Lima and Cusco

I arrived in Lima on the 17th of May, where I met with some of the other volunteers who were already at the hotel. The next day we had a tour of the city, and we also where taken out for dinner by a pair of Peruvian brothers, who I had met the previous day. It was a very amusing night on account of the fact that neither of the brothers spoke english, while out of the 6 girls, only a few of us felt able to communicate. One of them called the night ´una aventura´- an adventure. We also met an english fellow who was dining alone, who later joined us at our table, making us 9 in total.

The next morning we flew to Cusco, where I met a friendly Puerto Rican/US couple who were celebrating there 29th wedding anniversary by travelling to Argentina and then Peru to see the Incan ruins, Machu Picchu. Once off the plane, I felt the altitude quite strongly, in that the air felt thinner, it seemed harder to breathe, and there was a kind of pressure in my head. But it settled down. The real challenge came today, when we went higher into the mountains to visit the schools where we will work. The children were incredibly friendly, rushing up and hugging us and grabbing our hands to lead us around. ´Hola amigas! Hola!´. We were treated to a few performances. In one class they sang us a song about a playful cat (in spanish) with the teacher accompanying them on the guitar. In another class, one little girl whispered to her classmates and they then also sang to us ´Hola amigos, como estan? Muy bien, muy bien!´ We then walked 20 minutes up and down hills, and across a stream which my foot fell in, to get to the next community where Peru's Challenge works. It was amazing to see the Andes all around, and the fields that were irrigated, and the women with their colourful native clothing walking through the fields, often with babies strapped to their backs with colourful cloths. It was definitely a struggle walking these paths though, especially at altitude. The return trip was harder, as it was mostly uphill.. but it's good practice for the Inca trek yet to come.