12 days

I´ve been in Cuzco for a whole week now, and that is the view that I generally wake up to. The hostel has been great - wonderfully friendly people, most of whom are also volunteering with the school program, and a generally cheery place. A couple of the other girls and I are thinking about trying to find an apartment to rent, though, which would be cheaper and more independent. BUT more importantly, I had my first week of volunteering at Aldea Yanapay.

My first day walking in to Yanapay, there was a young girl named May-Lin waiting at the door greeting each and every volunteer with a hug and a kiss - myself included, even though we´d never met. This is representative of the attitude of the place as a whole: a place where everyone is greeted with a kiss on the cheek, where adults hug children instead of order them about, and where everyone is equal. Kids come there from 3-7 pm, after regular school, and they can do homework, read, do art, play games, etc. It is a place for them to get to be kids instead of hanging out on the street or working with their parents or being locked in their houses. They range in age from 5 to 14, and are all incredibly adorable and sweet. The only "teachers" besides the two directs are volunteers, and they are from all over - Switzerland, Italy, Spain, England, Denmark, Australia, the U.S. and Peru - it´s a great group to be a part of.

For the second half of each day, from 3-5, we break into smaller groups (familias), and study whatever the topic of the weeks is. This week it was Christianity - something which none of the volunteers know very much about, but which all of the kids are experts in. So they taught us, really. (They´ve already studied Buddhism and Judaism.) We also prepare for the Show, which happens every Friday, where each group presents a little skit or something to do with the week´s topic. My group, las Uvitas (little grapes), put on a news show: breaking news, el Mesías was born last night in Bethlehem! We interviewed Mary, an angel, a star, two sheep, and two donkeys, each of whom told us their their role in last night´s events. The homemade masks were pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself.

Anyhow, it´s beautiful out right now, and a couple of the other volunteers and I are going to the Temple of the Moon and to see some of the other ruins around the outskirts of town. I´ve finally caught up on sleep, after going out dancing the past couple of nights - at one place the other night, they played a re-mixed "Grease" medley, which was a totally unexpected to throwback to the probably 5 productions I was in of that show when I was younger. Ciao, as they say.

the mountain in the distance says¨Viva El Peru, Glorioso, Cuzco.¨click for a bigger picture.