Peru Immersion: First Week In Village

July 13th, 2009 | Peru Immersion Program 2009

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What follows is a narrative of the last week in Peru.  We tried to include segments of the group journal our students are maintaining throughout our time here (everyone will get a copy of the journal to remember the adventure).

We began the week by taking a 6-hour ride on a public bus ride, a must for any intrepid South American explorer, from Puno-Cusco.

We arrived around 2pm to Cusco, where we ate lunch at Victor Victoria, a local Peruvian restaurant. As Elena and Logan described in our group journal, “The food was excellent and the wait staff affable.” They continue, “The return to the hotel brought an all-hands meeting, where homestay arrangements for the village were issued.  Everyone seemed content with the bookings, and a quick yoga session followed. All who participated left feeling quite refreshed, especially after a quick ‘partner yoga’ session.” The night ended with a light dinner and an early bedtime.

Hannah and Tommy describe Tuesday in great detail, as the group arrived to our homestay village of Ollantaytambo:
“We woke up around 8 at the hotel for a delicious breakfast of bread, jam and eggs. We heaved our huge suitcases down to the bus, where they would be placed on the roof. We were off to our homestays, 2 hours away from Cusco. Before we knew it, we had reached the majestic town of Ollantaytambo.

After a warm welcome from the mayor and a group toast (of water), we broke off into groups and met with our host families. Although dragging wheeled-duffel bags through Incan Cobblestone streets, untouched due to the national laws, proved strenuous, the families were kind, the atmosphere was inviting, and the lunch was delicious.
In the afternoon, we said good-bye to our new families and scouted out the school where we would be spending the next two weeks building a cafeteria. Because of a gasoline-price strike, classes were not in session, and the school grounds were filled with piles of rubble. Also due to the strike, our supplies had not yet arrived, so we did not get to work. Instead, we all met at the local soccer field and played bare-footed soccer until dinnertime.  During dinner that first night, the awkwardness of the language and cultural gap lessened. We all went to sleep at 9, in anticipation for the next day’s hard work.”

Ollantaytambo is surrounded by towering Andean peaks, Incan Ruins and graphed by 8-century old canals.  At night, the views are just as dazzling when a plethora of stars dance around the brilliant moon.  Craig, Sydney, Brendan and Shannon took advantage of the nightly show by stargazing in a field outside the city center.

Wednesday was our first day on the service project. All the students arrived with exciting news about their host families and a positive attitude towards our work project. Callie and Evan described the beginning of the project:
“First, we moved giant piles of rocks out of our way, and then we started work on the digging of 40cm deep trenches all around the site. With our pickaxes and shovels, we were able to finish the trenches. We then began to fill them with rocks and mud, making a foundation for the kitchen.”

For the rest of the week, the group continued to pour its energy and sweat into the project. We moved rocks of all sizes (Monica has serious biceps now), unloaded 1,000 adobe blocks, dug trenches, mixed cement, fetched buckets of water from the stream, and maneuvered heavy wheelbarrows through mud. We took occasional breaks, highlighted by an impromptu filming of, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, ” featuring Patrick as the lead singer (coming soon to youtube.com). Drew showed his Spanish and construction skills while working alongside Juan, our local foreman, and Hailee shone as team captain, fielding questions and making decisions.  Some went on a brief excursion to Urubamba to purchase boots for all this dirty work. After working hard, many of us chose to spend the time before dinner at the field playing soccer with our new Peruvian friends. BJ impressed all with his great saves as goalie.  Within just a few days, we felt at home and at ease with our host families and new environment.

Fun during service. We promise that all those not pictured were working hard and loving it!

Our foreman, Juan

Although we have been enjoying the chance to work hard towards a goal as important as the construction of the school’s kitchen, we welcomed Sunday’s respite. We met at 10am in the plaza and headed to the town of Pisac, an hour away from Ollantaytambo. This quiet colonial Andean village comes alive on Sundays with its famous weekly market, where traditionally dressed locals gather to sell foods, weavings and handicrafts. We spent about three hours here, exploring and bargaining in Spanish, and enjoying surrounding views of Incan ruins.

Sunday market at Pisac

We are now in Cusco, learning more about the history of the Incan city. We have spent the day on a quest to find the 20 items on our “Photographic Scavenger Hunt,” which included the local delicacy “cuy” aka guinea pig and a word written in Quechua, the language of the Indigenous Peruvians (extra points for translation). All items had to be photographed, and we are currently awaiting the development of these photos with which Gabriel and Vanessa will determine a winner.  Of course, spoils go to the winners in the traditional form of ice cream!!

Touring and learning about Peru has been an incredible journey, but we all agree that our time in Ollantaytambo has been the most important aspect of the program.   We are about half-way through out time in Peru and it has already proven to be unforgettable, with the best still to come.