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 fĂștbol 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 fĂștbol 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.






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