September 7, 2007
From SATA-Peru-2007
Today started as usual: horns honking outside, firecrackers going off, and our typical breakfast of 3 croissants and tea. We went to class and afterwards came back to the hotel. Our group then went to visit “Azul Wasi,” a place where ten street children can go to sleep, eat, study, and have a positive atmosphere. We were driven there by a police officer in Cusco, a man who lost both of his parents by the time he was 14, and because of this started the Azul Wasi. However, the house is no where near complete and our group has offered to help in any way we can. The ride was longer than we had anticipated, and we were all squished into a small van. We certainly got very close during this ride, it felt like the ride home from the airport all over again, minus the luggage! As we got closer, the road became very bumpy which caused some to become nauseous and others to not be able to control their laughter. There were weird noises coming from the car and we couldn’t help but laugh. At one point we thought we were going to have to get out and push it up a small hill. When we arrived, we saw a few donkeys in the driveway, baby chicks, beautiful mountains in every direction, and a family outside. It was nice to get out of the city for a bit, but it seemed a lot colder! We then took a tour of the house, which consisted of a small kitchen containing only a table (with no chairs), two bedrooms (one with 2 beds and one with 8) and a classroom type room. We learned that a group of high schoolers from Scotland had come to paint murals and volunteer their time, and the murals were very detailed and well planned. We sat around the tables in the classroom and the police officer told us what needed to be done and his goals for the house. We told him we would be happy to help, I guess we will have to get used to the drive, as we are going back on Sunday to help in several possible areas such as painting, construction, and help with the water source. The police officer was telling us that the water was their main concern right now, because if they didn’t have clean water, they wouldn’t get government approval. Their goal is to have the house up and running in 2 weeks. After seeing some of the street children in Cusco, we all believe this to be a great cause and are willing to help in any way we can.
After a bumpy, squished ride back home we went right to lunch where we had soup, chicken, and of course rice. After lunch everyone did their own thing, some took naps, some soccer was played outside, Hayley, Leia, Shana and I went out with Gloria and Sofia (who work in the kitchen here) and walked around town and saw some cool places we hadn’t been to before. Shana and I checked out a clothing store and then got some ice cream, which was very good (and cheap!) While we were out, Erich and Hans Clark Eysenbach watched a movie with subtitles in their room. Mike and Ami took a motorcycle ride through the countryside, which turned out to be a longer than expected adventure when they got a flat tire. Luckily, they were able to hitchhike to a nearby town where they paid approximately 3 dollars to patch up the tire. They got back 2 hours later than expected.
We went out to an amazing dinner tonight in town. We each got a 3 course meal and dessert for the equivalent of about 5 US Dollars. Most of us tried some alpaca meat for the first time, which looked like and tasted pretty similar to steak. To top off this great dinner, a live band came and performed, even though we were the only people in the restaurant. Some of us bought their CD. It was a very relaxing atmosphere, dinners here are much slower paced than back at home.
After dinner, some of us went out for a night on the town while others came back for some sleep.
