Numbers that work Wonders

Monday, 10 January: I went back to Pumamarca School. This time I was there as an official volunteer. With a busy 4-week schedule ahead of us, I was so excited to start my day. I felt like a kid on her first day at school. It was an early start for Alex, Vanessa, Mark and myself.  We arrived at Pumamarca School at 10:30 am via a cab.  Gerry took us around for a full orientation of the school.  He briefly spoke about Peru’s Challenge history and background: from the start of its operation to where it is now.

Part of the Peru’s Challenge milestones that inspired me most was when Jane & Selvy (Peru’s Challenge founders) had to go from house to house with a box of bananas and a message to encourage parents to send their kids to go to school in order to support their plea to the Peruvian Government for an educational aid and to further develop a better education for the kids of Pumamarca.  Over the last 5 years Peru’s Challenge had welcomed 800 international volunteers and multiplied the school attendance (12 to 160) of kids; brought in 1 teacher to 7 teachers now and built from 2 classrooms to 8.

Just recently  a brand new kitchen was built within the school premise.  These  were followed by more projects that I will be proudly discussing in details. I was tasked to  gather beans, with Mark and Alex,  from  the  school garden and also help prepare lunch for the kids. We brought the freshly gathered beans to the kitchen. Here I met the 3 kitchen staff, Ana Maria, Hidi and Azunta. Lunch for the day was a piece of fried meat with boiled potatoes, and salad mixed with tomatoes, onions and lettuce all freshly harvested from the school Greenhouse. This is a substantial and healthy lunch set for the kids and absolutely an added treat for them to come to school.

The lunch was served at around 1pm.  Kids from grades 1 & 2 kids were the first one to arrive at the kitchen. Everyone queued up and waited patiently for their turns to be served. When everyone was all seated, they recited a prayer in unison. Slowly, when they finished eating, they individually washed their own dishes.

Since it was our first volunteer day, Gerry took us out for a welcome dinner at the Tunupa Restaurant. Tunupa Restaurant is located on the main square of Plaza de Armas.  The selections of foods at the buffet table were endless. I complemented my meal with a glass of pisco sour.  It was a very pleasant night as I had a glimpse of the night view – absolutely charming and romantic of Plaza de Armas view through the window of the restaurant’s upper level.  The food was fantastic but what I enjoyed most was the live music and folkloric dance entertainment throughout the night.

Tuesday, 11th of January: All volunteers convened at 8:30 am for our first volunteers meeting.  Gerry went through the schedules of the entire program duration. Each lesson delivered for the class requires a lesson plan written up and filed accordingly.  The lessons choices are PE, English, Art and Computers. Construction, gardening and assisting the kitchen staff are additional tasks that had to be filled in episodically along with other adhoc tasks.  One of the tasks given to me was to take the lead of the Art Classes with Alex’s assistance.  And me to help him out with his PE classes.

Today, I assisted Vanessa with the Computer Class. From this class, I used the computers to incorporate the ‘Paint’ application for my Art class for grades 5 & 6 and grades 4 & 5. We spent a good 30 minutes for each class where kids were asked to work by pairs or threes (when it is a bigger class).  The computers were set up ready for them to use prior to their arrival in the classroom.  Computer lesson is one of the kids’ favourite.  They really get excited especially when they are asked to choose documents/software freely from the computer.  Machu Picchu, Leah’s Farm Coloring Book and ‘Mi Primera Encarta’ (online encyclopedia) are some of their top favourites

In preparation for my Art class, I took the opportunity in my afternoon Spanish Lesson with Patricia (my new Spanish Teacher) to assist me in translating the steps on how to make a paper plane and boat.   I remember making this when I was younger.

Wednesday, 12th of January: It was my turn to sit in the boot of the station wagon taxi on our way to the school.  Apparently, you could fit at least 5 passengers at the back of the boot.  I was amongst a sack of rice, box of bananas, the full gas tank and other stuff required for the day.

When I arrived at the school, I proceeded to the kitchen to assist the ladies with the bean peeling. I enjoyed working with the ladies in the kitchen.  I had conversation with them in my broken Spanish.   I was most impressed by the way they cut onions and lettuce without a chopping board.  I guess this shows that in this village you can survive with very minimal necessities that we are accustomed to.

