Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Hola estudiantes!

This is Bryce, your Mentor for Service in the Sacred Valley Peru 2016! I am writing to you today to reflect on our wonderful time together this summer. Your presence in our humble home in Cusco brought plenty of laughs, tears, stimulating conversation, and constant motivation within our group of peers! I cannot tell you how much your intellectual curiously, empathy, and positivity impressed myself, Matteo, Vinny, and Julia. Watching your individual stories unfold throughout our three weeks together was inspiring and heartwarming, and I encourage you to continue to take these lessons into your daily lives as you plunge into your exciting futures!

Each of you made an incredible difference on one another, the community of Mayrasco, your mentors, and YOURSELVES this summer. In your service efforts over our three weeks together, you made incredible progress on our fish farms. Thank you for helping us to put the finishing touches on our beautiful ponds. What began as holes in the earth are now fully formed fish ponds! It was amazing to be able to watch the first streams of water flowing into the ponds, and the last stone (only the “más grande”s) placed on the walls. And, of course, I will never forget the beautiful reunion of us and the community of Mayrasco on that last day of service. We have made an impact on their community that will last a lifetime- the children and families of Mayrasco will soon have nutritious trout added to their diet, and they have you to thank. You should be so proud of yourselves!

It is an incredible feat to have accomplished all that you have in our GLA program. You were thrown into uncomfortable, strange, and completely new situations almost every day while you were in Peru. As your mentors, we watched in awe as you befriended Peruvian youth despite the language barrier, navigated foreign streets by interacting with locals, and enthusiastically trekked through valleys and high elevations where only the condors dared to go! With all this and more, you still had the energy to engage in card games, storytelling, tea-time, and deep conversations at night.

I know that you all will carry your enthusiasm, courageousness, drive, and compassion into the rest of your lives. Now that you have overcome the challenges we presented to you here in Peru (with ease), the world is your oyster! We cannot wait to watch each of you thrive in your individual passions and curiosities. Please keep in touch and remember that our roles as your mentors will last a lifetime. And never forget the powerful impact each of your efforts had on lives you touched in Peru. You each have great potential, we look forward to following the stories you continue to create!

Go Team Fish!

Bryce, Julia, Vinny, and Matt

Summer Blog Posts

Hello family and friends!

We’ve all made it safe and sound to Cusco, Perú!  No time to waste, we jumped right into the service work (building fish ponds to improve the nutrition for the families of a nearby village at 4,000 meters/13,00 feet) the morning after arrival.  Work includes: digging with shovels, pick axes, and rock bars; build rock walls; and mixing cement.  Lots of work and lots to do!

8/5/2016

Yesterday we had the opportunity to listen to a presentation given by a nurse from Cusco explaining the factors affecting malnutrition in children living in rural communities.  She explained the reason why several children appear short in stature.  It is because they lack sufficient protein in their diets which causes slow brain and muscle development.  At first, we had no idea why all the Peruvians I saw on the street were shorter than the average height.  We made assumptions that it was due to the altitude or low oxygen.  In reality, the issue is more complex than it seems. Children often cannot obtain animal protein due to the price, accessibility, and lack of parental education.  We became aware of the issue and gained a deeper understanding of why we are building fish farms.

Joshua Gopaul and Jake Messina

8/6/2016

This morning, we continued to make progress on the fish farm, and have neared the completion of one of the three fish pools. Overall, today was a very good day as Antonio, a brick laying expert was fairly pleased with our work.

Our day continued with a visit to a traditional weaving co-op.  At the co-op, we were entreated to a demonstration of the process of dying and spinning alpaca wool, as well as a comparison in texture between sheep wool and alpaca wool.  Though the demonstration was interesting, the fun was in getting to buy large amounts of alpaca wool clothes, bags, and dolls.

After shopping, we were allowed to share in a party celebrating the 40th anniversary of the co-op where we all had an opportunity to dance with the local Peruvian women who worked at the co-op and listen to music by a group of locals.

We finished out the day with a TED talk about the importance of a story, as well as follow-up discussions in our mentor groups.

Chris Sanchez and Matt Heller

August 8th, 2016

Today began at 6:00 am as usual and after breakfast we were off to the community of Mayrasco ft service! Before work, we did some stretching and yoga right on the side of the mountain- great way to start off the day! Our usual day of service consists of getting our materials, then making a daisy chain to put our materials in the holes that will soon be fish ponds. We all worked together to gather rock to build the wall and cement them together to line the pond. We are almost done with two of our three fish ponds!

After lunch we went to a boys foster home. The boys that we met lived here because of poor situations at home. We played on the monkey bars, frisbee, soccer, tic tac toe, and drew pictures with the boys. We split up into groups and got tours of the facility. Before we left, we took a group picture. The boys gave us all hugs and we were sad to say good bye to our new friends!

After dinner, our director, Matt, gave us a speech on his bicycle trip. He is riding down to Patagonia and started from Utah! We ended with story time and listened to music as a group. Now time for bed, as we must be up again at 6 am!

Anabeth 🙂

August 9, 2016

The morning started with our 6 AM wake up with our alarm being opera and Peruvian flute. A perfect way to start our day. After pancakes we ventured up the mountain to continue our progress on the walls of the fish ponds. We worked extra hard in rain, basically finishing the first pond!

We made it to the home base just in the time for lunch. Soon after, we began our scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt involved statutes, enormous avocadoes, blizzard snacks, and look alike mannequins. Winners of this competitive hunt were awarded alpaca keychains and Cua Cuas. We ended the night with mentor groups and a game of basketball. The day came to a close with story time and sleepy GLAers heading up to bed (excited to experience something new tomorrow)!

