The 4th Peruvian Style

Well a site to see tonight who needs hot dogs when you can have Inka Cola and Peruvian chicken on the mountain top of Cuzco. On our last night here in Peru the students danced the night away in their own private party in the back of hostel in Cuzco. We sat around the fire and told each other our favorite parts of the trip and as Jason, our fearless leader pointed out that everyone talked about their connections with the community. Most people point out the ruins and the food but this group pointed out their connections with the mothers, daughters, fathers, children, and of course the livestock of Chilca. Our home away from home.. where having a toilet seat was a luxury. As a teacher and as a leader on this trip it made me proud to see how this pioneer group opened their hearts to a world that has nothing to do with their lives and made it their own.

The place where we are staying is amazing. It is this beautiful family who made their money by the father who was a rock singer. He set up a sound system for the kids and as a strange surprise Spencer finally came out of his shy shell and sang and took over.. The only thing was that he got kicked out of the band he started that night... it is hard to be a rock star. We might have missed the fireworks on 2nd Ave but I feel like we created our own little independence from the world we have known our whole life.

We set sail tomorrow. We fly to Lima in the morning. We will have a bus waiting and will be taken on a 6 hour tour of Lima. There we will have our last dinner in the airport. There has been spotted a Starbucks and a Burger King so no worries they are getting nutrition. Our flight leaves late at night and we will be home in the afternoon. We look forward to seeing yo on the other side.

This has been an amazing journey for everyone. I look forward to watching The Peru mission grow for the entire student body at Ensworth....

Thank You World Leadership Program

happy 4th

well this is our last evening in peru. we are staying in a hostal in cusco and after a day of site seeing, the hostal owners treated to a celebration. the father to the mrs. of the house was a peruvian pop star in the 70´s. he set up speakers and amps and played us some songs and then played us peruvian techno music. it was quite an evening. i´m sure that most of you remember how shy your children are...fortunately their stay in peru brought them all out of their shells and since there was a microphone most of them decided to belt out a few. it was beautiful. once again, you would have been so proud. or, your belly would have been hurting from laughing. right now they are all packing their bags because we leave here early tomorrow to go to lima for a day of site seeing and then home. some of them are feeling sad and commented that they would love a few more days to go back to their homestay families for just a little more time.

it has truly been an incredible journey. we´ve seen amazing sites, beautiful landscapes, and have eaten until we are bursting most days, but the most outstanding thing about this trip is the relationships that have developed and the love that has been shown. your children have been selfless both in their interactions with one another, but more importantly with the people of peru especially the children. liz and i have been blessed beyond measure to spend this time with them.

we´ll see you all sunday. love,
trina

Coming to an End :(

Wow! I cant believe how quickly this trip has flown by. We have basically 1 more day left which consists of a flight from Cusco to Lima, and a tour of Lima during the day to pass the time during our lay over. Currently we are staying in a cool little bed and breakfast in Cusco, a town that is much much different then the town where our homestays were in Chilca. It is a very large very busy city with vendors all along the streets. This morning Paull our Peruvian tour guide who has accompanied us on our journey these last two weeks, gave us a tour of historic Cusco.


These last two weeks have been a truly life changing experience for me. I have not only learned about a completely different culture but I have learned how to give to others and how to see life through the eyes of a peruvian! I even got to see Machu Picchu, which other than the bug bites, was breathtaking! My only hope is that I can bring some of the good Peruvian Spirit back to the states and if I can´t do that then I definitely have enough souvenirs to share my experiences with everyone I know!



See Ya´ll in 2 days,

Sarah

Greetings from Macchu Picchu Part 2

Hello all, Chaps just gave a quick recap of the last few days for you all so I won't bore you with similar details. I am also unable to bring pictures due to my own inability to remember simple tasks after being exhasuted to the point of almost falling over. In case Chaps somehow managed to already forget our little ordeal I will mention it here. We hiked what seems like several miles uphill to get to the renowned Sun Gate. If you don't know what that is it doesn't surprise me one bit. On the other hand the view was absolutely breathtaking and as soon as I can get the pictures up you will understand why we hiked in the sun, with the bugs (which bite and leave blood and red spots. Chaps's legs look like he has some sort of terrible skin disease.) and with Sydney who tripped and sprained her ankle on the way down doing nothing to improve her temper (actually she was very good about it and didn't complain at all.). So now our feet hurt, we no longer have access to showers or beds and we won't be leaving this city until 7:00. After that we won't get to our next hotel until 10:00. Ah well, I have to go we have food soon and I need to make sure my baggage is where it needs to be.

Chow, Jack

Greetings from Macchu Pichu

So it is official, we have left our homestays. This is Chaps and I´d like to start with a correction. On my first blog post I called Jason, our guide, Robert. Red cheeks and a lot of good nature ribbing ensued but I´m taking this chance to apologize and clear up any confusion that might have existed about that.
So after we last blogged we spent Sunday in Ollantaytambo. We were hoping to climb the ruins there but instead we were treated to an interesting (awful) play about Ollantay and were denied the privilege of climbing up the ruins. In the afternoon we got to make some pottery which we had missed out on doing the day before. Then before departing for our last day away from civilization we stocked up on any and all necessary supplies.
The next morning we finished our work on the Chilca Guinea Pig Barn. We were able to completely finish all work on the walls and they are now about six feet high. That afternoon we had our going away party, called a Pancha Manca. We were treated to excellent food, pork and chicken, and got to say our thank yous to our host families, who were wonderful to us throughout our whole week there.
The next morning we awoke at 5 in the morning to catch the train to aguas calientes. It was an hour and a half train ride here all along the urubamba river. Yesterday afternoon we went on a hike to an orchid garden and waterfall and ate lunch on location by the waterfall. Then we returned to the hotel and our first hot shower in a week, EXCELLENT! Then we had dinner and went back for a restful night asleep away from the lowing of cattle and crowing of roosters.
Then we woke up this morning to go to Macchu Pichu. We hiked around all day and were all blown away by its beauty, although unimpressed by the bugs and heat. We did hike up to the sun gate and were greeted with a wonderful view of Macchu Pichu.
Now we are back in aguas calientes waiting for dinner and blogging. Tonight at 7 we leave to go to Urubamba and are looking forward to more Incan ruins tomorrow. We´re all looking forward to seeing you all soon and are doing well except for some minor bumps and bruises.

--Chaps--