Dear Louis,
I thought I posted this updated Plan B itinerary onto the blog yesterday, but I just checked the blog and didn't see it. Maybe I'm clueless about the blog thing and it's somewhere there. Would you mind checking and if not, see if you can post this on it, or send it via Interpelago-email? Muchas Gracias. We had our last day of volunteer work yesterday and the kids were moved by how much the orphan children will miss us. We made some excellent and meaningful donations. To my orphanage we gave 50 bras. That is what these girls really needed and they were, to be understated, thrilled. Joaquin's group gave underwear and socks to the all boys orphanage, perfect timing since school starts Monday for them. Grisha and Joaquin are fixing the roof at Grisha's place, and Olga has given bread every day they've been and over 50 notebooks and school supplies. Success!

Other than a cold or two, we're all pretty darn healthy. Will write again soon.
Heather

Itinerary Update

Dear Families,

I am having trouble posting the itinerary on the blog. Please be patient with me. Here is is once more, and hopefully complete.

We're having a good time with our volunteer work and our classes. Students have a test in Spanish classes on Thursday! We will encourage students to email their families more frequently.

Graci'as,

Heather

Wednesday 2-24

School in the am

Volunteer work in the afternoon

Home stays

Thursday 2-25

School in the am

Peruvian Music class 6-7 pm at the school

Homestays

Friday 2-26

School in the am (last day of Spanish classes)

Salsa dancing lessons 6-7 pm

Group visit to dicoteque 9-10:30 (all adults and students are going all together as a group for this cultural experience. Hopefully, some of the salsa lessons will be put to use.)

Sat. 2-27

10 am Visit Cusco Museums

Inca Museum

Sitio de Qoricanda

Center of traditional textiles

Lunch at Homestays

Afternoon: Museum of Arte Nativo

-Homestays (last homstay night in Cusco)

Sun. 2-28

Hiking from Cusco to the nearby Temple of the Sun

Attending the Andean Ritual "Payment to the Earth"

pm - dinner together and stay overnight in Hotel Cusco

Mon 3/1

All Day volunteer work at Zurite (a small village on the Urubamba river that was devastated by the flooding). We will purchase some tools and take our muscle to help the villagers clean up after the flooding. Our bus will be provided by the Amauta School in Cusco.

pm - stay overnight in Hotel Cusco

Tues 3-2

6:40 a.m. Go by tour bus to Puno. Along the way, we will visit the following sites:

Andahuaylillas

Raqchi

Pukara

Puno Market

pm stay in a hotel in Puno (arranged by Amauta)

Weds 3-3

3 Islands tour at Lake Titicaca

Uros Island

Homestays in Amantani

Thurs 3-4

Breakfast in Amantani

Visit to Taquile

3pm back to Puno by bus

Stay overnight in hotel in Puno

Fri 3-5

8 am Bus to Cusco

Stay overnight in a hotel in Cusco

Sat 3-6

Fly from Cusco to Lima

arrive Lima 12:10 pm

afternoon: special tour bus to Miraflores Beach

(arranged by a friend of Joaquin's)

Dinner together in Lima, then back to airport.

Sun 3/7

Fly from Lima to Atlanta 1:20 am - 8:15 am

Fly from Atlanta - SeaTac

Delta # 1057

3:35 - 6:15

Peru Update III: from Heather

Dear Families,

It is now Monday and the students are back in classes, this time with new teachers. Our weekend? Full of Peruvian culture, ancient ruins, hiking, open markets, new cuisine, a birthday, and music.

