June 30- Day 5

Hola amigos! Mims here. Today was a very fun and packed day. This morning we all woke up and ate breakfast with our families. Already we are all becoming closer to our families and everyone's Spanish has improved. At 8:30 we all made our way over to the homebase, El Tambo, and prepared to depart to Rumira.
Rumira is a local school that many of the kids in town attend. For our community development project, we are working on rebuilding their playground. This entailed picking up the trash, removing the rocks, and sanding the old slide. It doesn't sound like a lot, but let me tell you every time you picked up a rock or a piece of trash, more would force their way up to the surface and magically appear. After working for two and a half hours, the school graciously offered us some delicious food, and we got to go see the classes and talk to the kids.

The group at Rumira.

We all went home for lunch and then returned to El Tambo, so we could all walk over to El Telecentro together. In El Telecentro we set up for the community workshops, which include arts and crafts, sports, games, and La Marinera. La Marinera is a Peruvian dance, at which Senora Viacava excels. She is the reigning world champion!! The sports group and the games group both had a lot of fun with their kids, who really liked to roll on the ground. I worked in the arts and crafts group, which was supposed to be relaxing, but turned into absolute madness when appx. 50 kids showed up out of the blue. We were caught completely off guard, but managed to finish without any meltdowns.

Overall it was a great day!
-Mims

June 29th- Day four

After a closely contested soccer game in the town stadium, which was organized by Pancho, one of our hosts, we returned to El Tambo to pack and be united with our host families.  They arrived at 6:00, and we drank Inca Cola and ate cake before the official introductions were made.  Soon afterwards we departed for night with our host families.

Will meets his younger sister Dora and his host mother.

Group photo at El Tambo just before we left with our host families.

Hola amigos! Malik here, live from Ollantaytambo, Peru! Last night was our first night with our home stays. My family is really nice. I have an eight year old brother named Emilio, a 20-something year old sister named Pilar, and 3 other siblings that are older than me but haven't met. My family owns a bakery, and I have been eating tons of bread. I might even get to bake some with them! Today, my day started around seven. I went to mass at the nearby church. I thought I had this Spanish mass thing in the bag, but I forgot that they spoke Quechua so I didn't understand everything. After mass, I had oatmeal and fresh baked bread. From there, our group went to a festival called the Ollantay Raymi. It was the reenactment what some would call the Peruvian Romeo and Juliet. It took place on the actual ruins of Ollantaytambo. There was music, dance, love, war, comedy, and everything that makes for a great soap opera. After the festival, we walked back to have lunch. On the way back, I saw my best friend Miguel, who I met two days ago. He sells necklaces and I bought a crocodile tooth necklace from him. He is really nice, though he knows more about me than I do about him... probably not a good thing :/. Anyways, we came and had a feast in honor of this festival (And maybe Mr. Pomeroy's birthday, too?) with our families. I tried guinea pig for the first time. I have got to say, it was pretty good, though I think not everybody agrees. After that, I went back home and played around with the little ones. I think I might have given them a sugar rush on American candy... but it is not my fault because they wanted the candy and who am I to stop them. Tomorrow will be our first day working at the Rumira school, helping rebuild their playground. I can't wait to see what else Peru has in store!

Ollantay Raymi Ceremony

June 28- Day 3

Hola! This morning we visited the Ollantaytambo ruins after a delicious breakfast of eggs and toast. We learned a lot about the history of the ruins and important related figures. I began to count the many many steps we climbed (Senora Viacava suggestion) but stopped around the fourth step because of the ascending altitude and the leg workout. Anyway, we learned that the stones had to be carried down from a different mountain and back up. Even more impressive, they were sculpted in perfect angles that they would hold together for years.We also saw faces in the mountains, a plant that will make you drunk if you smoke it, a purification fountain, and much much more.
After the long tour, some of us journeyed back to El Tambo to watch soccer and others continued to explore and shop in town. The TV was still on as we ate our lunch (cream of broccoli soup and rice with chicken curry). We chewed our food in anticipation as Brazil and Chile fought in the shoot out. When Brazil won hard, a few of our company lept to their feet, many pumped their fists into the air, and all of us smiled.
With the soccer excitement running through our blood, we're off to play a game ourselves. Also, tonight we're going to meet our host families for the first time. Many of us hope that we'll get along well with them. I especially hope the food is just as good. I'm sure it will be.
Ciao!
Ivana Primero

6/27/14: Day 2

After a much needed sleep the group kicked off the day with breakfast at 9:30 (!) consisting of delicious pancakes, juices, and tea. We played a few games in the morning to get to know each other better, headlined by liar's dice and many others! We set out after an hour of walking around town and Lomo Saltado (rice, steak, tomatoes, and onions) for lunch. First was the scavenger hunt. The group split up into five teams to familiarize ourselves with Ollantaytambo. After finding the ten different sites we were given (Train station, market, soccer stadium, etc.), the group hiked to the Graineries. Hundreds of feet above the town, we were able to get a full view of the valley. Pancho, our guide, taught us about the history of the Incans that once lived there. The Graineries served as a storage house for corn and quinoa. We then hiked down from the Graineries and onto the traditional Incan house. There we saw lots of Guinea Pigs (pictured below), kittens, and ducklings. We just finished dinner and are looking forward to a good night's sleep.

-Will

The ancient Incan school above the Graineries.

Guinea Pigs at the traditional Incan house.

On our way to the Graineries!

Pics from first day

The Pics are coming in slowly!  This picture is from our trip to the Inca Ruins yesterday.  We are about to have breakfast and then we head out on our scavenger hunt followed by a hike in the afternoon to the Graneries.

First Day In Peru

After arriving this morning in Lima on the red eye from JFK, we made our way to Cusco and then onto our new home in Ollantaytambo. Fueled by airport McDonald’s Big Macs and soggy pancakes, we embarked on our first adventure in Peru. Our first stop was to the Sacsayhuaman Ruins which tower above the Incan’s first establishment of Cusco. Built in the shape of a puma to worship the sun, our group learned about the religious history of the Incans.
We have some great pics to share and will work on getting them on the blog tomorrow- it kept crashing when we tried to post them tonight.  We are safe and sound in the El Tambo hotel and looking forward to a scavenger hunt in the morning, which will help us to become more familiar with Ollantaytambo.  All are well and excited to be in Peru!
-Will

 

There is less than 1 week before we depart!! I am looking forward to seeing all of you at JFK.
-Mr. Pomeroy