Final Day of Service!!

Hello Parents!

The students finished their service project today! After a lot of hard work and dedication they were able to celebrate the completion of the project with their families over dinner that was cooked in an earth oven. They did a fabulous job all week!

We are heading to Machu Picchu bright and early tomorrow morning and then on to Cusco and Lima for the final days of the trip. It will be a great way to celebrate all of their hard work on the trek and the service project.

-Erin, Kennedy, Chad, and Bonnie

Service Day

Day 11 - today we began the day by waking up around 7am and then eating breakfast at 7:30. We then walked to the school to continue our service project. We saw that all of the bricks were in place and we were ready to start on the roof. We split up into groups. One group separated the paja, another group helped put the huge logs on the roof, and another group went to the carpenters shop. It rained for most of the morning so it made work a little more difficult. After our hard work we spent some time with our families. It was great to bond with our families and experience their lifestyles even more. After that, we all met at 5pm to discuss values of leadership. We talked about four different kinds - artisans, idealist, guardians and rationalist from the Kiersey Temperament test. We had to talk about what category Mr. Dorn, Mrs. McCarthy, Erin and Kennedy would fall under. It was an interesting activity and I think we all enjoyed it. After that we got to spend the rest of the night with our families. Tomorrow we are finishing the service project and spending our last night with our families.

-Joey

Back to service!

Today we got up early to work at 8am again. The foundation had been finished while we were on our trek. Everyone was a little sore and tired but managed to make a lot of progress. The main project was laying adobe bricks around the circle to form the building. A layer was put down and it was filled with mudd. This was repeated until about 1:30pm when about 8 layers were done. While that happened some people peeled and sanded trees to be made into the roof. At 1:30pm we went to our homestays for lunch and at 2:30 the optional afternoon activities started. The girls bonded over basket weavingand the boys did pottery and had free time or worked at the school to finish the walls of our building. After activities we had our afternoon meeting where we taking about the Kiersey Temperament Leadership test we took online. We talked about what made a good leader and that lead us to the real activity. We broke into smaller groups and had 20 minutes, 25 straws, 3 feet of masking tape. Our objective was to save an egg from a 4 foot fall. Each group had a plan but only two eggs survived - the circle of protection by Emily, CJ and Joey and the triangular designed by Dan, Kelsey, Karen and Missy! This gave us a chance to practice being leadersand thinking about how best to work together.
-Kelsey

Trek - Day 2!

Today was a hard day! We woke up at 7am and ate breakfast at our campsite. I shared a tent with Nate and both of us did not sleep very well. It seemed like nobody in the group slept very well. Regardless - we started hiking around 8:45am. The trek was mostly downhill but still difficult. However, this didn´t stop us from admiring the beauty of our surroundings. We encountered herds of llamas and alpaca - just kinda chllin´ on the mountainside. They seem like such mystical creatures. For a split second the majesty of the landscapes made me doubt my avowed atheism. It rained alot and was very cold. We hike for about 7 hours with 20-30 minute breaks throughout. Once were out of the mountains we had to trek through a jungle, which proved to be very diffcult. It was mostly uphill and we had to constantly dodge branches and other foliage. Eventually we got to an old Inca fortress, which basically marked the end of the hike. While we waited for a bus, a very nice family invited us into their home so we wouldn´t have to sit in the rain. It was at this point that a lot of us realized the fundamental differences Peruvian and American society. I could never imagine any American family allowing a group of foreigners to take shelter in their house. After we returned to Ollantaytambo we all had a nice hot shower in our old hostel and were treated to some pizza at Miguel´s restaurant. It was delicous! Dan, CJ and I returned home promptly and went to sleep. It was a hard but interesting and overall a very rewarding day!

¡Paz y Amor! ¡ Solidaridad para siempre!

- Chad

1st day of the trek!

We started the day nice and early; 5:30AM wake-up with a meeting at the plaza at 6am. Today was day one of our two day hiking trip that we would take through the mountains. After an 1.5 hour bus ride, we arrived at our starting point. A look around the landscape yielded few signs of life. Herds of sheep grazed on the opposite mountainside and several shacks could be seen. Other than that it was just us. A lot of people had problems with the altitude. It didn´t help that for the next 6 hours we would be climbing mostly uphill to reach our campsite high in the mountains. To help with the headaches and stomach pains some people took Advil and Pepto. Other used a more traditional Peruvian method: chewing coca leaves. These helped with breathing and with altitude adjustments, and were invaluable to anyone not feeling well. We rested often and had lunch at around noon.

The final hours made up the hardest part of the day. The hike finally ended with a brutal climb. Camp could not have been a more welcoming sight. Porters had tents set up for everyone, and we all paired up and crashed!

At around 6pm we ate a quick dinner and turned in for the night. Even thought it was only 7ish everyone was exhausted! Sleeping proved to be tough as the tents and hard ground were uncomfortable. As difficult as the day had been, the next would prove to be just as challenging!

-Noah

Day 2 of service work

Today was another day starting bright and early at 8am. The goal for the day was to dig the foundation for the adobe hut. We ran into problems though because the ground that we were building the hut on top of had an adobe wall burnied underneath it. Fearing that the group might be unstable, we had to change our original plans and add concrete for support. Some students also worked with the children at the school and helped them with arts and crafts.

