or from the places you visit, but from all the fun time you spend with the other kids and leaders in your group.
--Jack Feely
Our days in Chilca are winding down and we have been working hard to get the roof of the guinea pig barn done. Since that project will be finished by the end of the day, we began laying down the foundation for the next project, a cafeteria. Though we will not be able to complete this project in our last couple of days here, we want to put our time to use and get a good start on what seems to be a necessary part to their school. Even though the two weeks we spent in the rural valley of Chilca have been enjoyable and very peaceful, I think everyone is about ready to move on to the final week of our trip. I am really looking forward to our travels to both the hot springs and Macchu Picchu following our last day here. I’m really glad I got a chance to go on this trip and hopefully make a strong lasting impression on the people of this village.
--Ethan Joseph
Although I miss Bethesda , when I woke up this morning I realized how peaceful it is here in Chilka. After eating breakfast , consisting of coffee, bread, rice and eggs, we went to the school at 830 to finish up our project. Everyone has put a great amount of effort into this project; moreover, we have hauled near to 1000 adobe bricks from the valley up to the school grounds, which helped us put around 8 layers of brick on the guinipig house. When I hopped down off the roof today, I looked at our almost finished project, a feeling of pride struck me; Pride in the fact that we have given up three weeks of summer to go to Peru with a set goal, and we have almost met that goal and even started to work on a cafeteria. I do not regret coming to chilka and living a different life for two weeks. Thanks to the world leadership school and Ross’s hard work it was all possible.
--Matt Morrison
I sat in on an hour long social studies class in Chilcas local high school. I entered excited, ready to brainstorm solutions to the educational problems I inevitably would witness. I left depressed and overwhelmed, a once optimist eager to help was now plagued by the intangible problems of the system. If solely a lack of resources was the issue, then the solution would be simple. The quandary, however, was that of a teacher who read directly from a guide-sheet throughout the entirety of the lesson, and students who were expected to do nothing more than take notes for wrote memory. The outcome was as expected, some students could maintain concentration for the first fifteen minutes, but most were unengaged the entire time. We cannot change a system. All we can do is aid in the direct (donation) and indirect (building of barn which will increase monthly revenue) advancement of resources. In doing so, we hope that more textbooks and possibly internet access will do something to address the more complex problems of inattentiveness and lack of motivation. I keep my fingers crossed, but I am not so sure.
--Ben Sandalow
Hello Landon Bears Community. This is my second blog entry, the first of which, traditional in nature, Ross misplaced. Thus I had to verbally give to him via Nextel direct connect. For this reason, and seeing as we are all blogging today, I am going to mix up the format a bit to keep things interesting. Conley doesn’t like soup. Or hot drinks. Too bad for him, because they are, along with either rice or potatoes are a staple at meal time. Matt and Jack are living together and have enjoyed the company of there 10 and 8 year old younger brothers. A favorite activity is playing cars at 6:30 am. Halter has made friends with a chicken at our homestay. She laid an egg on his bed three days running. Many were amused. Halter was least amused. Ben got really sick. Ethan and I got kind of sick. A lot of people are sick of rice and potatoes, so we talk about delicious Landon lunches during work breaks. Brett jumped of the bridge, about 30 ft, without testing the depth of the water. The water looks nice but he came out with brown stuff on his face. He showered after; Morrison still hasn’t. We have enjoyed many games of Mafia. Reilly loves to narrate and does a wonderful job. Conley can’t lie and Jack is very talented. Gage seems to get eliminated first or second every game. Jason has been a great trip leader, though he thinks Rex Grossman is a good quarterback. He felt bamboozled when Jauquin took us way up hill on day two of the hike to see pre Incan ruins. He said he had seen many before and wished he was down in the valley with the mules. Cullen has sometimes acted like a pack animal. In all seriousness though, he has worked hard on the job site and is picking up some Spanish. His month long beard is coming in nicely and is darker than his hair. Yarborough has remained even keeled most of the trip. He did get fired up at some members of the group on the hike though. He was not alone in this way, and some sang Landon Forever to remain calm. He is also the only one who has a cool sun hat. Conley and Jack got conned by Ross into buying touristy imitations. Many have spent many minutes on the phone to home. We hear all is well in the Northern Hemisphere. We have all had a great time in Chilca and are looking forward to our remaining days here in Peru.
