Thursday, June 19, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Sunday
Communication and Teamwork: Climbing Closer Together
By Claire Jansen, ‘17
Today we started our overnight
hike. I was a little nervous to do this because I did not know what to expect.
I have only slept outside in a tent once or twice in my life, so I was also
very excited for this experience. At first, the hike started out slightly
uphill. The altitude made it much harder for everyone, so most of the time I
felt very out of breath. But I was comforted knowing that everyone else in the
group felt the same way I did. Everyone was feeling exhausted, and we hadn’t
even experienced the hardest part yet.
After about an hour of this, we
came to a dead end. Our guides discovered that the trail we had been walking
along had been closed due to a landslide. After much consideration, it was
decided that we would have to hike vertically up the mountain. This was one of
the scariest things I have ever had to do because everyone had to be aware of
exactly where they were putting their feet. If we did not, we would fall down
the entire mountain. I was so terrified that I basically climbed up on all
fours the whole time. Although this may seem like an awful experience, some
positives also came out of it as well. We all had to work together to help each
other out. I made sure that the person in front of me did not slip and fall,
and warned the person behind me if there was a lose rock or thorns in the way.
Also, the leaders of the day stopped every few minutes to yell words of
encouragement to the group. Even just a simple “you got this” helped me to keep
going even when I would much rather sit down and never see the top.
When the hard part was over, we
still had to walk a few more hours to go until we reached the campsite. Instead
of taking the trail the guides expected, we had to walk through the freezing
cold Incan canal and along a thin stonewall for the next two hours. This was
also very scary (although not quite as scary as walking vertically for an hour)
because it was very slippery. But once again, everyone helped each other out.
This definitely brought us closer together because we had to use teamwork and
communication the entire time. I remember the exact moment that we made it to
the campsite: I have never felt prouder or more accomplished in my life. I
never thought we would make it. We all cheered loudly and gave each other
high-fives. We couldn’t believe we were there!
Once we were there, we immediately
had to pile on all the layers we had. Even though it was late afternoon, it was
already freezing. Luckily, we were given warm drinks and popcorn right away.
Even just this simple gesture really made a difference because everyone was
cold, tired, and hungry after the long day.
Although the hike was one of the hardest things I
have ever had to do, I am glad we got the experience to do it because it
brought everyone closer together. We all learned the value of communication and
teamwork. These are skills that will be important for the rest of the trip and
for the rest of our lives.
saturday
Local Knowledge and Gender Issues: A Day at Home in Peru
Elettra Baldi , `15
Saturday was a day for our families. Rachel and I got to
spend a day with mom, Hilda and our baby brother Yamil. She took us hiking up
to her mother’s house. The hike gave us an opportunity to speak to her in more
depth than we had in the past. Rachel and I had been hesitant before then to
talk to her and ask questions about her lifestyle. Hilda took us on many
different stops to have us learn about her family and her life. We left the
house, and started of at the fields that lay right above out house and learned
that she works with trigo (wheat) this is her main job after the commitment of
nursing 3 children. We then continued up to where we saw her horse and cows
which she was so proud of. We had the horse come up with us on the hike and she
told us all about how she takes care of him and how they are cheap to buy here
compared to the United States. Our next
stop was the most mystical, we arrived to Inca ruins where we explored and
learned about this tunnel that reaches from Piscacucho all the way to Cusco.
This tunnel, created by the Incas, had just been closed down about 5 years ago
because people would go in without knowing how dangerous and how long the walk
would become. Next to the ruins rested a field of strawberries so we sat and
talked while she showed us other edible plants such as, this this plant they
call limón that taste like a lemon but looks like pine needles. A this showed
us local knowledge that we would only experience here. Upon leaving that we
walked up to the last stop, her mother’s house, her house was secluded up in
the mountains. There we learned that our
mother has a sister who is 14 like our mothers oldest son. The difference is
that this young girl is getting ready to have children in the next year or two.
This made me think that the girls here drop out of secondary school to have
children. This did not surprise me because, yesterday we talked to a women
about women’s rights and she explained who she too dropped out of school to
have children and that the average age of having children is 15-18.
In conversing during the hike Rachel and I got to
strengthen our relationship with our mother.
We learned about her and she learned about us. I remember briefly mentioning that my
favorite food was pasta, and even though it is not common to find pasta here, I
was surprised to eat spaghetti for dinner. Lastly our mom had always called us
chicas but that day she called us by our names,Monday, June 16, 2014
Trek!
