Day 5- Pisaq
Despite going to bed at 2 am, I still made Brandon get up at 8. He was less than thrilled but I had big plans for the day. We ate breakfast and checked out of our hotel. We left our luggage at the counter though. They watched it for free while we went shopping. We took our suitcase of dirty laundry to a lavenderia where it was 3 soles ($1) per kilo to have our clothes washed and dried. We had 5 kilos and the guy said it would be ready at 7 but we needed it by 4 because we would be meeting our host family at 5. So we paid 5 soles extra to have it ready by 4.
This is where I start writing my journal entries in bullet points with very little detail so I'll have to just go off of what I remember. The rest of the 5 weeks probably won't be as detailed as the first three days of my writing. Since it will be a mish-mash of what I actually wrote and what I remember, I'm going to stop using italics at this point.
We took a taxi to Awana Kancha and the Pisaq market for 90 soles (about $30). Awana Kancha is a llama farm and there we got to feed llamas and alpacas and see how the locals made dyed yarn from their hair. It was pretty neat. The open market in Pisaq is probably the largest and most popular market in the area. We walked around for over an hour while the taxi driver waited for us. It was easy to get lost among the numerous stalls of vendors selling their wares. I bought a shawl for about $10 and a nice chess set depicting the Incans on one side and the Spanish conquistadors on the other for about $4.
Feeding llamas at Awana Kancha
We made it back to Cusco only to discover that the lavenderia was closed. We sat on the steps on the San Blas church and waited for our host family to come and get us. They were almost 45 minutes late and while we were waiting a shoe shine boy came to visit us. He couldn't have been more than 8 years old. He pleaded with Brandon in Spanish if he could shine his shoes. Brandon said no, considering he just had sneakers on and they were bound to get dirty on the rest of the trip. That was about the extent of Brandon's Spanish speaking skills, "No, gracias". The little boy was insistant and continued to pester Brandon about shining his shoes. Brandon kept saying no and eventually I said the same thing. The little boy turned to me with the meanest face I had ever seen, put his finger to his lips and said SHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I didn't know whether to be offended or amused. Apparently I was ruining this kid's sales opportunity. So he turned his attention back to Brandon, all the while picking at Brandon's shoe laces and asking if he could shine his shoes. Brandon said no, I said no, and again I was shushed. So at this point the little boy kinda figured he wasn't going to get a shoe shine out of Brandon. But he didn't go away. He continued to hang out at Brandon's feet, picking at his shoe. So I asked him if he was hungry. He said yes. So I pulled out a chocolate Power Bar from our backpack and gave it to him. He inspected the wrapper, trying to figure out what it was and I explained that it was chocolate. After a thorough examination he deemed it safe to accept and pocketed the candy bar. And then he kept picking at Brandon's shoe! Luckily at this point our host family showed up and the little boy went off to try and find another unsuspecting tourist.
Our host family turned out to be awesome. The mother was Dina, or Mama D, as we called her. She had two older kids, Jamil who was in her late teens and Neto who was probably in his early 20's. Both of the kids knew English pretty well so it was easy to communicate with them. With Mama D we had to use our Spanish. There was also a maid who cooked our meals during the day. Her name escapes me. Our host family was also hosting two high school girls from New York, Rachel and Sarah, (also with United Planet) and one girl from Germany who was not with our organization. It was a nice full house and there was always something going on.
Day 6
It was Monday and time to finally start our volunteer work. We met Manfred, the organizer in Cusco for United Planet, and he told us about our project and Spanish lessons. We originally thought we were going to be volunteering at an orphanage but they switched our program and we were assigned to an after school program called Amas. The hours of volunteering were only from 3-6 pm which was a bit disappointing. I had assumed we would be volunteering all day. That's the whole reason we were there! Brandon, as a beginner in Spanish, would be getting his lessons from 11-1 but my lessons weren't scheduled yet so I just decided to join his.
After the meeting with Manfred we went home with Rachel and Sarah for lunch and then went back to San Blas school, where we would be getting the Spanish lessons. Manfred then took us to the Amas center. It was about a 20-minute bus ride from our house (for about $.20 one way) to one of the poorest parts of Cusco. And when I say "bus", I mean bus or van. Sometimes the first thing you can catch is an actual bus with seats. Other times it's more like a 12-passenger van that has about 30 people in it. Some days there's plenty of room, other days it's standing room only and you have your ass crammed into the face of someone who's sitting down. There's one guy driving the bus and another guy hanging out the door calling out the names of the destinations that they're going to (ours was San Jeronimo). Public transportation is Cusco is definitely a unique experience.
So after we get off the bus/van at San Jeronimo we have to walk down a dusty dirt road to the Amas center, over a bridge that stinks of sewer and rotten trash. The center hosts about 20-35 kids a day, ranging in age from about 4 to about 14. When we arrived there were 2 volunteers from France (Natasha and Pierre), 1 from Spain (David) and 2 kids from the US (Brendan and Kenya) who only stayed a week. We were introduced to the director, Senora Luz and spent the afternoon playing outside with the kids. The children loved playing sports but there was a distinct gender line. The boys played soccer, the girls played volleyball. There was rarely a co-ed game going on. The kids were very very affectionate, always giving hugs and kisses to us. At around 5:30 when we kids started going home and sun started setting we decided it was time to go home.
The outside of the Amas Center
The kids loved getting their picture taken
Day 7Today we had more Spanish lessons from 11-1, with Rachel and Sarah. Then it was back to the house for lunch. At the program I helped the kids put together a jigsaw puzzle and then all the volunteers tried to show the kids how to play Duck, Duck Goose. Only we didn't know the Spanish word for "goose" so it ended up being Duck, Duck Chicken. The kids kinda got the jist of the game but after a while they started making up their own rules so the game didn't last too long. It looks like Brandon might be getting sick.
After the program me, Brandon and our host family decided to go to the supermarket because tomorrow there would be an organized protest and all the stores would be closed. Brandon and I decided we should get some laundry detergent so we could wash our own clothes instead of always having to go to the lavenderia. But instead of picking up laundry detergent we ended up buying dish deteregent. Our host family had a good laugh when they explained our mistake to us, so we ended up just giving them the dish detergent as a gift. Oh well! At least it's cheap at the lavenderia.
Day 8 - The Protest
No classes or program today because of the protest. Everyone in Peru is protesting the high cost of gas. No buses, taxis or stores are open. Me, Brandon, Rachel and Sarah walked up to the Plaza de Armas. Rocks were placed in the middle of the streets to block cars. We found a couple of shops open and bought some purses. We watched the protest in the Plaza for a while. Everyone was there. We had lunch at a pizzaria and I decided to try my first pisco sour. It's a classic mixed drink that's served in South America and has a foamy mixture of egg white on top. It was a bit too strong for my liking but the pizza was delicious. After the late lunch we made it back to the house around 4.
That night we had dinner and United Planet had organized salsa lessons for us. Mama D and her family do a lot volunteering with United Planet so the lessons were held at our house that night. We met a dozen other volunteers who were with United Planet at various projects around the city. Brandon took some video and then later danced with me a bit. Afterwards some of the volunteers went out to a club but Brandon and I decided to stay home. We're too old for that sort of thing.
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