Tranquilized puppies

It's our last day at Inti! I can't believe how quickly the past three weeks have flown by, and I sincerely wish we could stay here for even longer. We will undoubtedly miss the kids, but I plan on taking a million pictures of them this afternoon so we can post a few photos of the little devils in action. :) My favorite of the week, Mabel, has taken to running up to me and whispering in my ear, "!El profe Eben es malo!" or "!La profe Nicola es mala!" or "!Tu eres mala!," which means "[Professor's name] is bad!" Then she'll burst into laughter and run away and tell someone else that they're bad. It's really adorable in spite of its weirdness. She's only 8, so she can get away with it.
The ever-mischievous Mabel with Eben and the puppy

Everyone at Inti surprised me on Wednesday as the kids were getting ready to have their early supper. Yesterday (Thursday) was my birthday (yay 22!), but since Inti wasn't really open yeterday (more about that in a second) they decided to celebrate a day early. Jhinuq, one of the British girls, made me a cute card that everyone signed, and all of the kids sang to me. It was so unexpected and happy, and I of course started to cry a little because it was so adorable. Then all of the girls wanted to give me a hug and a kiss, so I ran around the classroom giving hugs to everyone. :) And Mabel naturally whispered to me that Eben is indeed malo. Of course. My birthday has felt pretty low-key this year, but I figure that's to be expected after the obligatory ridiculous 21st birthday party. Jhinua, Nicola, Eben, and I went out for birthday lunch and bought a bunch of bootleg DVDs at a market near work. Eben and I then had the BEST birthday dinner on the Plaza at an Andean/Italian restaurant. Amazing pasta (and I *do* know my Italian food) that reminded me of being at Gino's in Bologna with the JYA crew, and great Chilean wine. Overall it was really lovely, and it was a good way to celebrate. Tonight we'll all go out dancing, so that will be fun too. Hurrah for birthdays!

The past week has been very busy at work. Jhinuq held a drawing contest that thankfully interested all of the kids and kept them occupied after homework time. It was nice to see them so focused on something creative, and we gave out prizes to everyone who participated. Hopefully they'll have more artsy activities after we leave. Eben and I finished a photo project of all of the Inti kids that we've been working on for at least a week and a half. We took photos of all of the Inti kids and labeled them with their names, which are now displayed on a wall in the classroom. The morning kids have their photos posted on a bright yellow sun, and the afternoon kids have theirs posted on a big blue house. Jhinuq and Nicola came up with that idea, which is pretty cute since Intiu Runakunaq Wasin means "The House of the Children of the Sun." Ohhhh, symbolism. We thought it would be a practical gift to leave behind for future volunteers who need help learning everyone's names quickly. It's also fun for the kids, who for the most part love the idea of digital cameras and their faces appearing on a screen. They keep running up to the photo wall to find their picture, so I feel satisfied that our project makes them a bit proud as well. :)

Yesterday some American reporters from small Catholic newspapers arrived at Inti as part of a tour through Peru focusing on children's relief organizations. The entire center was cleaned at least twice the day before in advance, and the morning of the reporters' arrival everyone was running around in a panic as they tried to make sure everything was perfect. I also suspect that someone gave their puppy, Kusi, a tranquilizer, because he was passed out in the garden all day. Normally he runs all over the center chasing the kids and jumping on people to lick their faces. Sleepy Kusi? I smell a scandal. Either way, tranquilizers or not, I'm a bit amused that every time a group comes to tour the center, the kids are sent to clean the floors and windows, and everyone tries to be on their best behavior. The impression the reporters were getting was definitely not how it usually is. All of the volunteers were instructed to work in the morning so the reporters could see us, but since there weren't many kids there, mostly we just tried to avoid the reporters and attempted to enliven Kusi and make him dance. The reporters were nice enough, but I wasn't crazy about the way they snapped about 50 photos of one girl who was making a pair of earrings and didn't really interact with the students past their camera lenses. It felt very superficial, and I don't think they could have possibly understood what Inti is really like. I suppose that is to be expected to some extent, given that they were only at Inti for a couple of hours, but I think it's safe to say that we're happpy they won't be here today.

Other than that, this week Eben and I have been exploring the churches and museums that we didn't get to see on the big tourist ticket (Boleto Turistico). The Cathedral was huge and amazing. I can't even adequately describe how beautiful the interior is. High vaulted ceilings, intricate wood carvings, and of course a multitude of paintings. There is one great painting of the Last Supper with an Andean twist-- on the table is a platter of roast guinea pig and pitchers of chicha, the local corn-based beer. Very humorous, and a beautiful work of art as well. In La Compania de Jesus we were able to climb up to a small tower and look out over the plaza, which is pretty cool. We also went down to a crypt that had a section of the floor removed to reveal some sort of additional crypt or hidden tunnel. There are rumors that since the Cathedral and La Compania de Jesus were built over Inca temples, there may be undiscovered tunnels connecting them with the ruins at Saqsayhuaman. I wouldn't be surprised to learn in 10 years that archeologists have indeed found them. Secret passages are always fun to wonder about, and a tunnel that stretches for a kilometer sounds fun. :)

That's about it! We head to Machu Picchu on Sunday, just a few days after my birthday, and that will rock. Internet is about to run out, so off I go!