Ollantaytambo again

Hello parents and friends, we are once again in Ollantaytambo for the day, a visit to see some ruins a museum or two and to update the blog. With any luck here there will be pictures and even one or two videos. We also have blogs from every student, hooray! Actually never mind about pictures. Apperently the computers here can´t handle that. Stupid Windows crap. Anyway while internet speed is slow and pictures may be some time in coming there will be at least one or two here no matter what! I have to say the this is easily the most fun I have had in a while. The people here are amazing and the food is actually really good despite what the descriptions said. James and I, who share a homestay, have had some of the best food up to and including fried potatos (french fries) with steak and rice and fruit. Unfortunately the people here are determined to make us all gain 15 - 20 pounds each day with the amount of food they give us and each time we say "Not so much" they think we are sick and need more food. It is a vicious cycle.

Hey here is the first picture! This is a picture of a festival in a village about 4 miles from Chilca where we stopped for about 20 minutes to see the people and the costumes.


(http://www.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/Festival.JPG

This next picture is from when we first arrived in Chilca. Almost immediately after we got here we were ushered into the schoolyard and made to sit. The entire school then came out, lined up, and sang the Peruvian national anthem for us. Pretty good welcome, eh?

(http://www.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/School.JPG)




These next two pictures are of two of our favorite kids in all of Peru. The first is Daniel (Da nee el) the coolest little kid ever. He has chicken pox right now and so isn´t in school but he still comes with us everywhere we go and helps with all sorts of manual labor like chopping up dirt with a pickaxe and doing his best to help carry 20 lbs. adobe bricks. The other little boy is Jose and he is simply amazingly cute and utterly hysterical to watch. He loves having people to play with and he can be the most punkish little twerp sometimes, but in a good way.(http://www.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/Daniel.JPG)

(http://www.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/Jose.JPG)


This picture is a view of Chilca from a bit of a distance, the school is the blue building in the middle.


(http://www.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/Chilca.JPG)


This picture is of the entire Chilca valley including the mountains beyond. Absolutely beautiful.


(http://www.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/Chilca_Valley.JPG)


This is a little girl living in our house, cute as a button but I cannot for the life of me remember her name. So I call her Isabella


(http://www.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/Isabell.JPG)


This is Navesca, I think thats how to spell her name, she has Down Syndrome and we have christened here with the nick-name Nabisco for no particular reason.


(http://www.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/Nabisco.JPG)


Here we see our entrepid guide Paull with Alli after a hard days work slinging mud (literally).


(http://ww.deviltools.com/peru_trip/Blog_Pictures/Paull_e_Alli.JPG)


--
Jack

Here is everyones blogs at last!

James:
Peru has been an experience that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I have been given the opportunity to help a community in their effort to improve the quality of their school and their kid’s education. I am so glad that I took advantage of this opportunity because it has been such a great time working to build a guinea pig barn and to get to know the people on this journey. I love being in the mountains and that is pretty much where we have been for the entire trip. Every place we travel to we end up right in the middle of a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. One of the kids in the house where I am staying named Daniel has attached to entire group and follows us every place we go inside Chilca. He will probably miss the EHS group more than any other person we have met inside Peru. It has been so nice to come to a place like Peru and to get to know what the villages here are actually like and to help them to become a better place. I can’t wait to see the completion of the barn and to move on to Macchu Picchu and Cuzco. Can’t wait to come home and tell of our adventures!

Chaps:
I’m pretty sick today but I’m still happy to be in Chilca, Peru. The scenery is so beautiful here and everything is so nice, even though I feel bad. We’ve got a lot done and done a lot since I last blogged in Ollantaytambo. On Tuesday we did the 6-8 mile hike to Chilca. On the way we stopped and ate lunch by a river and had some skipping stone contests. Also we stopped in a small town for a festival and found out that Paull, our guide, is actually running to be the mayor. When we got here to Chilca we immediately went to the school and were welcomed by all of the students and teachers. They did a local play and dance for us before we went to our house. When we got to our house I was pretty surprised, it had been both over and under sold. Over sold because instead of having a window with a beautiful view of Mount Veronica Spencer and I were, and still are looking at two large blue tarps. Undersold because instead of having two chickens we had about seven. We had our first meal that night and it like all of our food it was very good. Then on Wednesday we started to build the guinea pig barn, which is needed because all of our families have a lot of guinea pigs. Since then we’ve basically been working every morning and doing activities in the afternoon. Our work thus far has been hauling adobe bricks and dirt, and doing some actual building assemblage. One afternoon we did some group building activities and the next we discussed education in the third world. The third afternoon we did a hike after eating some guinea pig. That was yesterday and I’m never going to do that again.