Love,

Liv & Liz?✌

August 10th, 2016

This morning we woke up bright and early and felt the cold air tickle our toes as we trudged out of our warm beds! For breakfast we had eggs and of course lots of bread and strawberry jam! With filled water bottles, sunscreen, snacks and lots of layers packed in our bag packs we hopped on the bus and enjoyed the gorgeous ride through rolling hills of beauty to our service site. As we do each morning, we began with a daisy chain of cement materials down the steep cliff! This morning we were primarily working on the 1st fish pond since we are near finished with the other two ponds! For the rest of service, some of us lifted heavy rocks to the pond, some sifted cement materials, some cemented the pond’s walls, and some daisy chained water buckets. It got pretty chilly at the end of service but it was all worth it!

After lunch and some well deserved showers, we got back on the bus and headed to the shaman! We showed up at the shaman’s house that had a picturesque view of bold mountains floating in the distance. He and his son were sitting in the front with traditional ponchos filled with vibrant colors. The son who looked about 12-13 years old passed out 3 leaves to each of us and told us to think of our questions in our heads. The shaman then gathered the green coca leaves and added them to a colorful offering to pacha mama or Mother Earth. He added several different spiritual objects such as alpaca fat, candies, rice etc. and then dumped the offering in the fire to burn. He then blew on a patutu (giant sea shell instrument) to honor the mountains! We then individually went up to him and asked him about our futures! Apparently some of us will die in car accidents and some will have lots of children!! It was such a cultural experience filled with spirituality and lots of laughter! On the bus back we had a little bus malfunction but made it back for dinner. Tonight we got wifi which was super fun and there was also a churro cart outside the hotel so we got lots of sugar!! After a long day of new experiences and hard work, we can’t wait to go to sleep!!

Adios for now,

Ariana Finkelstein

August 17

We’ve been busy in Cusco… service work, dancing, rafting, and plenty more!

Now, we’re off on our trek around the gorgeous Mt. Veronica and finish with a visit to Machu Picchu.  We’ll be back in a few days!

August 21

Hello All,

I hope that this e-mail finds all of you very well.

Today marks the final day of service in Mayrasco, Perú.  As all fourteen members of the third service group walked down the hill with Julia, Bryce, and Flaminia, Richard and I finished filling the “middle” and “bottom” holes with water as we gave final instructions to Antonio and other community members.

I walked down the hill to see all the students and adults of the third session watching a futbol match between the community members of Mayrasco and another local community.

After the game, the community gathered around to speak with us and share their appreciation.  There were tears as both GLA and community members shared gratitude.  I expressed our gratitude, on behalf of all 63 GLA participants, for the incredible experience over the last three months.  Mayrasco invited us into their home and, in my mind, gave each of us a much greater gift than we could possibly share with them.

I wish that you all could have physically been there to enjoy the moment.  Though this wasn’t possible, I believe we all had our hearts and thoughts there.  I saw the mounds of dirt shoveled by the first session.  I saw the piles of rocks broken and moved by the second session.  I saw the walls built by the third session.  More importantly, I saw the lessons learned, the appreciation gained, and the energy and emotions of many, many people.

In the meantime, know that your efforts were  greatly appreciated.  Gracias amigos!

Cheers,
Mateo

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

We started off with a bang. What a diverse group of students, from all parts of the States, with an eclectic cultural heritage, different religious backgrounds, all in all a completely composite sculpture! And this time around we were split down the middle, just as many young men as young ladies. That meant for a wide array of opinions, lively debate, to say the least! As the session went on we discovered in a very vivid way what it means to co-inhabit, to live together among difference. This posed a true challenge for us as a group, how do we live a rich experience and turn personal differences into an educative process?

I would sum up our experience over our two weeks together as a journey of seeking positive perspectives while including and allowing space for difference and disagreement. Learning how to participate in a community necessarily includes all colors of reaction. We can like, love, dislike, disagree, and as we do so, we can use this difference to create an intricate bond, string together a community by accepting difference.

In the end we were successful. The scene of goodbyes at the airport, full of warmth and tears, proved how much growth can trans-pass in such a short amount of time. I remember the meeting we called mid-session, to assess the direction of our journey together. During that meeting we learned about the concerns some of our students had with their experience in Cusco. The podium was open. Voices could be heard. And then in the following days we as team implemented a plan to meet these concerns with a positive answer.

All this could not have happened were it not for the inherent positivity of our team as a whole. We made it through the trek, albeit we were deterred from our original plan due to a blocked road in the high Andes. But we made out of it an adventure. That is actually a very good metaphor for our adventure as a whole.

Recollections:

• Early morning hike to see the view from the mountains to the jungle with Finn, Cortland, and Kyra.
• Poor Lia had to turn around due to a crazy bout of altitude sickness but then still made it up Machu Picchu.
• Semi-truck accident on an Andean road diverts our trek to another location.
• A puppy is born at one of the work sites, the old woman calls him Bubi.
• Kyle holds a mentor group at the basketball court where we play ball and discuss Love.
• Lunch at the public sports arena. We are caught by sprinklers!!!

-Philip

Summer Blog Posts

Almost all of us are here! Yes I said almost! We have three compatriots coming in tomorrow, but otherwise, solid as a rock, all together, here we go! After a more than thorough orientation we are all but over equipped to deal with whatever dragon comes our way. Peru says hello to our parents. We are safe and sound and ready to wake up bright and early tomorrow to start our work on the Cuy houses for our service project. Tea to adjust to the altitude, and sleep to regenerate our engines.

