Thursday July 9th, 2015: Day Two
I woke up to my watch saying 6:10am so immediately woke up my other cabin members Andi and Sydney. Sydney tells me it’s actually 4:30 am so it was all for nothing. We waited until we were supposed to actually get up and then had breakfast - bread, butter, jam, and juices. After, we took a canoe down the Tambopata River because the heavy rains from the previous night flooded our hiking path to the community. Once we arrived at the school, we split up into two groups lead by Justin and Sydney. Each group went into every classroom, (1st through 11th grade) and we all introduced ourselves. The class sizes are very small and there are more girls than boys. After, we started raking and cleaning up a cleared space behind the school for the garden. It is about the size of a football field. The locals cut this part of the jungle down only with machetes and other sharp tools. We worked for about two and a half hours together with some of the children and teachers. Each of us attempted to speak some sort of Spanish so we could interact and bond with the locals. The school goes from 8:30-12:30, and around 11:30 we were invited into the cafeteria for homemade porridge and crackers.
-Marisa
We met our families for the first time today. Varying by size, location, and pets (including 2 monkeys, many dogs, and just as many chickens), the families were just as shy to meet us as we were to meet them. Our first interaction was with our host parents, who brought us back to their houses during lunch. Some of us played table tennis, while others observed the pets. I had soup with carrots and yucca in it, and then rice with a little bit of beef and a vegetable mix with more yucca. There were also fried plantains on top of the rice, which was a surprisingly really delicious combination. With lunch over, we went back to the school to continue working in the garden for another couple of hours. Towards the end of the workday, we blew off a little steam with some soccer, and then collected our things for dinner at our homestays. It was much the same as the first time, but a little less awkward on behalf of both parties. This time I had eggs with peppers in them (or something like peppers, it tasted like a green bell pepper but I don’t know for sure), fried yucca, and fried plantains. There was also a chocolate drink that tasted like hot chocolate with cinnamon in it – and then we got a traditional Peruvian dessert called piccarones, were essentially like fried dough. They were amazing and a bit like a little taste of home. Once the meal was finished, we said our goodbyes, and moved back through the village (with only headlamps and the occasional headlights of motorcycles) back to the boat, where we rode the Tambopata River back upstream to our lodge.
-Makayla
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