Spencer:
The Devil wants us to quit. But we, as a group, disagree. While others fall along the way, we will prevail. Just recently, I walked a Goat and it was a very rewarding experience. I go to sleep with blue tarps as windows, but it is a very rewarding experience. The family I stay with makes fun of me and will chapell because they know we cannot understand what they are saying, but it is a very rewarding experience. This trip, overall, has been an incredible experience for everyone, teachers included.. Adjusting to the Peruvian culture has been an incredible experience for me. I now see how lucky I am these days and it has been so rewarding to see life in someone else’s shoes that is less fortunate than me. To experience what these Peruvians have to go through every single day and to physically be able to have empathy for them has been one of the better experiences of my life. We have incredible leaders who are taking great care of us and our teachers are a ton of fun as well. Again, this has been a very rewarding experience for not only me, but for the entire group, and I cannot wait for this next week. To be honest, I was not so sure about going on this trip before we left, but now I feel as if it was one of the better decisions of my high school career.


Sydney:
HOLA! This week has really been a mind blowing experience. From eating delicious meals in Ollantaytambo to performing the tiger rumble in front of the school in Chilca this has been one of the most eventful weeks of my life! As a group we have embraced the Peruvian spirit and left most of our American customs in Nashville (like taking hot showers). Yesterday I had my 1st and last taste of guinea pig, which reminded me why I miss Krystals so much. But I’m having a great time and I cant wait to see what happens next!!

Lili:
Peru has been a life changing experience. Through my time here I have realized how selfish and ungrateful I can be. The people in Chilca couldn’t be any happier, even though they have dirt floors, cold showers, and a small stone stove. It’s so refreshing to be rid of the unnecessary items that fill everyday life at home. I love being surrounded by beautiful mountains, smiling faces, and a fun and exciting group. I’m having a wonderful time and dread leaving.

Emily:
It is absolutely gorgeous here and so far I have had an amazing time. I have really learned about the value of hard work and a good attitude through building the guinea pig farm. I know that I appreciate everything I have so much more and will have a new perspective on life when I go home. Everything from the food to the landscapes have broadened my views on the world and I am sad to that I will have to leave. I can’t wait to share my experiences when I come back.

Alli:
Living with a Peruvian family that speaks absolutely zero English and hauling adobe bricks to build our guinea pig farm has been a huge struggle, but is also the reason that this trip will be remembered forever. It has been such a rewarding experience staying in Chilca and it is safe to say it has made all of us very thankful for everything we have in the U.S. We adopted a boy named Daniel, who goes with us everywhere and is our little amigo. We all love him so much and are trying to find a way to pack him in our bag to come home with us. Our group is getting along great and we couldn’t have asked for better leaders, Jason and Paull. Paull is a Peruvian native who has been showing us the ropes, with a smile, since he picked us up in Cuzco, and Jason, a history teacher from Chicago who worked with the peace corps in Paraguay. Although he misses his two little ones back at home very much, he has been an awesome leader making sure everyone is feeling well and happy. We are all getting to know each other too well and making sure to laugh until we cant breathe at least once every day.

Sarah:
This first week has been an amazing experience! Everything here is so different from the United States. All of the people here are very kind, the kids are adorable and the view is breath taking. Me and Alli have really began bonding with our family and I am going to miss them all very much especially the two little boys, Marco and Jimmy. I will miss playing soccer and walking the sheep with them everyone morning. However, the mom constantly asks us for things like shampoo, money, hair brushes, and bananas.
I find myself on constant alert living in a community where no one speaks my language but I am also surprised at how well I can communicate with the people in my family and all the other people around me. I am so happy that I haven’t felt the least bit sick, or had a drop of diarrhea! This place is beautiful and I hope to bring some of this beauty back to America.
One thing however that makes look forward to coming home is the food. I can’t wait to eat a big burger and fries with some some sweet tea. Oh, and my family. Love ya’ll!
P.S. Jason is my favorite leader. He has made this trip so enjoyable and really built up my self-confidence 

Liz:
Spencer talks to cows. Lili plays with every child. Sydney has developed nicknames for every child in Chilca. Jackon keeps us grounded. Will jumps in the mud. James defends his new brother at a drop of a hat. Alli always steps up even when it means carrying Adobe by herself. Emily smile has never gone away. Trina and I have regressed into children enjoying our morning mountain view. Paull our Peruvian guide has kept us safe. Jason had been steadfast and has become the groups uncle.