Mentor Philip

July 15, 2016

Today was our first day of service.  We drove about 30 minutes out to a beautiful rural town named Chocco. We arrived in the bitter cold of 7 AM and were greeted by majestic mountains and morning fog. We then broke into small service groups and went off to help 4 different families in building houses for their guinea pigs, a traditional delicacy in Peru. Even though the living conditions in the town were poor, the locals were full of life, gratitude, and kindness. Our work consisted of pick-axing at a muddy cliff to make space for the guinea pig houses, shoveling dirt into wheel barrows, and dumping the dirt at the edge of a creek that ran through the valley at the worksite.  As the day progressed the day warmed up and during break we gathered at the local park/soccer field to rest. After snacks and playing at the park in a valleys surrounded by beautiful mountains, the group became closer despite the scary seesaw from hell. Later that night a Peruvian regional government official gave us an eye opening talk on the issue of poverty in Peru and its causes. And now we are all getting ready to sing Cat a happy birthday and head to bed!

-Jenna and Veronica

7/16

Today we took a very interesting adventure. After finishing up our amazing breakfast, we all gathered at the front of the building to discuss the plan for the day and then we split up into the two busses and headed out for our adventure. Upon arriving at Patabamba, we were greeted by the five, friendly, local family representatives who’s families we worked with throughout the day. Throughout the day we worked with the families to take out their daily activities, such as removing the husks off of beans, as well as shucking corn. During the day they offered us a plentiful amount of snacks to keep us energized. Following the daily work, we ate lunch with them and proceeded to play a game of soccer along with the local children. Following the journey to Patabamba, we came to our home-base and discussed what we have observed throughout the few days of us being in Peru. We reflected through our journal entries, along with silence to reflect upon our service work with the many families we are helping.

Tom and Ajish

July 18, 2016

On the fourth day of the two-week Service in the Sacred Valley, students went on a tour of Cusco. We visited ancient Incan ruins, which included various views of the city of Cusco. After visiting the ancient ruins, we also had lunch at a restaurant, which featured grilled alpaca, which many of us enjoyed. Following this, we visited two cathedrals. The first cathedral that we visited featured many gold sculptures, however pictures were permitted in the two cathedrals. The second cathedral displayed multiple canvases of religious and sacred paintings. We all loved the mixture of Incan and Spanish culture and are very thankful to our tour guides. All in all, the day was very fun but also tiring.

– Lia Ingersoll and Adrienne Murdock

July 18, 2016

It’s our fifth day in Peru…second day of service. We’re building cuy houses (guinea pig houses). After coming to home base for a quick lunch, we went to a field on a cliff with a beautiful view. A musician taught us about the history of traditional Incan instruments and previewed them for us. After learning about the rich history of Peruvian music, we had a chance to play them ourselves. Then the musician taught us a nice melody on a flute. He offered to let us buy the flutes that he taught us the melody on (only 15 soles :D). Before leaving the field, we went and admired the view for a brief moment. We then got to explore around at the cultural market – the woman at the store gave us all big hugs and welcomes. After enjoying the market for an hour, we had a nice, peaceful stroll back to home base. The three-week group came back today and were having dinner at our arrival to home base (our buddies are back!). We had a nice dinner circle today, where several people received some very kind shout-outs. After dinner circle, we had an amazing dinner and got to watch a documentary. It was a good day overall because we got to volunteer at service and have fun later on 🙂

– Ashish Wadhwani and Eve Sullivan

July 19, 2016

Today, we went to the service site in Chocco and worked on our designated projects. After returning to home, base we walked to a local produce market and did a scavenger hunt for different foods around the market. We looked for exotic fruits and vegetables native to Peru. We walked home and a nurse came to speak about public health and malnutrition in Peru. All of today’s activities were a lot of fun!

-Connor and Emma

July 26

Sunday morning was unnaturally cold, to the point at which the water in my bottle completely froze solid. After packing our bags and having a nice, warm breakfast, we headed down to our buses. During the long bus ride, we noticed that the weather got significantly warmer. It felt wonderful to finally experience humid weather, compared to the cold, dry air in Cuzco. As we looked outside, we noticed that the vegetation in the mountains drastically increased. We saw a lush, green jungle, complete with tropical vines and trees, compared to the dry yellow grass and course soil we saw in the Andes.

When we began our hike along the railroad, we noticed that the air became more comfortable to breathe, since there was more oxygen at a lower elevation. The hike was so much easier than the hike in the Andes; the road was mostly flat, and we didn’t have to wear our heavy winter attire. After the hike, we reached the secluded town of Aguas Calientes. The town itself looked beautiful, since it was built along a valley with a river running through the middle of the street. It almost looked like a fantasy movie set. We settled down in our hotel, and took a nice, hot shower for the first time during the trip. That pretty much concludes Sunday; we traveled to a warm jungle took some warm showers, and had a warm dinner and it felt so good.

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Dear Cuys,

Between all the mud mixing, stair climbing, shouts outs, and “retweets” I think it is safe to say we had fun. We successfully finished the construction of four cuy houses in the community of Choco where several families are now able to raise guinea pigs in a cleaner and more effective manner. Big shout out to all of you for participating and taking pride in the beautiful consistency of every batch of mud made and brick laid. Returning to your Spanish classes you will probably be the only students there who can say “más barro” with a perfect accent and understand what it means on a whole other level.

Not only did you finish the buildings, you also climbed high into the Andes mountain range to where the only light at night was the full sky of stars. When things get stressful or challenging in your lives at home picture the starlit sky, hear the songs of your group singing through dinner and exhaustion, and feel the sense of accomplishment you felt when we reached camp the first night with the Mount Veronica welcoming you. Most importantly remember being together with everyone from our group laughing and eating together. If you can make it through the trek when you thought you couldn’t breathe anymore or if you can climb the Incan steps to Machu Picchu in the pouring rain, you can do just about anything and even smile through it.

May you let social media keep you all connected, yet not take up too much of your time so you can continue to live in the moment like we did so well here. Laugh about the battles between the “rave cave” and “babe cave” and the dance parties when you need it most. Let people surprise you with their generosity and honesty and believe that sometimes lost iphones can be found, but also be careful and don’t leave backpacks at Incan slides. Appreciate bus rides that don’t make you sick and smile through the rain and eat oreos when life gets soggy. Let the lessons you’ve learned and the memories you’ve made carry you forward with laughter and love!