At 11.30am I was scheduled to assist Alex with his P.E class.  We played ‘Steal the Bacon.’ The kids absolutely loved and enjoyed the game. ‘Steal The Bacon’ is a game where two balls are placed in the middle of the court. Kids were divided into 2 teams: ‘Canguros’ for Kangaroos and ‘Aguilas’ for Eagles.  Each member of the team was assigned a number.  When their number was called, the two opponent members of each run to the middle and get the balls.  The first one to steal the ball earns a point for their team. Two numbers or more may be called out for a team effort, which Alex had done few times and everyone just became competitive.  The Canguros team won the game!

At 3.30pm, we went back to Pumamarca for an afternoon visit at the Talleres, which is generally scheduled on Mondays and Wednesdays.  In addition to Pumamarca, Peru’s Challenge also supports a few communities in the town. Project for Life is one of Peru’s Challenge best projects focusing to create a better and balance quality of life. Peru’s Challenge works closely with community members to attend and respond to other community’s desired areas of development such as small business development, house renovations, and education and counseling on social problems and concerns. Talleres is just one of the few categories under Project for Life.  It is a group of women who are encouraged to develop more technical skills like handicrafts making, which helps the women of the community generate income for their family.

During our afternoon visit, I met a woman named Lucia who had benefited a lot from the Project Life program. Here’s her story:

Eight months ago, Lucia suffered from a memory loss and acted peculiar. The whole community thought that she was possessed. She has 5 children whom 3 attend at Pumamarca School, and the youngest is 14 months old.  Her husband had to give up his job in Cuzco to provide care for the kids. The family struggled financially.  Peru’s Challenge spoke to the local community Social Worker.  She suggested admitting Lucia to the Medical Clinic and doing a brain scan. But her request was ignored. The clinic diagnosed her of having psychological problem.  As Lucia’s condition persisted, Peru’s Challenge absorbed the cost for a specialist to see her and do the brain scan. Eventually they found out that she had a cyst in her brain from eating pork. The cyst went up into her brain that led to a fluid and blood tumor forming around it.  She was apparently misdiagnosed at the Medical Clinic, which proved to be a common discriminating practice to the community without health coverage or funds.

Through Project for Life program, her surgery was covered. Following the operation, her memory loss and her inability to talk and walk were still evident.  It was a depressing time for the family. She did not even remember the name of her husband and kids, but remembered Janes.  Lucia was in tears following the operation, which showed that she knew what the family was going through due to her condition.  I witnessed this display of affection and concerns that afternoon after physiotherapy.  In order to recuperate, Peru’s Challenge hired a certified Speech and Occupational therapist, who provided Lucia occupational therapy for the past 3 weeks at the Talleres room where bed was made up as a therapy table.

The husband currently works at the school in Pumamarca as a watchman and looks after the greenhouses and chicken coops during the end of year school vacation.  The social worker also works with the kids on how to look after each other to get through their day-to-day living routines.  The older kids are attending summer school.  The camaraderie was evident in the whole community as they join and come together to donate regular food packages to support the family.

This is just one of the many stories that Peru’s Challenge supported through Project for Life program where they are committed to providing help to the whole family outside the school environment.  Project for Life is a sponsorship program, a secondary level support that Peru’s Challenge provides for the whole community and not just the individuals.

We had dinner at Real McCoy.  Traditionally, Wednesday nights is their Trivia night but management will resume it next month.  The restaurant had some game boards and following the group consensus, we decided to play ‘speed scrabble’ which is the same concept as the normal scrabble but to win the game you have to be the first to finish with no remaining letters.  Food at Real McCoy was typical pub style selections and reasonably priced.

Thursday 13th of January: I conducted my first Art Class ‘making paper planes’ with my co-volunteer Alex.  Our first class was for Grades 1 & 2, followed by Grades 3 & 4.  It was a very simple 4 steps.  It only required an A4 size paper and crayons for coloring along with my written ‘instrucciones’ (instructions) in Spanish.  We ended the class by taking them out to the main ground for a test flight and checked out which newly built plane flew the fastest and the farthest.  It was an eventful exercise – the kids loved it!

Click here to view the Pumamarca kids showcasing their newly made planes…

When we went back the following day at the school, it was great to see some of the kids still had their paper-made planes with them and I also noticed new ones were made.

My first activity was to assist Mark with his English Lesson plans for grades 1 & 2.  The subject for this lesson is ‘Vegetables naming’ from Spanish to English.  We handed each pupil a sheet of paper with the vegetable pictures, where the kids wrote their names in English and color the picture. The rest of the morning, I assisted Alex with the P.E. playing ‘Dodge balls’ for Grades 3, 4 & 5.  It was a very simple game.  The aim of the game was for the players to try to hit other players on the opposing team with the balls and avoid being hit themselves.