Besides the fact that the Ensworth group has fallen in love with their lives every morning. It has been amazing as a teacher to watch our students radiate beauty to each other and to Peru. It has been a gift to watch them fall into a different world and land on their feet. Although it has only been seven days I feel as if we have been through a vortex of change and realize that we are lucky but also that the world is much larger then we are. We have also become very close talking about every issue under the sun from the various meals we have had to our relationship with the toilet or not with the toilet to what makes us tick. I do not believe that Peru has changed our students but has just been a canvas for them to express themselves further. It has been a pleasure to watch them paint the portrait of all their splendor.

Trina:
I think that I mentioned in my previous blog that I would say something about the taxi ride that Liz and I took the other day. I told the students that it was like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disney. The taxis are little cars that zoom around winding roads at a break neck speed, they often zoon on the wrong side of the road around a curve…yikes. Another form of public transportation is the autobus (mini-van). Usually when you see these, people are literally crammed into every space in the van and perhaps several people are on top of the van. Wild, Peru…OK the food…you wouldn’t believe it. It was said to us prior to the trip that we may begin to feel frustrated at some point with the monotony of the food in the home stays. Nothing could be further from the truth. Liz and I are going to attempt to document each meal that we have had. Each meal has been delicious and unique. You wouldn’t believe what we have eaten and where it was prepared. The kitchen and dining area in our home is probably…well I’m bad with dimensions but trust me it is small, the cooking done over fire and they use limited utensils. The meals that Hilda put out are simply remarkable. I honestly believe that if, Rachel Ray or one of the food network people came and filmed the rural Peruvian women cook, they would be blown away. The work ethic of the Peruvians and their ability to make use of everything that is in front of them is amazing. Oh yeah the clouds and the stars as seen from Peru…it seems that we can reach right up and touch them. Have you ever chewed coca leaves that a Peruvian shaman has given you? We have. Have you ever eaten a guinea pig that is a favorite meal in Peru? We have. Walked where the Inca’s walked? White water rafted in the Sacred River? Seen farmers plow with oxen and a wooden plow? These are just a few of the many things that we have experienced and we still have a week packed with adventure. I’ll say it again…families of the Ensworth students, be proud of your kids. They have been great. Thanks for allowing us to share in this experience with them. People often talk about life changing experiences and honestly I think...maybe…(sorry to sound cynical, but you probably know what I mean), but this may be one of those life changing experiences for some of us. To walk away from this and not have a deeper understanding of how we are all connected and the implications of that would be nearly impossible. We are so far from home and in such a different culture, but people are people. Our Peruvian friends love their families, want to work, want an education and want a nice meal and bed to sleep in at the end of the day just like all of us. How nice. I’m excited to see what happens next.

We miss you and love you. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Trina

Paull:
well, I think 8 days ago I went to airport to pick up the Ensworth group it was 9 in the morning but we waited more time with Jason…. When we saw them we knew they were with a lot of energy and happies…. In the car to Ollantaytambo I knew the DIVAS hahahahaha were fun..and then I saw them working in the CHILLCA school those were great…. I made really good friends… in the rafting I got my team in the boat he was Will in Chillca the divas, Alli and Sara, the other guys Spencer, James and Jakson, the teacher always were great person happies and talk a lot… they bring a lot of adobes, land they work whit muddy specially Alli and Will and I always say tou Emily whit Alex, hahahhahahaha,the group were happy whit Daniel Pereyra he is 8 year old…… well always I spend great time , I am lucky and glad because them.. exelent peolple from Nashville in Tennessee.

Jason:
As my boy Paull has alluded, we have loved being with these kids from Nashville. Their attitude and enthusiasm are infectious. They have adjusted to their host families with little trouble. In fact most of them think of their host families as their own. I have been very impressed with how seem less they have become accustomed to the Peruvian culture. Not only do they all take cold showers but they all tried guinea pig, chewed coca leaves and use el bano without a seat. We only have one week left and it is going to fly by. The guinea pig barn is getting built and hopefully we will finish the walls before it is time to leave. I can honestly say I have loved every minute of our time together. I can’t wait for the next week.

you would be so proud

okay here is the first adult perspective i think. a direct note to the parents...you would be so proud of your children. liz and i are so filled with pride for how they are doing. they are working hard, bonding with their families and being so good to us and each other. i couldn´t imagine things going any better. well so, what are we doing these days. yesterday we spent the day at the school in chilca working really hard. we carried adobe bricks up a hill to the building site for the guinea pig barn. i´m guessing that none of you have ever carried an adobe brick, i had not either let me tell you epps and perk would be proud. the ehs fitness program is paying off and still in practice in peru.

today we carried dirt up a hill, taught english and played volleyball with the students.

have to go quickly, but i´ll leave you with this...we are all getting really close. we check in daily with each other about our bowel situation...too much or too little...it is really a big deal. don´t fret, everyone is well. just had to share, maybe too much information, but it is a big deal to us here in the third world.

we love you and miss you. having a great time, words won´t really translate how great. more later the taxi is waiting. remind me to tell you about that. yikes

trina

First Few Days in Chilka

Families and Friends,

This is Sean Praskievicz, with WLS Denver once again. I spoke with WLS faculty, and group leader Jason earlier this morning. He wanted me pass on a quick update because the group is unable to access computers in Chilka.