Our country coordinator, Adela, sent a few pictures before they set off for their overnight trek! Stay tuned for updates, as the group will start updating the blog again tonight or tomorrow.
Thank you!
Maria Selde
Program Coordinator
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Walking Together
Hello family and friends of the GFA Peru program! The students have spent the entire day with their homestay family. They are learning about the daily life of the family they are staying and sharing meals with during the program. Everyone is happy and healthy and the group will start their overnight trek tomorrow! They are all very excited about the trek!! Please don't hesitate to call the office with any questions - 303-679-3412.
Erin Hawk
Director of Operations
Friday, June 13, 2014
Day 2 - Piscacucho: Home Sweet Home
Piscacucho: Home Sweet Home
Nestled below the treasured
Veronica, Piscacucho is a town that values unity, friendship, and its history.
Yesterday began with a knock on my door by my host sister, Harumi. The four of
us, Claudia, Nicki, Claire, and myself came downstairs to a large bowl of
unpeeled hardboiled eggs and uncut potatoes. The eggs were cold and none of us
could determine whether they were raw or not. It seemed strange that something
so simple could puzzle us so much. Harumi laughed at our incapability and we
laughed at how spoiled we all were when it took us more than five minutes to
peel the eggs. Our new lifestyle began to seem less foreign when we all showed
up to the worksite late- how typical.
Four of us: Rachel, Elettra,
Nicki, and I began the workday learning how to basket weave. It was amazing to
watch our teacher knit the resistant branches into a continuous weave. He helped
us form trensas, or braids, that made the
onion-looking shape we had initially created transform into our final product.
Just as we finished, the kids were all let out for recess and came to
compliment our work. Proud of our accomplishments, we walked home in high
spirits and anticipated what lunch would be.
Yesterday
was a transitional day. Although I began uncomfortable and hesitant, I began to
feel more at home and accustomed to the lifestyle. For me, the most
transitional point was the ANCHOR meeting we had and realizing that my house
was not the only one that seemed like a drastic difference from American life.
During the meeting, we categorized our personality types by taking three
colored personality cards that seemed most applicable to ourselves. Once
everyone was satisfied with their cards, we categorized ourselves by the
majority of our card’s colors into four groups: blue (conceptualizer) , green
(traditionalist), red,(idealist) and yellow(artisan) for me, it was blue.
The most
fun part of my day, however, was exploring up and down the main road with all
of the girls. We half-heartedly looked for our teachers but mostly enjoyed the
view. There was one point in the road where you could look down and all you saw
was the river below. Our surroundings were stunning and awe-inspiring. Later,
all the houses came together and played cards and told stories. When we all
joined together to speak in a mix of Spanish and English the blend of cultures
made me appreciate their value of unity. In the spare time that I would
typically be watching Hulu or Netflix, I spent time with my friends. It really
helped me further appreciate my life in the States and made me rethink the value
of “home”.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Welcome
to Piscacucho
By Rocco Babun
The last morning
in Ollantaytambo consisted of singing and guitar playing as we serenaded the
small city goodbye. After our forty-five minute bus ride to Piscacucho, we
visited the school that we would be working at during our homestay. We were
greeted in song and with hugs by little children right as we arrived. The
school contains three different housing districts where the children study and
in the center of them all is one large fútbol field. The stands near the field
were colored with a sun over a Peruvian rainbow. All of the emotion being
showed towards us was touching. It filled our hearts with hope as we saw the
happiness on all of the children’s faces from just us arriving. We then met our
host families and walked to our new homes. The sight was amazing; we have never
experienced living in tiny houses at the foot of snowy mountains. It took just
less then a day to get used to our new homes and to form strong bonds with our
new families. When lunch came around we were all nervous, we all expected really
unfamiliar South American food with names we couldn’t pronounce. But, even
though we still couldn’t pronounce the names we all enjoyed the food a lot.
Going back to
the school in the afternoon started with a game of fútbol with the children.