Thursday afternoon we visited one of several local markets in Cusco where an overstimulating amount of goods bombarded our senses: soft clothing made of alpaca wool, sombreros of all types, knives big and small and some quite unusually decorated, leather wallets, hand woven belts, table runners, wall hangings, shirts and striped cotton pantalones, and blankets in bright colors, finger puppets, silver jewelry, earrings made of bird feathers, a plethora of new (to us) fruits and vegetables, including many varieties of both corn and potato, papayas as big as babies, round loaves of bread the size of bike tires, toasted and puffed corn, fried pork rinds, fried banana chips, chocolate in every form, coffee, squash as big as truck tires, cookies, pastries, rolls, rounds of cheese and butter, and then the counters laden with heavy slabs of meat (beef, alpaca, pork), chicken in a myriad of forms, the infamous guinea pig, and of course, all those mysterious medicinal animal parts, including gall bladders, livers, hearts, noses of cows, entrails of sheep, and a couple of pig heads. In the category of musical instruments were pan flutes, small guitars specific to the region, recorders, ceramic whistles, drums, and rattles made of hand carved gourds.

After this shopping extravaganza, we returned to the school for a Peruvian cooking lesson. We learned how to make papas rellenos, or mashed potatoes stuffed with beef, onions, peas, garlic, salt, tomatoes, and carrots, which are then fried and eaten immediately. Delicious. (Plus, our wonderful chef made a vegetarian version.)

Friday after classes, we visited a handicraft market. Ponchos, small back packs, and finger puppets were quite popular, as you will see in some of your travelers' photos. Friday evening we had salsa dancing lessons at the school. Most of the guys protested against this "madatory" cultural activity. However, I think it is safe to say that nearly all of us had fun, and the guys might have come around to actually enjoying salsa! Our instructors are accomplished dancers and inspiring teachers. We have another lesson next week, so it is possible we may return graceful dancers.

Saturday morning we left early by bus with our intrepid guide, Carlos, who took us to the Sacred Valley. First, we visited the circular ruins of Moray, with many levels, or "steps" created for the purpose of experimental and educational agriculture. The Inca used this place as a school and a laboratory, where the oldest and most knowledgeable farmers taught younger ones, and also where these experts studied the effects of altitude on certain plants. Each level of the circuluar ruin might vary in temperture as much as 15º. These Inca scientists selected and saved seeds in seed banks and, according to Carlos, also genetically altered certain species. There are 4,000 known varieties of potato in the world, and in Peru and Bolivia alone there exist 2,500 varieties. The ruins at Moray have been almost completely restored, and potatoes, beans, and other crops are growing there now.

After Moray, we drove on to Salineras, where salt has been mined for centuries by the Inca, who discovered a salt water river (much of it underground) in this area, and while this was of no use for irrigation, the Inca mined the salt by building evaportion pools and scraping the salt from these pools during the dry season. At one time, centuries ago, this salt was even used as a form of money. We toured the evaporation pools and at our guide's suggestion, dipped our hand in the salty stream and watched the water evaporate on our skin, leaving traces of salt on our hands.

We hiked down from Salineras to meet our tour bus near the river, and then drove on to Ollantaytambo, where we toured ruins built on a steep mountainside above the town. Climbing up the incredibly steep steps to the religious center of the Sacred Valley left several of us out of breath, but the effort proved worth it. The pink granite stones (some weighing several tons) placed carefully in this temple exemplify the importance of religion to the Inca, and the effort and strategy necessary to quarry these stones and transport them several miles up and down and across the valley astounded us.

After Ollantaytambo, we traveled to the small town of Taray, also on the Urubamba river, where we stayed overnight at another school owned by Amauta. The only group in residence that night, we threw a birthday party for Victoria, who turned 17. We surprised her with a torta (cake) procured in Cusco, and music and presents and fun. The night was full of card games, water balloon fights, and general merriment.

We woke early the next morning to catch a local bus to Pisac, the most amazing of all the ruins we have yet to view. Our guide Carlos joined us again and we were driven up to a high altitude to start our tour of the many ruins of Pisac. Pisac was the administrative center of the Inca during the height of their empire. We hiked around many of the sites and the combination of the shepherds horns (they blow through conch shells to call their sheep), warm and sunny weather, and wildflowers in bloom everywhere made for a stellar day of sight seeing. Carlos informed us of the culture of the time, the way the social structure worked, and how the priests and priestesses were selected, usually following a "sign" from the gods, such as being struck by lightning!