--Conor Cassidy
Monday, August 4, 2008
going camping
Quick update from Chilca. The GP barn is almost finished, all that is left to do is put on the tiles and fill it up with animals. The boys have been working hard and their spanish has come along great. We are about to take off on an overnight hike. We will be hiking at about 13,000 feet and spending the night around a very traditional village. We are all enjoying our time in Chilca, the families have been wonderful, and the food has been great.
Once we return we will be in Chilca for three more days and then Machu Pichu. The time has flown by and I have loved working with this group of guys. They are a wonderful bunch who have made me feel right at home.
We will blog some more after our hike,
Hope all is well in the states.
Jason
Once we return we will be in Chilca for three more days and then Machu Pichu. The time has flown by and I have loved working with this group of guys. They are a wonderful bunch who have made me feel right at home.
We will blog some more after our hike,
Hope all is well in the states.
Jason
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tessellate
We hauled adobe bricks in the hot morning sun. I drifted into far away places and childhood memories as I picked each brick off the damp green grass. I thought of the time I stood on an old weathered wooden dock fishing for sunfish and bass with my friend Justin. We were about ten years old. I was tying a knot on the end of my fishing line, and took out my friend Glen’s knife to cut the excess line. The knife had a smooth handle that looked and felt like bone. The blade was sharp. I cut the end of the line and held the knife in my hand, the blade glistening in the afternoon sun. The lake water rippled in a calm summer breeze, and the leaves of the oaks twisted in apprehension of the rise of an afternoon storm. “Throw it in the water,” the words cut the silence and peace of an afternoon intended to be about fishing.
I stood there holding the knife, pondering Justin’s request. He giggled in delight at the thought of the knife drifting through the cool black waters and resting on the bottom in a shallow muddy grave. My head was steady and the knife lay gently in my palm. I asked him if he thought I should really do it. His response was wild and inviting, invoked by thoughts of the laughter we would achieve by hurling the knife into the watery abyss. I stood there stoically, a statue of stone, resilient in his long years of staring into the eternal space of time. I could feel the sun pressed against my darkened skin, the wind blowing my hair across the sweat of my brow.
My fist clenched the knife, the grit of my palm pressed into the bone white handle. In one swift motion my hand dropped back, my body turned and hurled forward, the point of the knife whistling through the air, a warrior with no cause. My hand released. The knife twisted into outer space and an irreconcilable moment of youth. The point pierced the black surface and in an instant began its descent into the shadowy depths. An echo of thunder pierced the air, and rain clouds were fast approaching. I stared into the depths contemplating my illicit deed of deceit. Justin’s laughter filled the air with a hollow dissatisfaction. There was no laughter that echoed from my belly, just an empty box, once filled with the trust of childhood friends.
I turned around and took a step toward the lakeshore. The clap of thunder reverberated in the distance, and the smile of the afternoon sun melted in the rain and the rise of the wind. The pedals on my bike were covered with a thin layer of rust. I held my fishing pole in my right hand and began to the journey home. We took the short cut through the tunnel, the mellow yellow lights casting shadows on the silver metal tube. The rain dripped from the leaves and bright white bolts of lightning illuminated the dark sky. I rounded the last curve in the road and rolled down the last steep hill where my house sat at the bottom.
The smell of fresh cut grass filled the air. I leaned my blue bike against the red garage door. I pulled open the screen door and walked inside. I looked at my mother, her bright smile stretched across her face, and my lip began to quiver. The tears rolled down my face, and I paid the price of my actions with biting guilt.
I woke up this morning thinking about my life back home, friends, and family. As far as childhood friends go, we made up through a short game of basketball, and remain good friends today. Still, the memory sticks with me, and every so often I think back to that afternoon on the lake, the colors and smells still as strong as they were when I was ten.
Every brick cut a little deeper and wore into my forearms leaving the imprint of a new memory. Three of us stood atop the walls of the structure, filling buckets of mud, and spackling the cracks between layers. The rest of us passed the large mud bricks in a line, slowly building a stockpile of bricks that will eventually be used to begin the cafeteria.
That afternoon I took a walk with Connor. We hiked about a thousand vertical feet and a mile or two into a valley previously unseen from our vantage point of the school. We talked about our families, life back home, and where we thought our lives might be heading. We wandered in the unknown of a valley previously unseen and stopped short, knowing this time, we eventually had to return back to meet the group. All of us are looking for something. All of us came to Peru for different reasons. I believe all people ultimately spend most of their lives looking for some sense of home, a sense of place, and of purpose. Perhaps our time here may shed some light on what haunts us most.
