Day 1

Hey, it’s Jake here! And yes, we did make it. After a total of about 12 hours of layovers, 1 cancelled flight, and some struggles with baggage, we did in fact make it. Dinner came easier than expected, and was actually quite good. Bed bugs were quite a scare to Mrs. Wallace, as she too has a lice phobia like most mothers. But other than that everything’s going well so far, and we will make sure and check back in with y’all often. See you in two weeks!

Day 2

This is Sara.  Today we woke up at the full moon lodge and ate breakfast there before we left to go rafting. This was our second Peruvian meal and it along with the first was really good. Their food is so much more natural and fresh than our food. The rafting trip was about an hour and was extremely cold even with wet suits. My raft had Annie, Anna, Jake, Andrew, William, and two guides. It was a lot of fun and Annie, Andrew and I took turns sitting on the front of the raft during the rapids. The guides had a good sense of humor and helped us with our Spanish. At the end of the trip we pulled off to the sided and changed in a tent. A meal that had been prepared for us was brought into the tent and we ate lunch there before we went to shower to meet our home stay families. This was our last hot shower and for some last shower at all for the next eight days. Once we got to the village each house meet their moms and dropped our bags in our houses. Annie, Anna, and I are staying together right next to William and Jake. Our houses touch they are so close our two families are related to each other so hang out. We still hadn’t met the kids or dads of our houses until after we left to see the school. The school is walking distance and we played soccer with the kids. We then went back to our houses and the kids and dads of our houses came home. We attempted to help make dinner but were to slow and dangerous with the knives so we sat to the side and got to know the family. They are all very welcoming and generous. They help me especially with my Spanish and are patient with me. Everyone is so giving and share the little that they have. Waiting for dinner we gave them the gifts we brought and they couldn’t have been more excited and thankful. Dinner was a really good soup with tea that we have every meal. We were then to exhausted to stay up any longer so went to bed.  So far I have loved every bit of this trip and the experience has been amazing. While I have been writing this in the school where we’re building a kitchen little kids have been aiming leggo guns at me and pressing all the keys on the computer. They have been watching me write this even though they don’t know what I’m saying. See you in two weeks we are having a hard time uploading so we are uploading whenever we can. Love ya fam.

Day 3

This is Mitchell reporting from Piscacucho.   Aison, Andrew and I slept very well after a delicious soup and watching Power Rangers in Spanish.  It takes about 20 minutes to get to the school for our project, so we had to wake up extra early.  We gave the gifts this morning and our mom was so happy to get them.  The two boys gave us big hugs with big smiles, and we ate breakfast, which was a warm tea, toast, and jelly.  We got to the school a little early and played with three of the younger students.  After playing with the kids, a Shaman came dressed in very colorful attire.  We spread wine and Chicha (I think) across the worksite to bless it and we went inside of one of the classrooms to cleanse our Aura and create a small pile of different objects that all had a meaning, such as happiness.  The best part of today was playing soccer with all of the kids.  The two teams were the Americans and the Peruvians.  After about five minutes of playing soccer, all of the Americans were out of breath, and the Peruvians were very energetic.  After some confusion about who the winners were, we moved a lot of adobe bricks.  At lunch, we ate Guinea Pig, yes, the part of our adventure that you’ve wanted to hear about most.  I cannot describe the taste of the Guinea Pig because I was just staring at it half of the time.  Besides the Guinea Pig, there were potatoes, Quinoa rice, and a salad.  We went back to our houses after a big meal, and our mom wanted us to come to eat lunch.  Again.  However, we didn’t refuse because, one, she makes delicious soups and, two, we didn’t want to disappoint her.  She gave us a huge bowl of one of her great soups, and surprisingly, we finished it all.  Today was very fun, but we miss all of you.