Engulfing clouds of dust. The Guttural roar of beastly four wheel engines filling our helmet clad heads, we twisted and turned hair-pin corners. Varying confidence (in my case, very little), but waay too much adrenaline. The fading light of the golden afternoon sun over the neighbouring hills (well, mountains). And so we rode (quad-biking in style) into the sunset on officially our first month in Cusco!
So what´s been happening… Each week, 4 volunteers have started making house visits to some of the children’s homes… I haven’t yet gone, but I’m a little anticipant… we hear about the conditions they live in, and their situations, but I don’t think it really rings true until you see it. To a degree, at the moment, it feels like something we can forget or look over, particularly as what we hear is so unbelievable; that people could be living in such conditions, especially kids who are some of the most beautiful and happy I’ve had the good fortune to meet.
Little by little, our trout sellery/restaurant is making its way to completion. The walls and windows have been plastered on the inside, the ceiling finished, at the moment we’re working on leveling the floor which consists of rocks about three palm-widths. Well, at one point, we thought it was level, but informed by Cosme & Oscar the head-builders it was all wrong the other day, we’re on our way to finishing it properly: just one of our many Spanish to English misunderstandings! Haha.
As well, every day we continue the hygiene project in which we round up all the kids from play, everyone gets a little bit of soap (for some reason they all call it shampoo!) washes their hands and face, and after, receives a dollop of moisturiser for their little hands and faces. Every Monday, to the kids delight, we hand out berry-flavoured vitamins too – the cheeky ones always try to take two, or pretend they don’t have one yet, but soo onto their tricks now hehe.
Teaching has been an ongoing, but rewarding challenge… My kids (clearly the most awesome class ;) ) have now learnt by heart in English: family members (though still mistake ‘father’ for ‘brother’, a rather strange conundrum if taken literally) numbers, colours, and today we’re onto body parts (cue ‘heads, shoulders, knees and toes”). I’m ever so proud of them, they’re so keen to learn new things, though they are all at different levels; the faster kids are usually the same ones, so we prepare extra little activities for them, like sheets which they love. It’s hard to keep everyone on task though, their wandering imaginations sometimes make it hard to keep everyone focused! At this point we go for a run outside, or play a ball game in the class.
Realised I haven’t spoken much about what makes up most of my life right now, my host family! Me and Charlotte’s family consists of three younger sisters, Fabi (4), Ximena (6) and Cami (10), our mum Luz who is a full time mum & painter of beautiful religious paintings, and our host dad Edouardo who is an Orthodontist. With three little sisters, it can definitely be said there is never a quiet moment around the house (except for the girls’ school time hehe). There’s definitely something to laugh about everyday at home; whether its Fabi and her constant stream of monologue, usually just to herself if no-ones listening, or Ximena’s songs (the last one was about a butterfly, with some chocolate, in a pool… yeah, I’m not quite sure what’s going on there either..). It’s taken a while to get used to a constant flow of action and noise, and to everything so different from Australia, which is basically, everything! My host-mum still doesn’t really understand why I’m vegetarian (along with every other Peruvian, “vege-whaaa?!) but she prepares the most lovely vegetable dishes, so many traditional “papas” (potatoes) and rice dishes, for us to try traditional Peruvian food. In the same house, upstairs, live two other volunteers and their mum also cooks the most delicious cakes… “cheesekeke de maracouya”, passionfruit cheesecake MMMMMM!
Last weekend, we had the most incredible experience with our family, actually becoming a part of the traditional Torrechayoc festival in Urubamba (about an hour and half out of Cusco). Each year for the past ten years, our family told us, they get together with the same group of family and close friends, to form a dancing group in the festivals parade called the “Majenos”, or country people. Us four girls who live in “Coviduc” got geared up in traditional gear (me and Clarissa sporting a fantastic mustard yellow, and Laura and Charlotte in cherry red) which was a long swirly skirt, long white blouse, sash and traditional bowler hats. Having learnt each dance in about ten minutes before actual showtime, it was hard not to feel a little overwhelmed by the chaos around us: Urubamba had been transformed from a sleepy little country town hidden in the mountains, to a rainbow of endless movement and colour, hundreds of dances which made their way down each street, each with at least fifty dancers in every costume representing different parts of Peru; our favourite were the “demonios” said to hide from Jesus; dressed in bright rainbow striped suits, and twisted masks, you could see them concealed in trees, along the tops of walls and on top of rooves kicking their legs wildly in the air. Every little detail made the festival amazing, even more so that we were actually invited to be such a big part of it; turns out we were literally the only “gringas” (or white girls) in the entiiiire parade, and the attention which came from it was a little overwhelming; ironically, we were dressed in the most traditional, conservative costumes, but still got endless whistles and cat calls at every step, and endless “un photo, por favor!”s; it was like being celebrities for the weekend! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard, and for so long; we danced for a collective eight hours in the streets, and the whole time my cheeks were hardwired in a smile; Absolutely unforgettable.
Tomorrow, set to go paragliding, & white water rafting, can´t wait to tell you about iiit!
Your Peruvian girl, Michelle
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