Days 6 & 7 :

DAY 6

                  Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. This was the ring of our alarms sounding this morning at a pleasantly late 7:30 compared to our usual 5am or 6am wake-up.  After sleeping-in, we made our way to the breakfast table where we enjoyed cereal which was either consumed dry or with what is best described as a Peruvian strawberry-banana yogurt smoothie.  Our leaders of the day, Autumn and Matt, distributed snacks for the day to the group, and we were soon on our way into town.  Today was an irregular day, hence the late morning.  Today, the students spent the entirety of the day with their host families rather than just enjoying 45 minute lunch and dinner periods with them.  This experience was part of WLS’s Walking Together initiative, an attempt to forge a deeper bond between the students and locals as well as to have the students walk in the shoes of the Peruvian people and experience the issues they face on a day-to-day basis.  We made our normal trek into the village from our more remote shelter and quickly split up to go to our host families.  Upon arrival, we were already drenched in sweat due to the immense morning heat, something we have not yet experienced in full force thanks to some timely rain showers and cooler cloud covers. 

                  We, Alexi and Matt share the same host family along with Justin and Autumn.  In our home, we began the morning hand washing our laundry in desperate need of a deSTANKification. After that pressing issue was resolved, Bilmer, the 12 year-old boy who lives in our home and avid ping-pong player (he plays in tournaments in the city), wanted to play.  We began with outdoor ping-pong, otherwise known as ‘tenis de mesa’, and then we moved to introduce him to America’s pride and joy- football.  He was a natural, learning to throw a tight spiral within minutes thanks to Justin’s excellent coaching.  Soon after, he decided he wanted to put up goalposts for field goals in the yard.  He quickly found wood, and with the help of his father, the goal posts were up within five minutes.  Our play was interrupted by the rain which drenched our village for ten minutes, forcing us to rush and save our clothing from the downpour. This happened several times until we took a break to eat lunch, consisting of rice and eggs in a mystery sauce, which was quite good. Then, we went right back to soccer and football. Later, the neighbors brought over their baby monkey. As Matt was holding it in his arms waiting for a picture, the little guy decided to empty his bladder all over Matt’s arm. However, in fear, Matt quickly chucked the poor creature safely out of range, saving his clothing from the golden arcs. Soon after, the families and students convened at the community fields for a game of soccer, which was soon dominated by a man much older than us who attempted to bet on the game. It is important to note that this game was a game between our students and their 6 to 12 year old host children.  Considering this, we politely refused his tempting offer.  Afterward, we returned to our host families for dinner where we were served rice and beef. We preceded to ask them questions that were given to us as a part of the Walking Together project. We, along with the others, learned that Taedo Majaha is the oldest man in the village. We learned the origin of the word Infierno and Soana, the names of the community and shelter respectively.  To cap the day, Justin told Bilmer that he could keep the football he brought to play with and the smile on his face afterward was absolutely priceless, something that could alone make our entire trip worthwhile.  With that, we hiked through the mud back to the shelter to sleep well, awaiting another day of work manana.

Day 7

Today we, James and Andi, along with everyone else woke up at 6 AM to a breakfast of eggs, yucca fries, avocados, apples, and grapes. We then slipped into our rain boots and prepped our day packs for our daily two mile hike to Infierno. Once we arrived in Infierno, Chris divided us up into three groups: one to put up curtains, one to paint signs for the garden, and one to help the school children plant ornamental flowers in the garden. In the curtain group, James, spent the morning measuring and sawing the metal poles that will hold the curtains. Andi and the rest of the planters helped the locals dig a grid system of holes. A lot of space was left between each plant to allow people to walk and enjoy each plant when it is finally done. The American and Peruvian kids paired up to fill the holes with fertilizer, soil, and eventually the plants. The painting group put a base coat of paint on to the signs. The small signs were red and blue while the largest signs were given a yellow coat. We then adjourned for lunch at our respective homestays.

At our homestay (we are in the same home along with Jack and Marisa), we ate arroz con pollo and passion fruit juice. The neighboring homestay with Mac, Ben, and Sydney came over to play UNO with us. We had a full game with the seven of us and the three kids from our families. The game was fun even though Jack and Victor kept cheating. One of our families has a pet monkey and in the middle of our game it peed on Sydney. Our game ended without a winner because we had to rendezvous back at the school for work.

In the afternoon, we broke back up into three new groups. This time the groups had to bolt the curtain rods to the windows, paint the names of the plants (in both Spanish and Ese’Eja, the local tribal language), and clean up a dusty room filled with books. Both of us worked with Mac, Sydney, and Ricky to transform the dirty room into a library. With Sydney’s help we organized the books into different categories. The room now looks a lot cleaner with a lot more books on the shelves. We finally met back at our homestays to eat dinner. Our dinner was a very, very thin steak with mashed plantains. We hiked back home in the dark underneath the gorgeously laminated stars and sky.

Back at the lodge, we took showers, had tea and hot chocolate and each of us talked about our days within the group. Chris led a talk on the Millenium Development Goals where we each picked 3 that meant something to us and shared out why. We then held our ANCHOR closing activity, had an hour free for UNO, reading and hanging out, then bed.