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Published: March 18th 2008
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Pumamarca
A day in the life It's all part of the experience
Where do I even start? The past few days have been a whirlwind of great, terrible, amazing, and eye-opening experiences. We'll start with the bad news...Unfortunately, the night before leaving for Sacred Valley, I got very, very sick. It was one of the worst feelings I have ever experienced in my life, but fortunately it passed very quickly. The doctor arrived to the house soon after everyone left for the Sacred Valley and did some tests. Turns out I had fallen victim to several severities of Salmonella and I had a parasite...lovely eh? I was very fortunate to get better rather than worse, so I didn't have to go to the hospital, but there have been two other team members who have had to endured the hospital here. Everyone is (somewhat) healthy and back at home now, which is fabulous. And, good news is that I am here for two months, so I will still get to go to the Sacred Valley!
Working in Pumamarca has been unreal so far; Even just the drive there and back is remarkable. It is a farming community, so the traffic you meet is composed
of sheep, bulls, chickens, pigs...you name it. They live such an incredible lifestyle - one that is difficult to comprehend, let alone explain, after having grown up in a big city. Driving past the neat fields set to a background of gorgeous green mountains, bright blue sky, lush greens everywhere, looking across to the Inca Terraces and the beauty of the city below...I had to take a deep breath and appreciate how rich in beauty, culture, and history Cusco really is. At the school, I have been sanding the new building that was built for the Mother's Group, getting it all ready for painting. I also helped teach an art class to a crazy class of grade 1 and 2's. Yesterday, I got to teach the music class for the grade 5 and 6's. I was nervous at first about having to teach in another language, but the lesson ended up going really well! I taught them the basics of rhythm and then spent the second half of the class teaching them dance. I had a lot of fun teaching, and was surprised that the boys were way more into the dancing than the girls.
So, along with working
hard comes playing hard...and Aussies sure know how to play! Friday night we went out to dinner in town at a really nice restaurant called The Witch's Garden. Turns out the restaurant is owned by a lady from Montreal!!! Anyway, a few of us went there as a farewell celebration for Selvy, the vice-president of Peru's Challenge, because he was leaving to Australia for a month. After a fabulous dinner, we went salsa dancing...it was SO much fun!! I felt like the energizer bunny, because I never stopped dancing. It was definitely a big night. I got home around five am, and I wasn't even the last of the group to come home~it seems like the night life in Cusco lives until about eight in the morning! I spent Saturday nursing my legs and relaxing, and when I was invited to go out for an easy night on Sunday, I figured I was up for the task. Well, I learned never to trust an Aussi when they say that it is going to be a nice easy night. We went to the Irish Pub on Sunday night for some dinner...and I was definitely kicking myself on Monday morning. However, a
Salsa with Selvy
Me, Selvy, Christina quick recovery in the morning and a good days work at the school made everything better.
Last night, four of us went into town to see the procession they have for Semana Santa (Saint Week). I don't think I have ever seen so many people in one place at the same time. By seven o'clock, when the procession was meant to start, the main square was flooded with people. Unlike the parade I was expecting, the procession was simply a parade of people that were nearly impossible to distinguish from the crowd, followed by a statue of Jesus Christ on the cross. There were several vendors selling cotton candy, pastries, candy apples and such in the street, but the event itself appeared to be very serious. Once the procession was over, Sam and I headed back home for a long awaited early night in.
Recently, the sun has been doing lots of shining and it has been very hot!! On Thursday, a big group of us leaves to go visit Lake Titicaca for the weekend. I am looking forward to having more to share with you guys. Over the past few days I have learned that good or
Semana Santa
The Procession bad, it is all part of the experience, and you really have to make sure to do your best to take it all in. Chao!
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