Work Has Begun

Let me begin by saying that Cuzco is awesome. Yes, this city is all about the tourism, but it is so beautiful and awesome that it doesn´t really matter. As opposed to only being a jumpoff point for Machu Picchu, the city still has many Inca walls running through it and the colonial churches were often built as additions or over existing Inca temples, so much of it is still intact. The Inca stone work far surpasses almost anything I have ever seen with giant boulders fitting together perfectly without any grout or cement holding the walls together. We did some site-seeing later in the day after our last blog and went to Santo Domingo, which was built over Qoricancha, or the Temple of the Sun. While it was a little strange to see two wildly different architectural styles within the same structure, it was also magnificent. The Inca temple rooms still exist within the church itself and then there is the standard, and of course beautiful, colonial Catholic church. Also, the outside of the church, facing Avenue del Sol, is almost completely supported by Incan walls. Other than that, the rest of Sunday was spent walking around and just checking out the city. I bought a pretty sweater and Sarah got a pair of socks, both made out of Alpaca wool which is mighty soft and comfortable.

On Monday we started work. It is a really cool place that is doing really good work. Everyone there is working as a volunteer because almost all of the funding comes from donations. The kids there are all kids who are working in the streets or in the markets, or collecting money on the buses, etc... Since the schools are either in the afternoon or the morning, depending on age, the older kids are at the center in the morning and the younger kids come in the afternoon. We spent all day there on Monday to see which part of the day we would like to work since they only expect us to work half-days. The morning was pretty fun. Sarah spent her time in the center helping with homework and then doing needlepoint. I went with the group of special education children, most of whom have down syndrome, up to the park to play soccer. We had a great time and I have a new friend named Guillermo. We were teammates for soccer and we have spent the last two days walking him to his bus at the end of the day. He did the funniest thing while walking to the bus. He was with us five volunteers. We get to a crosswalk and there is a police officer there. Guillermo walks right up to the police officer, shakes his hand and says very confidently, "Estos son mis amigos." (These are my friends) It was the funniest thing ever. He also grabs my arm whenever we have to cross the street. He really likes me and I think it is cool to have already made friends despite my language problems. Sarah is doing much better than I am with Spanish and I am having a really hard time understanding what the kids are saying.

During the afternoon, we were joined by three more volunteers, one who has been there since March. The younger kids are a lot more energetic than the older kids, but they are a lot of fun. Two of the volunteers have had the kids working on a play, so we were helping out with that. The play is an adaptation of an old Peruvian story that the girls found. It is about a girl who goes off into the jungle following a butterfly and gets very lost and can´t find her way back home. But with the help of some of the animals, she is able to make it back to the river and sees her village across the river. The butterfly then comes back and suggests that she turns into a butterfly to get across the river and she does and ever since, she has had a bit of butterfly in her heart. Well, the kids got to make masks and those who want to participate will perform on Thursday. In addition to the play, we did some homework help and decided that afternoons would be more fun than the mornings. The special education kids are there all day, so I might be spending some more time with them if we go to the park again or the teacher wants an extra hand.

Today (Tuesday), we spent all morning looking at different tour companies to figure out how we will get to Machu Picchu and what other weekend activities we can do while we are here. I think that this weekend we will do tours of the Inca ruins around Cuzco. We might even do one day on horseback. We also decided on a language school and we start Spanish lessons tomorrow morning. I am excited to do this so that I will be able to understand what the kids are saying. Also, as I learned today, trying to help with homework and not understanding it myself or not knowing how to explain how to do a math problem is very frustrating.

This afternoon at work, we started with homework, which is pretty much the daily routine. As kids finished up, there were a couple things going on. Some people were making masks for the play, others were making jewelry (some of it is really nice and these kids are quite talented), some were doing needlepoint and the rest were either playing with the parrot or chasing the dog around. For the most part, the kids listen and will do what they are told and we don´t seem to have any that are a real handful. Just like yesterday, we walked Guillermo to the bus today. Although it was slightly less eventful than yesterday´s conversation with the police officer, he is still a really funny guy.

Until next time, we will be working afternoons with the little kids (7-13) and taking language classes.