We send you all hugs!!

Sincerely,

Julia, Kyle, Phillip, Brittany, and Carolina

Summer Blog Posts

July 30, 2016

Editor’s note: All students have since arrived safely!

Landed. Safe. Fed. Oriented. And waiting for our remaining three compatriots. Already the silliness is proving warm is proving intelligent is proving excited is being funneled into two rich weeks of work and adventure. Tea is served, and it’s about that time, that cozy horizontal time, when altitude dissipates into the blankets. Tomorrow we see the city. The ruins, the Cathedral, the temple of the sun. And some brave ones will eat ALPACA, nicely grilled and with a fine compliment of potatoes. Off we go!

July 31, 2016

Hola, everyone!!

Greetings from Cusco 🙂 This blog entry is brought to you by the rockin’ chicks in room 201. Most of us arrived yesterday, so we relaxed at the home base and got to know each other. Today was our first full day and we spent it on a tour through Cusco city (9 hours long!). We saw Incan ruins, lots of alpacas, and a few cathedrals/temples. We had lunch where some of us got to feast on alpaca, while the tables next to us ate guinea pig. A highlight was seeing Saqsay Waman, or, as we call it, “Sexy Woman,” an Incan ruin on the side of a mountain with beautiful views and lots of history attached to it. We were joined by 3 more students today who jumped right into the activities with gusto despite being on a long plane ride just hours before. The cathedrals we saw had beautiful architecture and our upbeat and welcoming tour guides taught us about the history of the Inca Empire and how present it still is in Cusqueño life today. We ended our day back at Home Base where we celebrated our fellow student, Addy’s, birthday with a delicious dinner and two cakes- one of which was smashed in her face. We had a fire/earthquake drill and got lots of strange looks from locals as we all crouched outside the Home Base wrapped in blankets. After dinner we all sat together and did more orientation activities and there was so much laughter that we had a few almost pukers :). We are super stoked for the rest of the week and should hopefully be more acclimatized to the higher elevation soon. We are headed to bed now (lights out at 10:00 Peru time) so we can be ready for the beginning of our service work tomorrow. Many of you may think we are here to build greenhouses, but we were all surprised to learn we actually get to build guinea pig slaughterhouses! (Actually they are adobe houses in which they are raised…) This is actually a very important part of the health and economy here in Cusco because they provide essential proteins and nutrients for the folks here. We miss you back home! Hi, Mom!

Love,

The rockin’ chicks in room 201 – Anneke, Jamie, and Corinna

August 1, 2016
Today our day started off by a delicious breakfast at our home base before heading out for our first day of service. Our service site was located 20 minutes away at the quaint village of Chocco. We divided into groups and started our projects, which included helping create Cuy, or guinea pig, farm. Other activities included pix axing, shoveling, and moving piles of dirt to the riverbank. After our service for the day was completed, we walked to a local shop and bought snacks, such as apple breads and wafer candies. We then played soccer at a local field, and headed back to the home base. After resting for a bit, we walked to a local grocery store and bought everything from Peruvian cereal to peanut butter to Casino cookies. A trip to the Molino market followed where we could buy watches, sunglasses, and electronics at great prices. A local government representative came to the home base to talk about the socio-economic problems of Peru. Our dinner consisted of chicken, vegetable-rice, home-style fries, with chocolate pudding for dessert. Journaling time gave people the opportunity to reflect on the experiences we’ve had so far. After a few games, we settled into bed.

Written by, Mary, Ana, Laura, and Jackie

Today we began our second day of service by using pick axes to create a fine mixture of dirt.

After many trips to the stream to fill the buckets with water, we sifted the dirt and used the fine dirt to make mud. Next, we used the mud to fill the fine cracks inside the cuy house. We also cleaned out the cubbies where the cuy will live. When we went back to the base in Chocco, some students and mentors played soccer. Then, we went back to the home base and had lunch. After lunch, we watched a performance from a local musician on Andean music and instruments.
He taught us how to play a traditional Andean melody on a pan flute! We learned that there was a drum originally made from the skin of enemies that was played by the dismembered arm of the enemy blowing in the wind. That was Bella’s favorite instrument! Dinner was spaghetti with meat sauce; and it was quickly spilled all over Anneke.

Hayden, Bella, Phoebe

August 3, 2016

At 7:00 sharp, the GLA group was out the door and off to Chocco. At Chocco we spent about 5 hours mixing mud using our feet which is the traditional way (also the cold, and painful way) , and laying adobe bricks to our almost complete guinea pig farms. After our hard work, we played soccer for 45 minutes and enjoyed treats from a local grocery store. We boarded our buses and headed to home base for our lunch. After lunch, some group of kids split with our mentor, to load up on gear for our upcoming hike to Machu Picchu. Then, we settled back at the home base for a very enlightening talk on public health care in Peru.We learned about malnutrition in the villages of Peru and how it could be dealt with. In the evening we divided into our mentor groups, some of us got access to WiFi, while the others brainstormed activities for the orphanage, and played games. Later, we were briefed by our guide about the hike to Machu Picchu. Then, we finally went back to our rooms, and cozily rested in our beds, with our now mud exfoliated feet.

August 4, 2016

Hello everyone at home!