All of us are faced with choices in life, and our actions at many times have unforeseen consequences, perhaps some that we may not see or understand until many years later. As we stand together and lift mud bricks from fields of grass beneath mountain gods and the hot Andean sun, I can only hope that whatever these eleven individuals think of this experience now, it will impact them in invaluable ways in years to come.
...Brett Mayer-Aschhoff
I stood there holding the knife, pondering Justin’s request. He giggled in delight at the thought of the knife drifting through the cool black waters and resting on the bottom in a shallow muddy grave. My head was steady and the knife lay gently in my palm. I asked him if he thought I should really do it. His response was wild and inviting, invoked by thoughts of the laughter we would achieve by hurling the knife into the watery abyss. I stood there stoically, a statue of stone, resilient in his long years of staring into the eternal space of time. I could feel the sun pressed against my darkened skin, the wind blowing my hair across the sweat of my brow.
My fist clenched the knife, the grit of my palm pressed into the bone white handle. In one swift motion my hand dropped back, my body turned and hurled forward, the point of the knife whistling through the air, a warrior with no cause. My hand released. The knife twisted into outer space and an irreconcilable moment of youth. The point pierced the black surface and in an instant began its descent into the shadowy depths. An echo of thunder pierced the air, and rain clouds were fast approaching. I stared into the depths contemplating my illicit deed of deceit. Justin’s laughter filled the air with a hollow dissatisfaction. There was no laughter that echoed from my belly, just an empty box, once filled with the trust of childhood friends.
I turned around and took a step toward the lakeshore. The clap of thunder reverberated in the distance, and the smile of the afternoon sun melted in the rain and the rise of the wind. The pedals on my bike were covered with a thin layer of rust. I held my fishing pole in my right hand and began to the journey home. We took the short cut through the tunnel, the mellow yellow lights casting shadows on the silver metal tube. The rain dripped from the leaves and bright white bolts of lightning illuminated the dark sky. I rounded the last curve in the road and rolled down the last steep hill where my house sat at the bottom.
The smell of fresh cut grass filled the air. I leaned my blue bike against the red garage door. I pulled open the screen door and walked inside. I looked at my mother, her bright smile stretched across her face, and my lip began to quiver. The tears rolled down my face, and I paid the price of my actions with biting guilt.
I woke up this morning thinking about my life back home, friends, and family. As far as childhood friends go, we made up through a short game of basketball, and remain good friends today. Still, the memory sticks with me, and every so often I think back to that afternoon on the lake, the colors and smells still as strong as they were when I was ten.
Every brick cut a little deeper and wore into my forearms leaving the imprint of a new memory. Three of us stood atop the walls of the structure, filling buckets of mud, and spackling the cracks between layers. The rest of us passed the large mud bricks in a line, slowly building a stockpile of bricks that will eventually be used to begin the cafeteria.
That afternoon I took a walk with Connor. We hiked about a thousand vertical feet and a mile or two into a valley previously unseen from our vantage point of the school. We talked about our families, life back home, and where we thought our lives might be heading. We wandered in the unknown of a valley previously unseen and stopped short, knowing this time, we eventually had to return back to meet the group. All of us are looking for something. All of us came to Peru for different reasons. I believe all people ultimately spend most of their lives looking for some sense of home, a sense of place, and of purpose. Perhaps our time here may shed some light on what haunts us most.
All of us are faced with choices in life, and our actions at many times have unforeseen consequences, perhaps some that we may not see or understand until many years later. As we stand together and lift mud bricks from fields of grass beneath mountain gods and the hot Andean sun, I can only hope that whatever these eleven individuals think of this experience now, it will impact them in invaluable ways in years to come.
...Brett Mayer-Aschhoff
A Different Time and Space
Yesterday we arrived in Chilca. In the morning we set out for the Urubamba River. I finally got my chance to kayak in Peru. Although the whitewater is nowhere near the quality of the Apurimac, the trip down the Urubamba was perhaps the most scenic river I have ever paddled. There were also two quality rapids, one which included a big fifteen foot near vertical drop, where I tucked up, went super deep, and then torpedoed to the surface. Soon thereafter, we pulled off to the side of the river, ate some lunch, and played a series of games introduced to the group by the raft guides. We played a little dizzy paddle, (hold the paddle, look up at the sky, and spin in a circle twenty times as fast as you can). I raced Matt, and much to the chagrin of the crowd, we toppled immediately, and barely managed to stagger out and back to the finish. The Cassidy brothers went next, and in true style, dropped their paddles and went in completely opposite directions. Connor was headed straight for the river bank, but was stopped dead in his tracks by a small tree. He ended up with a few minor cuts and bruises on his shoulder, and we all had a great laugh.
