More about the boys of Cusco

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But first a little about Pisac market. It is one of the largest in So. Am. and certainly one of the most confusing to walk through. If you´ve ever been to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, well, this is like it without the marble floors and the touts offering you mint tea. You can buy just about anything from vibrant colored towers of fruits and veggies to live animals to any kind of hat, glove, scarf or woven wall hanging in the most incredible colors and designs.

But ,I was on a mission. My friend, Sigrun, in Iceland, had written to me about a project she and some friends started last year when they visited Peru. They sell Peruvian craft items and raise money for a little village outside of Cusco. So far they have helped to renovate a kitchen including buying a gas stove. They help supply food to feed over 90 children each day. I was asked to replenish their crafts. I will give them to Sigrun in July when I see her in Chicago. I found wonderful items and made many of the market ladies very happy.

Val and I did not have to look very hard to find some worthy projects. Washington( our former guide) helps support an orphanage with food and other needed goods. He told us that the kids are street children. After they go to school each day they are being taught skills so that they won´t end up begging or shining shoes on the street. The other project is the community of Huandar, near Pisac. Our landlord and his family have been raising money to help the people there. The goal is to build a center where the women can weave and sell their crafts. You can read about this community on Pilar´s travel agency´s website www.satsperu.com Click onto ´our community´. If you would like to contribute to either of these projects let me know before May 13th. I will only accept pledges and donations from people I know personally. You can e-mail me at my regular address.

There are many private school in Cusco. Our friend, Cesar, teaches English at one of them. It is a Catholic school. He invited us to visit his classes and answer questions the boys might have. The school is located high, high up on the hills surrounding Cusco. Now remember Cusco is at 11,000 ft. so to have to hike up more stairs and steps is a major accomplishment. Cesar´s classroom was up 3 flights. The first class were boys of 15 or 16. There were over 40 kids in the class. Most were shy and silly but a few were pretty serious. They asked the usual questions like where are you from? or how old are you? One wanted to know what other countries VaL and I had traveled too. They were pretty quite when we had listed over 30. They asked if we recycled in US and some questions about the environment but the main question was if we liked Cusco.

We left that class, walked down the 3 flights, across the courtyard which doubled as a soccer field and band practice space, and up another 2 flights. There were about 35 ten or eleven years old boys waiting nervously for us. I brought some pictures of Memphis, my house and grandkids and that made the class a little more relaxed. But when Val brought out her picture of her cute little dog SKipper, well that broke the ice. They bombarded us with questions- again with the how old are you? Lots of questions about why are we in Cusco, for how long, etc. Here are some of my favorites- Do you speak Japanese? Do you know Ohio? Where are your husbands? There was a short silence and almost a gasp when we said we were both divorced. What is your job? favorite music? cartoon? and more. My personal favorite was- Do you play volleyball? Now, I can hear my kids falling off their chairs laughing at that one.

By this time it was not too controlled chaos. Val was surrounded by kids, I was surrounded by kids and Cesar had kids running up to him asking for words in English. We told the kids to be sure and speak to us if they saw us in the Plaza. When it was time for us to go we got hugs and kisses and knew that it was surely unlike any other English class they had ever had.

How lucky we are to be able to have these experiences.

Tomorrow is our last day of school. Woohoo! We are taking our teacher, Magda, to lunch. This school, Excel, although very small and not very fancy, was one of the best I´ve attended mainly because Magda was such a wonderful and patient, teacher. But in talking to the other students - one from Japan, others from Austria, and 2 from England, they all seem to have the same opinion of their teachers. Our quest to learn Spanish continues and we are already thinking about our next venue, next year.

Next week..... Machu Picchu
Carolyn

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