Today started off with the usual 6:00 AM wake up call and wonderful breakfast of omelets. After breakfast, we ventured out to each of our service sites in the village of Chocco. We continued working hard on the cuy houses which entailed creating tons of mud and setting bricks in place. Our afternoon activity consisted of visiting a shaman where we took part in a ceremony with an offering to Mother Earth. Afterwards, the majority of us paid 5 soles to the shaman who offered to read our futures through coca leaves. Many of these questions consisted of how many children we would have, what careers we would end up following, or any information about future spouses. Those who were feeling brave asked how old they would be when they died or how they died. After this, we went back to the home base, had dinner, then celebrated Jamie’s birthday. Tomorrow we will be leaving for our 3 day hike and Machu Picchu!

Sincerely,

Emily, Anjelica, and Sarah

MACHU PICCHU 

We started off our glorious day by waking up at 4:45. After that we headed down to breakfast and exited the hotel to embark on our journey to Machu Picchu. The journey to Machu Picchu started with a whopping 1800 steps up the mountain. The weather was not playing in our favor and we had to face downpours all morning during our journey. Once we finally reached the top of the mountain, we were relieved. While being led around by a tour guide we got to witness the man made Incan ruin, Machu Picchu. The never ending steps and the bad weather were no longer a problem for us because we were so amazed to be taking in the views. What goes up must come back down so after our tour we descended the mountain and went back down the steps.

What the mountain say to Machu Picchu? Why are you RUINin my style!!!!

1800 steps later, our entire group felt a great surge of pride in our ability to hike up and down Machu Picchu. The sun began to shine on us, while the clouds parted. Lunch was essentially what preoccupied our minds the entire time. Pizza, pasta, chicken, risotto, and beef were the options and it had to be the most-deserved meal of all time. Sweaty and exhausted, we finished our much appreciated lunch and headed to the train. The ride was expected to be 1 hour and 45 minutes. On our journey, we were entertained by the most comical and haunting figure. He was covered in radiant colors, but what scared us the most was the oddly designed mask. After experiencing such a humorous yet creepy show, we watched a mini fashion show with the waiters/waitresses as the models. The oohs and has rang through the train car as the models strut along the walkway with their clothes. The clothes changed in multiple ways. A bus ride followed our train trip and that was quite the experience. All of us were so sleepy and finally we reached home base. We were all so excited to sleep.

Whitney, Caroline

August 8, 2016

The day began as usual, with the rigorous mud mixing each of us students secretly dread, as the sun climbs over the mountainous horizon. However, our afternoon activity not only brought perspective to our lives, but also a smile across our faces. Once we GLA students strolled through the gates of the female orphanage, we were suddenly struck with awe, surprised that each little girl carried a contagious smile. The tour along the grounds was spent gazing upon out-of-date equipment, mainly supplied by donations. Following the tour we were granted the privilege of interacting with these energetic and jubilant children. Exiting this glorious new oasis of fun was difficult to say the least; as each child clung to our arms, begging us to stay for just a little longer. We, after engaging in such a unique experience, now have a greater appreciation for the little nuances that surround us.

Written by: Dylan Helkey and Bruno Zecchi

August 9, 2016

Today we began the second to last day of service in Chocco. We are finishing up our work on the Cuy (Guniea Pig) farms. We took a mid work break and played with the children in the local school for an hour. After we finished our work for the day, we proceeded to visit a llama farm. We learned about all different species of llama and alpacas and the different methods of dying their wool to make colorful cloth. Once we finished our afternoon activity, Phoebe’s birthday bash began! We had a giant pizza party, and afterwards we had a surprise. A surprise pinata! After a few swings the giant star was broken and candy flew everywhere. Once it was all picked up we headed upstairs to watch a movie for the remainder of the night. Rahil and Cole

August 10, 2016

Instead of participating in the conventional service work, we traveled on busses to the countryside to a town named Patabamba, and aided families in various ways. One manner in which we helped them was through shucking beans. During the service, the families offered us potatoes and cheese and some soup. After the work, we engaged in activities with the local children – such as soccer and other games. At around 4 o’clock, we left the scene and returned home to the base. In the evening, we ate dinner and then went on a scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt went throughout the city, and lasted for nearly an hour and a half. Most everyone believed it to be one of the most fun activities offered at the program. After the hunt, we went to bed.

Daniel and Salil

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Dear Cuys!

From the first day to the very last moment, our time was filled with infectious energy!  It was expressed in various ways from yelling at a Peruvian TV that exposed various soccer games, to a crazy dance party on the Fourth of July!  I don’t know if there was something in the pizza, but when we all climbed on the chairs in the dinning room, wackiness spread through us all, even the mentors and Big B!  We yelled at the top of our lungs, everyone in tune of course, to the best sing along songs known to man.  Some of those included “Stacie’s Mom”, “Get Low” by Flow Rida, and obviously capping it off with the National Anthem because….’MERCIA.

The energy was often expressed in musical manners.  Corinna had beautiful episodes when she would serenade our group with various Justin Bieber songs.  We would all join in at the chorus, freaking out the fish group with such beautiful group vocals.  It also took form as a rap battle at the orphanage where the girls would boss us around to arrange who was battling whom and choose the winner, despite popular belief at some points. It was like a scene from a movie with everyone circled around the battlers and our judge.  Even though some spit fire disses, it was kept peaceful.

We also shared a lot of our own culture and slang within the group.  Katie Conners led the charge, of course, sending sentences to our ears that would elicit a state of confusion.  We thought when coming to Peru, Spanish would be the hard language to understand, but we quickly learned that we could interact with each other in English and have no idea what the words that were just said meant.  Sometimes it made no difference and we continued to laugh and have a great time.  Other times, there was nothing we could do but ask for a translation.  Through it all, it was such an amazing and fun group, and the mentors are not just saying that.  They would never gas you guys!

With love,

Kyle, Philip, Courtney, and Brittany.

-In typical American fashion, we celebrated the Fourth of July with a pizza and a dance party up on chairs with everyone singing their lungs out despite the 11,000 feet of altitude.