With a couple days now spent in Chilka, the students have been matched with their respective home stays and field projects. All the students are comfortable and pleased with their home stay assignments. The home stays provide an incredible opportunity for students to practice and better their Spanish, and understand a culture from an insider's perspective.

Students seem eager and excited to continue work on the guinea pig farm and to learn as much as they can while in this unique village.

Student updates will follow at the earliest convenience. Best wishes to everyone in the field and back home.

Sean Praskievicz

Arrival in Chilka

Hey Parents,

This is a short update from Sean Praskievicz at WLS Denver. I spoke earlier today with Jason and he informed me that the group arrived safely in the community of Chilka. Spirits are high amongst the students and locals alike! Jason told me that everyone is excited to get started on their project but are a little tired as expected from the trip.

Stay tuned for updates from the students in the field!
Sean

First Blog From Peru

Hey everyone back in America! This is Chaps and it is our second day here in ollantaytambo.
First of all a very happy birthday to mrs. Flynn, and now down to business.
All of the flights were good, the Miami airport was incredibly boring but it was all leading towards getting here, and we got some good footage of what can legitimately be called "ultimate boredom." We got to Cuzco yesterday morning and met our two WONDERFUL guides, Robert and Paul. Paul is actually from ollantaytambo and is somewhat of a celebrity around here (we jokingly call him the mayor) which is very nice. Cuzco was a really big town, I think I heard 400,000 people, and they are currently preparing for the festival of the sun. So when we arrived there was a festive atmosphere with the town´s rainbow flag prominently displayed everywhere and school children marching outside the palace de justicia. The whole town was quite amazing really, like nothing I personally have ever seen before. All of the houses there looked like an amalgumation of the last 40 years of architectural style, resulting from the fact that buildings are built when the money comes in. One of the major differences that we all noticed immediately, aside from the mountains, was the amazing amount of animals running around the streets. In Cuzco it was mostly wild dogs but as we got farther out it became pigs, donkeys, oxen, cows, sheep, ducks, chickens, and all sorts of other animals. Robert jokingly said that if we were walking through one of the eucalyptus forests and we looked hard enough we might actually see a koala, and, in our sleep deprived state, we bought it for a while. So from cuzco we drove to ollantaytambo which is an hour and a half away and a few thousand feet lower. As Mrs. Flynn remarked there was an amazing change in climate in that half hour. We went from most of the mountains being covered in snow to most of the mountains being covered in grass and rocks. But these mountains are still beautiful, and looking down the valley from ollantaytambo we can see the beautiful snow covered peaks of the higher Andes. About fifteen minutes outside of ollantaytambo we stopped riding in our mercedes van and decided to enter the town on the ancient incan trail and through their gate. This trail, like seemingly everything the incans built, is still around and still quite amazing. It is just mind boggling the amount of terraces, and outposts, and bridges and walls that they built years before the spanish conquest that are still around and amazing. When we got into ollantaytambo we quickly found our hotel, the hostal de las portadas, and settled in before getting lunch. I´ll be the first to admit that the accomodations are not the ritz-carlton, but there is something homey about it, at least for me, and there IS hot water! So after settling in a little bit we went out to get our first taste of Peruvian food at a local restaurant, and were not dissapointed. We all had some local soup which was very good and other food which was quite excellent. Then we went back to the hotel and had a good two hour rest time, which was much needed since we had been awake for more than a day straight, negating the paultry few hours some of us were able to snatch on the five hours and one minute flight from Miami. Then yesterday afternoon we had our first activity, a scavenger hunt all around the town. We had to find the main square (easy), the market, some streets, the stadium, the school, the radio station, the cemetery, the bull-fighting ring, and other spots of local interest. This by design was supposed to help us learn to use the spanish, which few of us speak, and it really did help us to accomplish that. Two of the teams found small local children to help them along the way and our team made good use of the policemen which are more plentiful around here than in America. It was a tight race the whole way but I am happy to say that Jackson, James, and I won and also got to see a lot of the town. After that we returned to the hotel and drew maps from our memory before we went out to dinner, where a local band played and the food was excellent. After that we all returned to the hotel, took showers, and completely crashed, sleeping heavily even though the mattresses were basically rocks.
This morning we woke up, had breakfast, and were given a short history of the town of ollantaytambo. It was founded by an early incan emperor, whose name escapes me, but who was essentially the Alexander the great and established the Incan empire as the major power of South America spanning from Ecuador to Chile. For years this town was a place to stop and get food and rest, which gave it the name Tambo. Some years later a local soldier wanted to marry a princess but was refused her hand by her incan priest father. He then returned to this town and waged a succesful war and when he won both it and the bride even though he was expelled the town was renamed after him, ollantaytambo, ollantay´s resting place. Then in the 1530´s the spanish came and took over cuzco during their conquest period. A general of the Incan army returned here though and fought the only succesful battle ever waged during spain´s conquests in South America, winning but eventually the war was lost. Although as any naitve will point out the incans had just been embroiled in a civil war and were drastically weakened. So this town around with the rest of the countryside became spanish and was mostly settled by a mix of spanish and ketchuans because all of the pure ketchuan indians, the survivors of the incans, fled into the mountains to live a simple life style. So when peru became a free country in 1821 it was still basically the spanish hybrids and pure people who ran the country in a feudal system basically until the 1960s when land was given to coops and has since been broken up into individual ownership. Quite interesting and good to know.
After our history lesson we set out to go white water rafting, which was very cool, and very beautiful. Quite amazing to be on the river and to look around and see snow capped mountains and ruins that last to a long past empire. And the rafting was good too! We got to go through some class 2 and 3 rapids and developed a fierce inter-boat rivalry. The Condors versus the Bananas, Bananas forever! We got into splashing fights and by the time that the rafting was over we were all thoroughly soaked in freezing cold water and happy to get some tea, hot food, and a change of clothes. So we ate a picnic style lunch right by the river and under the mountains and all of that and then drove back into town where most people are now reading Three Cups of Tea, and jackson and I are sitting in the main square in an internet cafe.
Everyone here is incredibly friendly and I feel like I´ve included everything that is pertinent to this point. Everyone´s spanish in the group is advancing rapidly, and tomorrow we are going to hike the 3-4 hours to Chilca to begin our week there. Robert tells us that we will be the only gringos in the town, certainly not the case in ollantaytambo, a good jumping off place for Machu Picchu, but it should be challenging considering that none of our families speak a word of English. We´ll blog again soon I suppose but it will definitely have to wait till we are back in ollantaytambo. Until that point we all send our love to our families back in America and want you to know that everything is good and we are all healthy, and please forgive any spelling mistakes as there is no spell check and this is a spanish keyboard.

