Our trip coming to an end

Well we currently have two weeks to go so we are trying to pack in all of our final adventures. Last night we brought our host family out to dinner, kids and all, which to say the least was interesting.

Kara is spending her last day in Chocco today, finalizing some loose ends on her project. We gained valuable insight into the development world. We learned a great deal about their culture, education and the role it plays in a small community such as Chocco. I think we can say that we are pretty satisfied with the work that we have done here.

Tomorrow we take a bus to Oyantaytambo where we will do a short 5 hr hike before hopping the train to Aguas Caliente, which is the town at the base of Machu Pichu. The following day we will explore Machu Pichu and take the last train back to Cusco. With the remaining time left we are going to go as fast as possible back down to Santiago, Chile. Then, go to Mendoza, Argentina for the remaining few days we have left. We have chosen this path because we have only gotten the chance to see the Patagonia part of Argentina and Mendoza has come so highly recomended to us. On our way down from Cusco we´ll stop in Arica, the northern most town of Chile by the Peruvian border for a couple days before getting back on the bus for Santiago.

We look forward to making a full circle, ending in the city where we began our 5 month journey.

LAST MONTH- Cusco, Peru and community project

Cusco, Peru- Plaza de Armas

side street in Chocco

Chocco

Hello Followers!

We are currently in Cusco, Peru and have started on our volunteer projects. We found ourselves a great host family, they have 2 girls and 2 boys, all under the age of 7.

The program that we decided to work with is called Hampy. It is a very small, but very well run organization run by this guy Gorge. What makes this program so special is that you are brought to the community that you will be working in, from there you have to decide what needs to be done and write a purposal. So, its putting all the responsibility in our hands which has given us much more drive towards our goals.

The community that our focus will be in is called Chocco about a 20min drive northwest of the main plaza. It is located in a beautiful hidden valley untouched by the effects of tourism. The community is very poor/primitive, but rich with culture.

Kara is doing a health communication campaign, where she is addressing some of the most prominant health problems in the community through multiple communication medians. She is focusing on basic hygiene problems and promoting healthier cooking habits by working with specific members of the community.

I have chosen two community projects to do. The first one is teaching basic computer skills/programs to the elementary school teachers. They teachers in the community supposedly don´t even know how to turn on a computer and they have two computers which were donated to them a year ago. The second project is a continuation of a program that was left off by another volunteer which is building healthy, efficient stoves. Most stoves are made of mud and the smoke vents out into the houses leading to major respatory issues, so we would be building specific stoves that use less wood and vent outside.

Like I said above we are living with a host family of 6 in a community just south of the main plaza. We are learning slowly how to live with the family, which has been quite entertaining not mentioning sharing a bathroom with all of them.

PS- on a much different note we hope this weekend to have our first Guinea pig feast. We have a few typical choices- 1) in a bun, 2) fried, 3) baked. I think i´m going to go for baked and maybe throw a little BBQ sauce on that baby! Kara differs in opinion, she chooses the Guinea in a bun with some avocado and picante sauce.

Guinea in a bun!

Baked Guinea!

Fried Guinea!

YUM YUM YUM... IN MY TUM TUM TUM!!!