-Huge soccer games with the local students and teachers formed daily during our break at service that intensified throughout our stay.

-The whole group enjoyed watching the Portugal vs. Poland semi-final game in the Euro Cup because of the rivalries that existed between Mentor Philip, who is Polish, and Carmo and Fran, who are Portuguese.

-Rap battling little girls at an orphanage is something only a group with this much energy could do.

-We all hiked through the Peruvian Andes with snow falling the entire trip except a small window when we arrived to camp so that Mount Veronica could reveal her beauty to us.

-We all had a good laugh when Carmo fell into the river right next to a dead cat in Augascalientes!

-This group knew how to roll with the punches; one of those punches was a citywide blackout in Augascalientes, which led to a candle light dinner.

-The mentors treated the group to a rap performance before our farewell dinner…Straight fire.

Summer Blog Posts

June 27, 2016

The whole crew’s here and had a great first day getting oriented to Cuzco! More to come in the days ahead

June 28, 2016

We worked really hard at our four service sites today, but we also had a lot of fun! We enjoyed getting to meet the local families who will benefit from cuy (Guinea pig!) farms we’re building.

A couple of our groups worked on getting bricks ready for the foundations, while another was in charge of mud making, which will be the “cement” that holds the bricks together.

The view around our service area was amazing – when the light came down, you could see it illuminate the houses in the town and the layers upon layers of mountains in the distance. We thought it was spectacular that we could see mountains all around us, even from the city.

We’re excited to go back tomorrow to see the kids again and make more progress on our projects!

– Bianca and Kyra

June 29, 2016

Greetings! Our third day began with yet another early wakeup and we headed off to our work sites. Some groups mixed mud (occasionally with bare feet), while others focused on pick axing and shoveling to clear out land. As we do this we keep in mind the nutrients that these cuy will supply to the children we see around the community. While our arms and backs are still sore, we power on in hopes of making a difference.
We spent our afternoon learning about traditional Peruvian music that the Incans created thousands of years ago. We all got the chance to try out some of these instruments. While there were no prodigies, we all were able to get a deeper idea of the Peruvian culture. The music man taught us a simple song on the pan flute that you all will be lucky enough to listen to when we get home!!

Delaney and Catherine

June 30, 2016

This morning we woke up at our usual 6 am and enjoyed an interesting breakfast of potatoes and guacamole. Then we headed to our service sites and continued laborious work on the cuy houses. During our much needed break time, hanging out with local children at the playground surprisingly turned into a Britney Spears jam sesh. Who knew Peruvian children loved Britney Spears too!? We finished our day of work and headed back to home base for a lunch of Estofado Pollo (chicken and rice). Lunch was followed by an intense viewing of the Portugal vs. Poland fútbol game. Our Polish mentor, Phillip, and Portuguese GLAers made for a heated atmosphere. Later on, we were paid a visit by a local nurse who informed us on the heartbreaking problem of chronic malnutrition in Peru. After dinner, we went to the market to purchase various items and ended the night with a journal activity. Great day in Peru!

-Ruthie Rogers (shoutout to da fam!) and Katie Conners (hey fam miss yall!)

July 1, 2016

Hello!
Today was our fourth day of service in Chocco before our break over the weekend. We got up at the usual time, 6 AM, to eat a delicious and nutritious breakfast of eggs. Today at work we finally finished transporting the last of the bricks and continued to build the cuy farms at our respective sites. At break we had another great soccer game with the locals and played on the playground with some of the children. We were also provided with snacks like potatoes, lettuce, and cheese from the local people. After break we continued to work on our individual sites until we returned to Home Base for a lunch of beef chops, lentils, and corn. We then got ready to visit a Shaman and his son in Pocco and watched as they performed a ritual and read some of our cocoa leaves. For 5 soles we got to ask three questions to the Shaman about any part of our lives, and it was really interesting how he responded to different people. After a dinner of pasta and chicken, we got to do laundry and get access to wifi. Overall it was a tiring but successful day!
Adios!
Written by: Olivia Liu and Olivia Ioppolo

July 2, 2016

Hola!

Today we ventured to Patabamba, a small town that sits on top of mountains overlooking the valley. Here, we split into groups and helped out five different families with tasks such as bean sorting and shucking corn. After a couple hours of doing these tasks, the families offered us fresh cheese, potatoes and quinoa soup. Students also asked questions regarding the way the locals continue through their daily lives. After several more hours of helping out with the tasks given to us, we met back up as a large group and ate lunches with a beautiful view and played various games with the locals. We got back to home base and enjoyed a relaxing evening filled with cake for Theo’s 15th birthday celebration and watched White Chicks to cap off the night. It was a pretty awesome day!

July 3

Hola amigos!

Today we went on a city tour of Cuzco! In the morning, we explored Saqsaywaman, an ancient Incan archeological site. We had a blast sliding down the rocks and crawling through caves. The views the mountains and the city were spectacular. Some of us hiked up to a beautiful, white marble Jesus statue… #BLESSED. We ate lunch at Casa de Inca, and we enjoyed eating Alpaca and listening to some live, local, Peruvian jamz!!! It was #LIT. After lunch, we headed to downtown Cusco, where we toured the Iglesia El Triunfo and the Temple of the Sun. Once we got back to our home base, we went to the grocery and bought some delicious comida. Afterwards, we walked to Molino Market, where we bought any items we might need for the trek to Machu Picchu. Finally, we ended the day with our mentor groups and reflected on our trip so far. We are excited to continue service tomorrow and bond more with the squad.

Hasta luego!

