Day 4

Today was the day of basket weaving. It was a good day, a day that will forever bring a tear to my eye as I recall the hours of painstaking labor and blisters that would result from the day-long basket creation. Joining us on our journey to the Land of Basketly Bliss would be two young Peruvian honchos, Poncho and his brother. These great young men were quite adept in the art of basket weaving. From their days as toddling Peruvians they would join their father, a splendid artisan from the Piscacucho region, in creating these baskets as it was the father’s livelihood. Half of the group of worker bees that journeyed to the region from Memphis, Tenn., (read: us), went to partake in the basket weaving, and what an experience it was. We worked out little fingers to the bone all the way up to the lunch break, and for eons afterward as well. Good news: Anita doesn’t need any more presents; this basket is a masterpiece. In further news: Sr. Flores made a delicious lamb soup today all by himself without the help of his tremendous lady who was spending the day in Urubamba. It was quite the clutch performance. End.

Zach

I am starting to think in Spanish. For almost 4 hours a day I am talking in Spanish because most of the day we are at the school working. I never knew I knew that much, and I am getting so much practice by talking to kids at the school and my family. Every day that we have been here, Sarah, Mary Morgan, and I have walked to the school around 7:45 in the morning to arrive around 8. This morning, the group was divided in half. Some would get the chance to learn the Peruvian method of basket weaving. We all worked for about 20 minutes at the school, then half the group left to go basket weave. Some of us Gesso-ed the walls and some drew out the mural. After the outlines were finished, we all began to paint. When we were done there was a purple elephant, a blue duck, rainbow ants, a giraffe, a giant condor, two butterflies, vines, a dragon fly, bumble bees and a bee hive, a puppy dog (that I painted), a snake, a blue monkey, a lady bug, and a pink gorilla. It looks beautiful and full of life! The boys leveled the ground and had a really good work out taking out 2 gigantic boulders from the ground. Our work is a success! At my house there are 3 girls: Erlinda, Noemie, and Evelin, and the parents are Carlos and Natividad. They are some of the most wonderful people that I have ever met! Yesterday when we were talking about them we found out that when Carlos and Natividad were 16 and 17 they were married with their first child. The culture is so different here! The walk from the school to our house is a rocky 20 minutes uphill simply because we are surrounded by mountains, some of which are snow-capped! I cannot even believe we are here. For now, adios amigos!

Caroline, Carolina, aka (also known as) Pistachio