After the wonders of Pisac, we hiked down along the winding trails full with blooming flowers and the occasional small waterfall, until we reached the town of Pisac and entered the large, open market. Several students bought more beautiful clothing and some muscial instruments. Following the market, we swam in a local swimmng pool adjacent to a hotel, and then were serenaded by our own excellent musicians on the bus ride back to Cusco. All were physically tired by the time we returned to the city, and we split off to our respective homestays for some dinner and recuperation.

This week our volunteer work resumes for the next three days after classes, and we will celebrate the last day of that work with our donations to the orphanages. We have another salsa class scheduled this week, as well as some touring of the local museum and cathedrals.

While some of have experienced a bit of stomach problems and a few sinus colds, our own medico, Joaquin, takes good care of everybody, and the general health is good. Our attitude remains positive and we're ready for more adventure. Our Spanish speaking improves daily!

We will send more photos soon. We hope all is well back home. Adios!

Heather, Olga, Grisha, and Joaquin

Peru Update I

Estamos aqui! Peru update from Heather this morning:

We made it, safe and sound. The flights were long and sleepless, so yesterday was tough in terms of staying awake once we got to the Amauta school in Cusco. Everyone likes their host families and feels welcome! Today is the first day of classes, students are in them right this minute. Yesterday, we had an orientation and a bus tour of some ruins near the city. A few students have already purchases the classical Peruvian hats and sweaters. The Cucsco streets are a wondrous mixture of bright colors, stone streets, and crazy traffic. The blend of colonial Spanish architecture with the Incan stone masonry -- beautiful!

The kids are speaking a lot of Spanish already and enjoying the sights. A beautiful city.

There is an internet cafe here so the kids will undoubtedly be communicating later tonight or tomorrow with their parents.

We are headed to our first volunteer work this afternoon, after lunch. Will endeavor to send photos tomorrow or the next day. All is well. I´m glad we have our intrepid and forceful Spaniard with us, Olga had to take the school to task a bit yesterday as they were sort of changing little things here and there that would cost more. Olga said, NO! They relented and we created an alternative itinerary to Machu Pichu (which is definitely not going to happen) that sounds wonderful. Once that is confirmed,¨today or tomorrow, I´ll let you know what that is.

All is well. Wish you were here. It´s such a great city, and the surrounding landscape is phenomenal!

Give everyone our best.

Heather

Peru Update II

Peru Update From Heather:
It´s Thursday, day three of the Spanish classes for students. Most of the students love their classes; they have one teacher for the morning session and a different one for the afternoon. One group received some homework, and of course they weren't happy about that! Another class went to the Cusco zoo today, and it sounded like that was fun. Students are becoming more fluent and using their Spanish more often to buy water, snacks and barter for other goods (hats, sweaters, finger puppets, necklaces, etc.). No one has yet to eat guinea pig or alapaca, but several students are game to try them!

The Amauta School took us to dinner on Tuesday night. We ate good food and experienced a wonderfully traditional Peruvian atmosphere, including live Andean music. The volunteer work continues to go well, Olga and Joaquin will send more photos soon. Two of the volunteer projects are at orphanages where the kids live full time, and those are a bit more challenging in terms of teaching English. The children mostly want undivided attention and affection. They love playing games, anything from hackey sack to cards. The other two projects involve working with kids who attend after school programs in order to keep them off of the streets and safe. These are more structured atmospheres and the children are there voluntarily, and are more focused on learning English in addition to a lot of physical play: futbol (soccer), running, dancing, games, etc. The program that Grisha´s group works with has integrated music lessons with our students, who are teaching them to play, read, and write music. Today, in the late afternoon, we will go to a local open market, and then attend Peruvian cooking classes at the school.

Okay, I best get back to working out the details with Olga for our itinerary in place of Machu Pichu. Will send that as soon as it is absolutely finished.

Hope all is well. We're having so much fun -- but we do think of home and our families. We are all rested and no longer sleep-deprived.

Hasta Luego,
Heather