Lucy and Celine

July 4

We kicked off the day with a piping hot plate of eggs and a delicious Haba bean drink that was prepared for us by the amazing Hospedaje el Viajero staff. We then boarded the buses and were off to a hard but rewarding day of service in the village of Chocco. With blood, sweat, and tears, the group put forth hard work towards the uprising of the Cuy civilization. The groups were rewarded with a quick break that consisted of snacks, drinks, and a smooth lounge on the local school soccer field. As service came to an end, we all piled into 5 speed Manual Mercedes Benz bus that rushed us to home base for a satisfying lunch which centered around a helpful serving of french fries and squid. Our afternoon excursion took place at the local girls orphanage. Here we experienced life changing moments with the inhabitants of the orphanage. From playing futbol, to extreme rap battles, we exchanged smiles and laughs with the children. For dinner, the extremely kind mentors surprised us with an exhilarating Italian cuisine that all of us missed dearly, PIZZA! After a mouthwatering meal, we then moved to our 4th of July celebration. A variety of well-known songs, cheerful travelers, and ecstatic emotions all came together to create possibly the best celebration of America’s Independence Day. And with that, we leave you with mre t come of this one of a kind experience in Peru.

Charles Smolen and Zach

July 5, 2016

Hi all,

Today, July 5th , we completed our second to last day of service. Despite sickness, we all worked as hard as ever, making mud, laying bricks, and chopping down walls. After a long morning of service, we gathered for a lunch of chicken, french fries, and beetroots, accompanied by salad and bread. At three o’clock, we departed the hotel again, to go to a llama farm. There, some of us were spit on by llamas and alpacas, but most of us just took pictures and fed the animals. When we returned, we started packing for the hike, double checking the checklist to make sure that we aren’t missing any essentials. Dinner was a spaghetti dish with a hearty meat sauce. Dessert followed, being a warm bread pudding. Our after dinner activity was a talk with another mentor, Matt, who biked to Cuzco from Utah, visiting eleven countries along the way. His question and answer style discussion was inspiring, showing us that you can really do anything you set your mind to. Now we are wrapping up the day, preparing for our hike tomorrow morning.

We miss you, but all is well here,

The Jutri

July 7

Hola Amigos!

After a hypothermic scare, stomach problemas, sprained ankles, and general sicknesses, we conquered a two day hike in the Andes Mountains. During the hike, there were jaw-dropping views of snow-covered mountains and wild alpacas. When we reached Aguascalientes yesterday, we were surprised with a city-wide blackout right before dinner. We also made a spontaneous stop at a concert in a local soccer field. This morning, we started off our day at 5 am to start hiking up to Machu Picchu. After an hour and a half and 1,800 steps, we reached the entrance to Machu Picchu. Let me tell you, we were hangry. We took a tour around the city for 3 hours and then went back for lunch at Aguascalientes. After lunch, half of us went to the market for souvenirs and the other half went down to the river where Carmo proceeded to fall into the water. After that we took a train back to Ollantaytambo. We took a 3 hour bus ride back to home base where we were greeted with hugs from Carolina. We rounded out the night with a nice bowl of ice cream and a jam session to our favorite throwback songs!
Adios!!!

– Danielle, Kyra, Lucy, Ruthie, Alaina, Francisca, and Sophia

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Summer Blog Posts

Several hours of travel and multiple layovers finds almost all of the new GLA participants happy and safe at the Cusco home-base. We expect the final arrival early tomorrow morning.

We are happy to welcome participants from seven different countries from Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia.

Buenas noches!!!!

July 10, 2016

Greetings from Cusco!

After a day of arrivals, acclimation, and introductions, followed by a good night of sleep, we woke up bright and early to get a good look at the city on a beautiful Sunday.

Today we got to experience the town of Cusco and took a tour with a local. We visited Inca ruins, one of which was called Saqsaywaman. There we saw the limestone rocks which they carried many kilometers and then fit perfectly together like a puzzle. One of the highlights was sliding down a natural rock slide that was really fast and a little scary.

At lunch, we got to try many new and exciting foods like huge pieces of corn, alpaca, and a corn drink (chicha morada). We even saw a cooked cui (guinea pig) pass by.

Afterwards, we visited a beautiful cathedral with altars made of gold and silver, representing the sun and moon. We even got to go underground and see the ashes of Garcilaso de la Vega.

Finally, we visited the Sun temple which was originally built by the Incas but later expanded by the Spaniards. Here we also saw painting by the Incas which represented how they saw the world.

Kerry Dietterich and Emilie Dávilia

July 11, 2016

Day 3. Our day began at 6:10 to our mentor, Kerry’s loud knocks because our wake up crew forgot the ‘wake up’ part of their job. Within 5 minutes there was a rushed scurry of students, scrambling to get dressed and ready for the day. By 6:45am, 32 excited students were finally ready to leave for their first service day in Mayrasco, Peru! When we arrived after a grueling bus ride, we were introduced to the community leaders. They explained to us the importance of the Fish Farm project, and showed us how to properly use the tools efficiently all day. There were some doubts from the locals about our work ethic, but we quickly proved them wrong. After four hours of picking, shoveling, and moving dirt, we returned to home base for a nourishing meal of lentils, pork-chops, and potatoes. After a much needed shower, we joined a native economist to learn about the causes of poverty. He highlighted the importance of a healthy cultural and social balance, education, and health. We ended the evening by meeting with our mentor groups to discuss the structure of a good story.

Your main dudes and featured story tellers,

Milun Syms, & Elise Quirk

July 12

It was another bright and early morning with a 6:15 breakfast consisting of Peruvian dulce de Leche pancakes. We hopped on two busses for our commute to the worksite for our second day of service. We were all pretty sore from the physical labor the day before. Work felt more natural, but we will never be as productive workers as Antonio, a village leader who works along side us. After being split up into new work groups, we assumed our positions as pick-axers, shovelers, and rock movers. At 11:30, we took our scenic hike down to the local primary school. Unfortunately, the children did not play with us, but we enjoyed a game of ultimate frisbee. The boys were victorious, although the girls are prepared for a rematch. After we ate lunch and showered, we traveled to meet with a local shaman, also known as a paco. This shaman is the equivalent of a priest or spiritual leader. He performed a ceremony and made an offering to Mother Earth (see photos below). Afterwards, we had the opportunity to have our fortunes told by reading coca leaves. Overall, the fortunes were positive, but a few group members are now watching their health. Before bed, we were debriefed on our four day trek to Machu Picchu. We are all very excited! Adios for now.

