Peru - Day 4

Today we were taken to a much more remote village.  It was called Punacancha and was only about 15 km out of the city but due to the narrow, muddy, curvy, and rocky roads, it took us over an hour to get there.  We were all safe though since we have the most AMAZING driver, Miguel.  This village was at about 12,400 feet and I could totally tell.  By the end of the day my head was throbbing.    There were only about 10 of us today since all the other medical/public health people were putting on a conference in Cusco.  I was the only Spanish speaker so I was translating a lot and the others were doing quite a bit of sign language which was hilarious.  The kids and most of the adults could actually speak Spanish and not just Quechua (the Indian language most speak up in the Andes).

Their school was under construction and so most of the kids were down the hill at another school most of the day so we only had 8 or 9 kids that we played with today but the smaller numbers were actually nice.  Lots of the adults were gone as well working in the mountains so we worked and talked with some older ladies and some of the men who are doing work in the village.  I apologize if the pics are a little grainy, I had to shrink them so they would upload faster. :)

Here are Shannon, Erica, and Tara just after arriving.  This is the soccer field they are standing on with on of their churches made completely of adobe in the background.  This is the catholic church and they had a newer one just down the road that was evangelical.

 One of the projects the guys worked on today were 2-liter bottle lights.  You fill the bottles with water and a little bleach and cut a hole in the roof and stick it in and with the sunlight it puts off about as much light as a 50 watt light bulb.  Some of these people have adobe houses with no windows and live in darkness a lot of the time.  We were just trying it out today but it seemed to work pretty good!  There are a lot of 2-liter bottles laying around these villages so hopefully they can take this and run with it!

Most of the villagers are vegetarians.  That is what they grow...potatoes, peas, carrots, and a lot more.  But, they do eat guinea pig.  It is a staple.  This house was the community pen for the guinea pig.  This cute little old lady loved showing us around.  We were told in our evaluation meeting tonite that these people don't often invite you into their houses and other buildings and that it is a huge privilege.  Chad, our veteran leader who has come for 30 years only was invited in homes last year for the first time so we felt lucky!

She also let us see her kitchen.  You can see how smoky and sooty it is.  There was one little ventilation window up above.  She had no regular windows and one teeny light bulb that put off hardly any light.  One of our projects was rocket stoves which are built in such a way that it produces no smoke.  We worked on one today but everything was so wet it didn't work which was a bummer.

We did snag one of the moms when she came in from the fields at lunch and gave their family a few donations from everyone.  (These were yours Jen Hansen!)

One of the treats we gave the kids today was pixie sticks.  They had no clue what they were but after I showed them, they were all over it! 

 

Cute Tara brought nail polish and had a great time painting the girls fingernails.  I also brought some Disney princess rings and bracelets to help them feel pretty!

One of my favorite pics of the day.  This little boy was so shy and kept his distance but was always lingering.    I loved him sprawled out on the soccer field watching us.

LOVE this picture.  You can get a great idea of how green it is, the homes made of adobe and thatched roofs, and you can see the next village on the mountain out in the distance.

 

As we came down the mountain after working today, this was the gorgeous view of Cusco.