We went home for lunch and then the group split up. Some kids went on a hike with Mr. Dorn towards Patachanca. Others went to a basket weaving workshop and although they complained the entire time, the seven boys that attended it - made some really nice baskets that will probably end up being a present for their parents. We went home for dinner and then met up again around 8pm. We went to Kennedy´s office for a discussion on the global education crisis. It was very enlightening and successful and everyone made a good contribution to the meeting. We finished off the night celebrating Mr. Dorn´s birthday with cake!

-Dan

First day of service!

Today we had a very full and hard day of work. We woke up early and met in the towns plaza at 8am. From there we walked to where we would be doing our project. Our first day of work began! The land we were working with was once a huge dump. There were mounds of dirt, weeds, and trash everywhere! We all split up into groups to get the workd done. Our goal for the day was to completely flatten the land we needed in order to start building. The building we will construct is going to be used for the children at the school and those involved with Tierra de los Niños. Some people shoveled dirt, some sifted through it - so only the good stuff would be saved, some weeded and others scraped all of the bark off the trees that would be used for the roof. It was EXTREMELY hard work. Luckily the children from the school would come out for recess and we could take breaks to play with them. They were so cute and loved to help us work. At 1:30 we all took a break and went back to our homestays for lunch. It wasn´t a long break though, and by 2:30 we were all working at the school once again. It was not until about 5:30 when we finally were finished. The surface was level!! YAY! We concluded our time on the work site with a despacho service. We buried the gifts to the Pachamama that we had prepared the night before. This was a celebration and therefore called for soda and cookies! Around 6:30 we returned to our families for dinner and showers.

I don´t know about everyone else but I am exhausted from a long day. Although I am currently very sore, dirty and have never been quite so excited to go to bed - the day was a lot of fun and rewarding!

- Karen

Day 4

Today was day 4 of the trip here in Peru. This morning we woke up around 7am, with breakfast at 7:30. We then processed on our journey to Patacancha, this village was not only unique because of how deep it was in the mountains, but also because of its weavings and many other crafts created by the women. We spent around 2 or so hours in Patacancha, then embarked back through the mountains - sometimes along some steep cliff (parents, I know you´re happy to hear that!). The drive was about an hour long by we were accompanied by beautiful scenery such as mountains, waterfalls, and wildlife. When we returned to Ollantaytambo, we were then greeted by our host families with some cake and tea. Later we would sit down for a lunch with our families and settle in. A meeting was scheduled for the group a 2:30 in the town plaza for cermanics workshop. Part of the group stayed to do cermanics for there were limited wheels. while the others strolled through the town. Dinner with the families was around 6:30, then we met back up with the whole group to attend a ceremony to begin our work on the school. It involved many small offering such as candies, food, beer and coca leaves, along with the burning of candles. The offering is important to the people, because it is considered the beginning of something promising to them. The people are very serious about their offereings and work. I think a lot of people thought it was definitely interesting and an eye opening experience. It seems we encounter these as a group each day.

Today was only day 4, we´ll see what the rest of first week has to offer tomorrow (our first day on the job!!).

Chao! Nate

Day 3

We had breakfast with our group at the hostel we are staying at. The food has been amazing so far at the restaurants we have eaten at. We hike up the ruins this morning and they offered some of the most beautiful views I have ever witnessed. After lunch we came back and had a nice surprise awaiting us - which was our bags that have finally arrived. Everyone was glad to have all of their necessities. We have gone exploring the town of Ollantaytambo few times and the views almost seem like a dream. We don´t meet our families until tomorrow which everyone seems to be excited about!! It was also Sujay´s birthday today and we celebrated with a cake at dinner!
-CJ

First day in Peru!!

After we said our good byes we started our adventure - and it really was an adventure!! Our flight to Atlanta was delayed for about 1.5 hours - but we made our flight to Lima!! We ran through the Atlanta airport, so we definitely got our exercise!

We were scattered all over the plane. We walked around to see each other but Mrs. McCarthny had to come back to coach to visit us because she got upgraded to first class!

Without our bags we spent the night in a super nice hostel. All the girls were together and the boys were divided into two groups!

In the morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast and a short walk around the block - soooo pretty! We then boarded the bus and went back to the airport and took a plane to Cusco.

An hour bus ride through amazing scenery followed. We drove up a mountain and then back down. The altitude hasn´t affected us, but it is cool to think we are up pretty high - about 9000 ft!

We went straight to a local restaurant and had pretty much the best meal EVER! We started with an ethnic potato dish covered in this green sauce - it had a kick to it. We then ate soup, some of us had beef noodle and some of us had corn soup. The soups were amazing especially the beef! The main course followed and once again - amazing!! Our drinks were bottled water (don´t worry!) and purple corn juice!!

-Emily, Olivia, & Missy!

Buenos Dias everyone! I hope you are all as excited as I am to be traveling to the ancient world of the Incas high up in the Andes Mountains. See you in a couple of hours!
Mrs. M