I paddled the rest of the way to Chilca, another four or five kilometers, while the group walked alongside the river bank. The hike in to Chilca offered the guys a great perspective of life in the countryside, as they strolled through fields of potatoes, quinoa, and plenty of livestock. Ben and Cullen were inspired by the mountains and the moment, and decided to trail run all the way to town. The mountains loomed over the valley, like sentinels on watch, offering a sense of protection and at the same time a burgeoning curiosity. I floated quietly along the banks, feeling the sense stretch across my back, while listening to the wind whip through the reeds lining the shore.
I stopped for a few moments to talk to a young woman with three pigs drinking from the river. She informed me that Chilca was just two more towns down river. I was not exactly sure where Chilca was, and figured I would know when I arrived. I drifted along staring at the giant white clouds, and my thoughts were soon interrupted by the whistle of the train. I turned to look, and at the same moment I saw the sign for Chilca, a fortuitous moment indeed.
The bridge appeared in the distance as I heard the rumble of the last rapid. I looked up and saw ten children standing on the bridge, some with bikes, others carrying soccer balls. They yelled out and asked me what I was doing on the river. I smiled and said, well, I am coming to live in your town. They ran up and down the bridge pointing to the spot where I could get out of my boat and climb ashore. I noticed Ross on the far side of the river, taking a few photographs of the whole moment.
Joaquin waited with his truck. We loaded the kayak and gear. They introduced me to my host family. Jason and I are staying in an abandoned hostel behind the family home. The Inca trail use to begin in Chilca, but in recent years the trailhead has moved further down the valley. There is little use for the hostel now, but the building is still in great shape and equipped with beds and showers. The mother has dark weathered skin, beautiful black hair, and looks very healthy for her age. Her children were visiting from Cusco for the holiday weekend. Her two daughters brought their two young babies, one almost a year, and the other just two months old. We all conversed for a bit, talking about our trip, and their plans for la dia de independencia.
The mother is the only one in the house for most of our stay, along with the grandmother. The father of our host family passed away many years ago. The grandmother is senile, and is constantly filled with laughter. Her eyes have a deep complexity, and offer an immediate sense that her mind exists only partially in our reality. In the presence of old age she is slipping into a time and space quite different from our own.
The food is incredible. The difference between our culinary lives in Chilca and those at home is quite outstanding. In most of the homes in Chilca there are chickens, pigs, roosters, guinea pigs, and family gardens. The whole process is quite sustainable and the origins of our food are immediately evident. The cuisine is intense, flavorful, and everything is prepared fresh by hand. In our house we dined on fried chicken, and upon a quick visit to another homestay we noticed they were eating fresh trout. The Urubamba is full of delicious trout.
This morning I woke up at seven o’clock and headed in for breakfast, an incredible omelet. The foreman was arriving around eight o’clock at the work site. Our first order of business was to finish the guinea pig pen that the last group started. All the guys seemed to truly enjoy their first night with their families, ate very well, and were already making fast friends with the all the little kids in town. We started hauling adobe bricks, lying in bottom land about ten meters below the guinea pig structure. I imagine many were not expecting the work to be so difficult, but it truly challenging labor. The adobe bricks are quite heavy and coarse to the touch. All thirteen of us started a long assembly line passing the bricks after walking short distances. In a matter of hours we moved a significant amount of adobe bricks and it was evident guys were beginning to tire. I was truly proud as we passed the large mud bricks along the line, reflecting on the many months of preparation, work, and anticipation proceeding this first moment of hard labor.
We stopped for a quick break around noon before beginning work on the actual foundation. The foreman created a nice batch of mud used for the mortar. Matt and I took off our shoes, hopped in the middle of the mud pit, and began to fill buckets full of mud. We laid the mortar, stacked the adobe, and began to add another layer to the structure. It was one o’clock before we knew it, and time for some lunch. We all returned back to our families for a brief respite from work.