At lunchtime, we all gathered at the kitchen along with the teachers and the kids to farewell Gerry who is bound to return for a vacation back to Australia.  Edgar, the School Director did the introduction speech followed by Ofelia, teacher for Grades 5 & 6 and each individual class handed some flowers and card to Gerry.  It was a very moving farewell exhibit!

Lunch for today was an authentic ‘cuy’ (guinea pig) at the regional town of Tipon.  Cuy is a well-known regional delicacy.  It tasted like duck cooked in an oven – crunchy from the outside or Alex would say, ‘it felt like being in a science class.’   It was served with some spaghetti pasta, stuffed capsicum with peas and minced meat, and 2 pieces of baked potato.  Tipon is about 30 minutes from Larapa.  Apparently ‘cuy’ can only be prominently seen outside Tipon during festival days or at weddings.

On our way home, we stopped at the bakery and got myself some muffins for breakfast the next morning.  I also got some medicines to combat  my continued  sneezing. I was very surprised to find out how very affordable meds are in Cuzco.  I will for sure stock some meds before I leave this town.

Saturday, 15th of January: This marked the first tour as part of the volunteer package.   We were joined in by 6 other volunteers – all students from Sydney Macquarie University. They are part of a group also managed by Peru’s Challenge and happen twice a year.  Half of the group went to Lake Titicaca for the weekend.   We met Arlich from Ultimate Tours, our Tour guide for the rest of the weekend, and we all boarded on a brand new 20-seater mini bus.

We started with a 45 minutes horse ride from The Archaeological Park Saqsayhuaman (or Gerry would say ‘Sexy Woman’) then rode up to Wayllarcocha.  ‘Esmeralda’, my horse, was the most conforming one.  I was 2nd to the last in the ride but towards the end, I managed to get Esmeralda placed 2nd to the finishing point.  Bien trabajo Esmeralda!

Our next stop was to Tambomachay, a nearby archaeological site, which is known as the “The Bath of the Inca.”   In the site, you will find a small market where you can buy some Peruvian handicrafts.  Don’t forget to bargain!

Our next stop was Pucapucara known as the ‘Red Fort.’ After the tour of the area, I went back to pick up my ‘Esmeralda’ for another pleasant ride downhill towards Qenqo Temple, where death rituals took place.  It is a massive formation of rocks that goes around like a maze. A group of us went through a scary pitch-black narrow cave.  I certainly hit myself twice against the rocks!

The horse ride was the highlight of the day.  I enjoyed the impressive view of the valley immensely, and at the same time it was very educational to learn about the greatness of the ancient Inca civilization and history.

We then drove back down to Plaza de Armas to have lunch at Los Perros.  It is a ‘couch bar’ as evidenced by it relaxing atmosphere. The food was fantastic especially the snacks we shared prior to having our main course.  I highly recommend their ‘smoothies’ and the massive burger if you enjoy and love a big meal.

The last stop for the day was Saqsayhuaman, which offers the best panoramic view of the city of Cuzco.   This archeological and historical park is enormous in size but the large sized plaza and the scale of the massive terrace walls evidently built by hundreds of strong men are the two best-known parts in this park.

Sunday, 16th of January: It was another great day for the group. Our first stop was the Rachis Lookout point, which is an hour drive from the house. It is a famous destination point for paragliding enthusiasts.

The massive sunken circular terraces at Moray were our next stop.  It was an easy walk downhill but quite a challenge for me getting back up hill.  Finally our last stop was the Salineras de Mares (The Salt Mines). I was impressed with its thousands of salt-pool terraces in different sizes and shapes but was more impressed when I walked around the salt-pools.

The first half hour drive back from The Salt Mines towards Cuzco offered a magnificent view of the mountain ranges in different forms, shapes and heights, and its lush farmlands.  It felt like I was outside Peru.  It definitely reminded me of the Swiss Alps.  Few of us got dropped off at Plaza de Armas at around 4pm.  By then I was very hungry and decided to head back to Jack’s Café for another sumptuous lunch.  Have I mentioned that this has been my 3rd visit at Jack’s?

Before we headed back to the house, we visited the Coca shop again to purchase some remedies for altitude sickness fix. We also stopped by at the Gato’s Market and got some imported goods like Cadbury breakfast snack bars etc and am not surprised with the jacked up price of the imported goods. Our final  stop was at Compania de Jesus where I managed to steal some pictures inside the church.

It was a long week but it has been a great and memorable week. Thanks to Peru’s Challenge.

© 2012 by Michelle Riel, retains sole copyright to her contributions to all the contents of this site.