Here's the final blog and photo's from our Gappers in Peru...What adventures they've had!
So since the interesting adventures in Bolivia the whole group has finally been reunited. The boys returned after enjoying watching Boliviano women wrestling and celebrating Nick´s 19th birthday! (I think this went over a few nights :)) While they were embarking on the perfectly safe, calm and somewhat relaxing border crossing us girls went jungle! We headed off to Manu at some hideous hour of the morning to have to catch a zipline across to our jungle lodge. Here there was 2 resident monkeys Chico and Paula who we all feel instantly in love with. Heads up to all parents.. but especially Bec´s we want pet Monkeys. So please start looking.... there was also 2 turtles and a large river otter. However I cannot forget to mention the multitude of bugs and spiders we met. Actually it felt very much like home. After 3 months of missing bugs I know I felt quite at home going to sleep with them sharing the other side of my mosquito net. We enjoyed the brake from electricity and fell very easily into the rhythym of waking up early and going to bed at around 8pm every night. We enjoyed looking for animals on the trails around the lodge and showering under waterfalls. It was amazing to just have some time away from the hustle and bustle of Cusco were we were surrounded by hundreds of types of green. Manu really is an amazing place that needs to be preserved for the sake of everyone.
Then we arrived home to work very hard on finishing painting the school´s buildings, finishing the green house and going on last ´check -up´ house visits. Together we delievered beds and blankets, we planted beetroot and lettuce and got a significant amount of paint on ourselves as we bevered away. The last week at Ccorao was a blur of fun, sadness and excitment for what lies ahead. It was also dominated by daily visists from 2 police officers who were training all the kids to march correctly for Peru´s independence day. This to us looked more like communist training and slightly worried us about what all this straight line marching is teaching the kids. The policeman also enjoyed teaching us the correct way to paint and even the correct way to eat... go figure?! Our last classes were filled with re-teaching the kids games for our final olympics on the last day and also finishing off the wonderful art that got exhibited in the art show. Friday, our last school day with the Antip´s placement was a whirlwind day that left the kids smiling, happy, tired and with a new calulator and a sugar high. We had organised a mini olympics with many games such as ´potato and spoon´ and their all time favourite.. football! We had seperated the school into Condors, Pumas, Serpents and Llamas and the kids loved getting splattered in paint and ribbons to help us distinguish them.
The entire day didn´t go exactly to plan. As an example my little year 2´s combined with the gorgeous year 1´s got a tad to ´into´ their animals and so our football game was interrupted by the Puma´s trying to eat the Condors. However on the whole we all had fun and that is the main thing. We had invited parents to come and join in and see how talented these kids are and to share in a celebratory lunch. The art show was a huge success and I think every parent left amazed by their child´s ability. We also were lucky enough to officially open the green house with Riccado, ´SuperMan´ smashing the pot (a Peruvian custom.) I cannot adequately descirbe how greatful we are to this man and how much he will be missed by us. We were also so happy to leave him with his own plarque to remember his stirling efforts, a great set of work boots so he can leave his sandles at home and also a jacket to keep him warm.
What was so special about the last day is how thankful every single member of the Ccorao school community was for the work we have done there over the last 3 months. The assembly they held for us brought tears to our eyes and we felt spoilt rotten by the way they treated us like Gods. We were adorned with gifts to thank us and also give us another way to remember this amazing community. To recipricate there generous offers we all felt extremly glad that we could also leave giving a parting gift to the whole school and also to each individual child. To the kids we gave a party bag which we hoped was tasty and useful for future studies. But... for the school we gave them the best sound system we could get our hands on. Now they have no excuse for bad music and announcements at there assemblies!!! This gift meant the world to the Director of the school and also allowed us to show our gratitude to the school for everything the children have taught us. Leaving behind all our friends, teachers, adopted children and dogs was an extremly sad occasion and we all hope that we will be able to return in the future and see how the school is progressing... (with more green houses, a guinea pig farm and other useful projects copmleted there with the combined work of the school community and volunteers)
This week we also celebrated Nick´s birthday all together at the most insane meat reaturant. All I will say is that we had a great dinner and ate way way way way way too much meat..It was the perfect choice for Nick´s birthday dinner restuarant (expect Charlie who just enjoyed the salad bar). To end our wonderful week we went to watch the amazing optical illusion sunrise at Tres Cruces and enjoyed spending a lovely, if slightly cold weekend together. Lots of laughs were had as well as many of our favorite moments in Peru were relived. The sunrise was incredible and the sun appeared to jump above the horizon. We sat on the edge of the Andes looking down at Manu jungle and the cloud cover. The sun definetly took it´s time but in the end we were all left speechless at the array of incredible colours. Sunrises will never be the same at home....
What a rollercoaster of emotions we have had this week but what wonderdful memories we have. Chao to all our AMIGOS at Ccorao!
No comments:
Post a Comment