It seems a lifetime since I left my home, and as I travel farther and farther into the depths of Peru, and the heart of the Sacred Valley, I am only beginning to understand the complexities of the intersection of my own thoughts, hopes, dreams, and ideas with those of a people who exist in a very different time and space.
...Brett Mayer-Aschhoff
I paddled the rest of the way to Chilca, another four or five kilometers, while the group walked alongside the river bank. The hike in to Chilca offered the guys a great perspective of life in the countryside, as they strolled through fields of potatoes, quinoa, and plenty of livestock. Ben and Cullen were inspired by the mountains and the moment, and decided to trail run all the way to town. The mountains loomed over the valley, like sentinels on watch, offering a sense of protection and at the same time a burgeoning curiosity. I floated quietly along the banks, feeling the sense stretch across my back, while listening to the wind whip through the reeds lining the shore.
I stopped for a few moments to talk to a young woman with three pigs drinking from the river. She informed me that Chilca was just two more towns down river. I was not exactly sure where Chilca was, and figured I would know when I arrived. I drifted along staring at the giant white clouds, and my thoughts were soon interrupted by the whistle of the train. I turned to look, and at the same moment I saw the sign for Chilca, a fortuitous moment indeed.
The bridge appeared in the distance as I heard the rumble of the last rapid. I looked up and saw ten children standing on the bridge, some with bikes, others carrying soccer balls. They yelled out and asked me what I was doing on the river. I smiled and said, well, I am coming to live in your town. They ran up and down the bridge pointing to the spot where I could get out of my boat and climb ashore. I noticed Ross on the far side of the river, taking a few photographs of the whole moment.
Joaquin waited with his truck. We loaded the kayak and gear. They introduced me to my host family. Jason and I are staying in an abandoned hostel behind the family home. The Inca trail use to begin in Chilca, but in recent years the trailhead has moved further down the valley. There is little use for the hostel now, but the building is still in great shape and equipped with beds and showers. The mother has dark weathered skin, beautiful black hair, and looks very healthy for her age. Her children were visiting from Cusco for the holiday weekend. Her two daughters brought their two young babies, one almost a year, and the other just two months old. We all conversed for a bit, talking about our trip, and their plans for la dia de independencia.
The mother is the only one in the house for most of our stay, along with the grandmother. The father of our host family passed away many years ago. The grandmother is senile, and is constantly filled with laughter. Her eyes have a deep complexity, and offer an immediate sense that her mind exists only partially in our reality. In the presence of old age she is slipping into a time and space quite different from our own.
The food is incredible. The difference between our culinary lives in Chilca and those at home is quite outstanding. In most of the homes in Chilca there are chickens, pigs, roosters, guinea pigs, and family gardens. The whole process is quite sustainable and the origins of our food are immediately evident. The cuisine is intense, flavorful, and everything is prepared fresh by hand. In our house we dined on fried chicken, and upon a quick visit to another homestay we noticed they were eating fresh trout. The Urubamba is full of delicious trout.
This morning I woke up at seven o’clock and headed in for breakfast, an incredible omelet. The foreman was arriving around eight o’clock at the work site. Our first order of business was to finish the guinea pig pen that the last group started. All the guys seemed to truly enjoy their first night with their families, ate very well, and were already making fast friends with the all the little kids in town. We started hauling adobe bricks, lying in bottom land about ten meters below the guinea pig structure. I imagine many were not expecting the work to be so difficult, but it truly challenging labor. The adobe bricks are quite heavy and coarse to the touch. All thirteen of us started a long assembly line passing the bricks after walking short distances. In a matter of hours we moved a significant amount of adobe bricks and it was evident guys were beginning to tire. I was truly proud as we passed the large mud bricks along the line, reflecting on the many months of preparation, work, and anticipation proceeding this first moment of hard labor.
We stopped for a quick break around noon before beginning work on the actual foundation. The foreman created a nice batch of mud used for the mortar. Matt and I took off our shoes, hopped in the middle of the mud pit, and began to fill buckets full of mud. We laid the mortar, stacked the adobe, and began to add another layer to the structure. It was one o’clock before we knew it, and time for some lunch. We all returned back to our families for a brief respite from work.
It seems a lifetime since I left my home, and as I travel farther and farther into the depths of Peru, and the heart of the Sacred Valley, I am only beginning to understand the complexities of the intersection of my own thoughts, hopes, dreams, and ideas with those of a people who exist in a very different time and space.
...Brett Mayer-Aschhoff
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