The point of the afternoon nonetheless was to be blessed by a Shaman for a safe
and productive working period. As we circled in a classroom, we prayed for our
families, the world, and ourselves two coca leaves representing each of these
wishes, which we then offered Pachamama (Mother Nature). The ceremony left us
wondering about the potential of the world as we all reflected on what the
Shaman preached. We went home thinking of how the only way people could unite
in the world is to reflect on the past, ancient wisdom, and not to be so materialist
because it draws us away from others. We look forward to a day of work and
interacting with the children at school, and uniting as a group and a community.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
A Taste of Purpose
By: Rachel Garofoli and Colin Tauck
Our first official day in Peru was a great one that really
got us excited about the rest of our trip.
The feeling of fellowship we had with the rest of the group in the
morning activities will really help with our upcoming experiences of the
trip. One activity was the “Why you are
here?” activity that really made us reflect about why we are on this trip and
establish our aspirations for the rest of the trip. However, before we did this
activity we got to go on a hike around a local community deeper in the valley.
A general feeling of amazement carried through the entire excursion from the
people living in the community to the general layout of the land. Seeing the
costumes in the Pentecostal ceremonies was incredible (especially because all
the people participating in the festival make their own costumes). There were
guinea pig men and chickens, which was very humorous. However the most ironic
thing about the entire celebration was the fact that they are making fun of the
Spanish during a Catholic celebration because Catholicism in this country came
from the Spanish. However a feeling of
just general amazement is to see the Incan ruins and the mountains. One might
see pictures of these mountains or ruins and think that they are beautiful
however you get this unutterable feeling when you actually see these things
with your own eyes. The luscious green mountains containing Incan ruins that
are still here after thousands of years is amazing.
So far everyone on the trip seems to be in good spirits. We have enjoyed many new foods and new
aspects of the Peruvian culture. One of
the first Peruvian delicacies we have discovered is coca tea or mate de
coca. Coca is very common here in Perú
and everyone is our group really seems to enjoy this unusual tea. Today we also tried various dishes and we
found that we really love the soups. So
far this trip has been really enjoyable and I can tell that it will get even
better because we have an amazing group of people who are willing to try new things
and immerse themselves into the culture.
Tomorrow we embark on the second leg of our journey. We’ll go to Piscacucho to meet our host
families and begin our service project.
Many of us have concerns of whether or not out families will like us or
whether we will like the food or not.
However I believe that everyone will be happy once they arrive and that
their troubles will fade away. We were
told that our families were very excited to meet us, which made us very
excited. We can’t wait to see what other amazing things wait for us on the rest
of the trip.
Monday, June 9, 2014
In Country: Day 1
By: Stephen Gallagher and Curtis Tauck
Nestled in the mountains of Cusco, Ollantaytambo is a fiesta. After 23 hours of travel, exhaustion began to overwhelm our group although it was hard to overcome the awe offered by the beauty of the country of Peru. We were not fazed by the turbulence of the plane, as the scenery of the isolated mountains and slopes below took our minds off of our worries and anxiety. As soon as we arrived in Cusco the cultural differences were evident in the bustling streets. The innovative and artistic propaganda-inspired-graffiti brought color and splendor to the streets of Cusco. The final stretch of our travels consisted of quiet, but pensive bus ride.
Nestled in the mountains of Cusco, Ollantaytambo is a fiesta. After 23 hours of travel, exhaustion began to overwhelm our group although it was hard to overcome the awe offered by the beauty of the country of Peru. We were not fazed by the turbulence of the plane, as the scenery of the isolated mountains and slopes below took our minds off of our worries and anxiety. As soon as we arrived in Cusco the cultural differences were evident in the bustling streets. The innovative and artistic propaganda-inspired-graffiti brought color and splendor to the streets of Cusco. The final stretch of our travels consisted of quiet, but pensive bus ride.
Our village
Ollantaytambo lay at the base between two towering mountains. Without anything
to do but wait for dinner and drown out the noises of the celebrations around
us, we passed time by playing sapo, a
traditional Peruvian game consisting of throwing coins at a board to hit
targets. The incredible views allowed us time to reflect how fortunate we were
to be able to be here, and we soon prepared to enter the village and eat dinner
after a long day. Given a lot of time to think to ourselves, Curtis and I both
realized the contrasts between our home and where we are today. The people here
being friendly strangers, and at home being loved family members. The smells of
the streets like grilling meat and bus exhaust is far off from the clean and
open airs of Connecticut. Stray dogs roam the sidewalks without any attention,
however we treated them like pets and even named one ‘Doodle.’ Since we have
arrived in Peru, the colliding culture has continued to overwhelm us, and we
hope to continue this experience throughout our trip.
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