--Chaps--

Greetings from Peru

Hello parents,

This is a short little blog letting you know that I have met up with you kids and their teachers and we are safe and sound in Ollantaytambo. I am very impressed with them and can´t wait to see what kind of great things they will do over the next 3 weeks. The kids will be blogging whenever they can, but once we are in Chilca, June 24th through the 30th, it will be a little more difficult. But hopefully we can put some pictures up so you can see what kind of an experience they are having.

Take care
Jason

Chaps's Pretrip "askdjflaksdjf" thing

This is Will Chappell, i.e. Chaps. I suppose that from this point on out I will post under that name or whatever. Summer has been great for me so far, went to New York, Boston, and Maine, about two days after school was out and just got back last night at around 11:00 p.m. so I'm pretty exhausted but I guess that will make me more fun.
Sitting in the Atlanta Hartsfield airport last night, all alone, I started to do some reflections on what this trip meant to me and all of that good stuff. Looking at all of the materialism surrounding me I realized that within a matter of days I would be thrust into the world where many people make under $10 a day. That's not much money in a year and I'm very interested to see this. I know all of the culture will be excellent and all of that and I'm really excited to go south of the equator for the first time ever.
As I said I was on planes for like 5 hours yesterday so I'm not looking to squeezing my 6' 3'' frame into another one of those seats for a long time, or the interminable layover in Miami, looks like 7 hours (!), but I am incredibly excited to depart on this adventure with everyone from school and I'll see you at the airport tomorrow morning at 11:30.

--Chaps--

P.S. I've raised all of my money so Mrs. Flynn and Ms. Workman, rest easier tonight!

Peru Trip!

Ah! It's the day before we leave and I am so pumped! I'm a little nervous about getting sick or something going terribly wrong but I'm sure we will be fine because we are working with skilled leaders who know exactly what they are doing and have done this many times before! This is going to be a great and life changing experience!

See ya'll tomorrow!
Sarah