It's like every day has two days in it

We’ve had a busy few days! During our debrief a few days ago, Chance said that it felt like we lived 2 days in every 1 day, and we all agree that’s the truth! Today we had the opportunity to work alongside the community members of Yurac Yacu, by helping out with labour for the community centre. It was pretty cool. The citizens have a really good work ethic; it’s amazing because they do a lot of heavy lifting for long periods of time for days. We also  got to experience some great local Peruvian food.  Here’s a quick recap of the past two days.

 On Wednesday, we visited the preschool that is within the Yurac Yacu Community Centre where we interacted with the children and learnt about their day to day activities. Although language was a barrier, we found that just a simple smile was a great ice breaker. The school only has one permanent teacher, Flora, and the students must walk a fair bit of distance on rocky terrain to reach the school. School is a great escape opportunity for the students to interact with other students and learn skills that would better themselves in their future and for their families. Although schooling does come with a cost, it is an investment that many of the parents understand will give their kids an edge in the future.

On Wednesday, we also went on a six hour hike led by our Peruvian friends. They are in training to become guides and were gracious enough to give us a tour of their homeland- sharing information about the indigenous plants as well as sharing myths about the land. The trek we went on took our breath away, not only because of the altitude but that there was such amazing landscape all around us.

We spent Thursday morning helping build a shelter on the grounds of the Community Centre where students would be able to eat their lunch during the school year. Poles were painted, holes were dug, concrete was mixed and poured and rocks were hauled for the floor. By the end of the morning, all the rocks were collected and the poles for the shelter were raised; the only work left was to assemble the floor and construct the roof. During the morning we had the chance to meet some of the women working on construction of the rest of the facility: the café and the guides/porters centre. Julie was christened the eighth dwarf when she was working with a pickaxe. Her dwarf name: Golden Princess Sunshine. Wayne, one of the head coordinators of the project, was generous enough to talk to us after the work was done. He shared insight about what was necessary to turn this dreams into reality. He taught us that, no matter the path you choose, the way to achieve success in life is to connect with people who share your dreams and to turn ideas into reality before they disappear.

Yesterday afternoon, we walked to the house of one of the Lazy Dog Inn’s chefs, Nancy, and experienced an exotic Peruvian lunch. She welcomed us into her home and provided a delicious platter of cui (guinea pig), pollo (chicken), and papas (potatoes). There was also a beet and onion salad and a pumpkin dessert. Guinea pigs are considered a delicacy in Peru, thus referring back to the previous blog post’s title, and are not kept as pets. As a matter of fact, the locals laughed at the idea of keeping guinea pigs as pets. We enjoyed the meal with a drink made from purple corn and lemon juice. We had noticed that the hostesses, Nancy and Yabanna, did not join the guests while eating. Perhaps this was a cultural thing where the host must only host but not sit with the guests. It was interesting to see since in Canada our hosts eat with the guests and have more interaction, rather than just serving the meals. After having thoroughly enjoyed our meal, we danced with the Peruvian kids and our hostesses. It was a lot of fun; even the most uncoordinated dancers were able to enjoy themselves, and not have to worry about being good. There were also small children there and we were able to kick soccer balls around with them for a bit. It was a really great to be able to see the local houses and try new experiences such as eating guinea pig.

Coming up in the next few days we’ll be hiking overnight through the Quebrada in the Cordillera Blanca with our Peruvian friends. Afterwards we’ll be headed off to Vicos to stay with host families in the community. Stay tuned for more updates as we go! Adios, hasta luego amigos!

- Chance, Sarah, Julie, Ross & Kianna