Your yogis and storytellers of the day,

Mitch and Amy

7/13

Day 5

Today we started the day bright and early at 6:15. After stumbling out of bed and enjoying our omelette breakfast, we hopped back into our buses and raced Matt up the hill to the service site. Matt managed to bike the whole way up the hill approx 13 miles. During our service hours we continued to shovel out the three ponds and moved rocks in preparation for reinforcing the walls. While also jamming out to some sweet tunes provided by Brad. Today felt a little bit cooler than the previous day’s, the cool breeze was be refreshing. At around noon we made our way down to the school once again. Luckily, the students had just finished their lunch and were very eager to play. We were treated with the little boys splashing us with water after cleaning their dishes (they’re very sassy). We played jump rope, volleyball and frisbee today. One little girl in particular was extremely invested in the volleyball game and made every attempt to receive and serve the ball. The local girls decided to braid Bryce’s hair as well. After a bit of play, we loaded up the vans once again and were once again beat by Matt on his bike. We kicked off our dirty boots, had lunch, then visited the Molina to get some last minute gear for our trek. Later that afternoon, we had a guest speaker who talked about Peruvian Children’s Health. We had meatballs, potatoes and plantains for dinner with bread pudding for dessert. Afterwards we made a second trip to the Molina for some more last minute things and came across a churro vendor. He came and visited outside our hotel and served all 36 of us warm churros. Overall a fun filled day, one more day of service until our trek!

Love your favorite Oregonian and Bostonian,

Allie and Kelly 😀

All 32 happy campers have safely returned from a life-changing hike around Mt Veronica and tour of Machu Picchu. Tomorrow, back to Cusco!

July 21, 2016
Aggressively woken up at 6:00, by the eager people in room 602. Community service was centered around laying cement down with in the holes. Everybody was able to be involved in the process of gathering all the supplies needed. Extended service day allowed for one of the hole’s bottom to be completed. A fun afternoon was made by having a delicious lunch and getting to see a traditional musician. Not only were we shown native instruments and how they worked but we also got the chance to play them. The night ended off with the celebration of a fellow student, Sydney Royce with a cake and piñata.

Sincerely,

Thibaud Roy and Rebecca Harbour

July 22, 2016

After a few days of hiking The Andes, exploring Machu Picchu and surviving the long journey home, we finally returned to the community of Mayrasco to get back to work. Our project is progressing quickly. We started digging out trenches to connect the holes in order to create a water flow and have started to create the metal structures that will support the cement floor. We returned to the hotel and after lunch, began an exciting citywide scavenger hunt. Our group split up into 4 teams and were tasked to navigate the city of Cuzco, looking for items such as the largest avocado and the strangest packaged snack. Each team successfully found the items demanded, but Team Julia showed an outstanding level of creativity in their photos allowing them to win the contest and promised prize. After the fun activity, the whole group gathered to watch a documentary titled ” A Story of Stuff.” This documentary discussed topics of consumerism and misused resources. This movie inspired a discussion where everyone could share their thoughts and opinions of the topics at hand. We then broke up into our mentor groups and worked on improving our Peru stories. We talked about the resolution that comes after a conflict and how to write about it. After story time, everyone headed off to bed to recharge for the coming day and its activities.

GLA students,

François and Harper

July 23, 2016

Today we went rafting on the Urubamba River. It was about a two-hour drive from the home-base. The kids could form groups of six and raced one another down the river.

The rapids were class one, class two, and class three (the three easier levels). The kids had AWESOME splash battles, using their paddles to splash other rafts. It was a very scenic route, including sights of snow capped mountains, sheep, Inca ruins, and goats.

Some of the braver souls safely (Matt made us say this) jumped off a bridge into the NUMBINGLY COLD river!!!

For lunch, we stopped at a restuarant right off the banks of the river. We ate chicken, mashed potatoes, chicha morada, and dulche de leche filled crêpes.

Many of the kids said that today was one of the best days out of the three weeks! It was truly amazing to raft down the river in a foreign place with the beautiful scenery.

See you in six days!!!

Natalie Lareau and Sarah Wagman

July 26

Today began with a birthday surprise for our friend Mackenzie! Some of the girls from our trip decorated her door for her 15th birthday. We enjoyed a breakfast of eggs and set off to work.

At the service site we worked on laying cement in the fish ponds and finishing off the ditches for our trench system. We had many different tasks for work today. One group of kids worked on sledgehammering the giant rocks into smaller ones that we are going to use to build walls in the fish ponds. The team finally managed to finish after days of challenging work! Another group moved gravel, rocks, mix, and water to make cement for the ponds. The materials were mixed by some of the community members of Mayrasco, who have been helping us the whole time. We finished laying the cement in the last of three holes today! Now we are ready to build walls. After our long morning of service we got to surprise Mackenzie with a birthday cake!!

After lunch we split into two groups and visited our friends at the orphanages. One group went to the girls, and the others to the boys. At the girls orphanage we all hung out playing guitar and singing, while some of the girls who lived at the home braided our hair. At the boys orphanage, the other students and the boys started a game of soccer.

In mentor groups tonight we developed the stories that we will share with everyone on our last day. Each of use will share lessons that we learned throughout the trip.

Tomorrow is our second to last day at service. We will get up early and get back to work on the fish ponds!

-Bryce & Grace