Hello to all! We are enjoying our time in Peru immensely. Earlier in the week we visited Las Cocas during a community meeting where we basically were welcomed into the community and introduced ourselves. Everyone in the community was so happy and smiley — two waved to me! I was very excited after seeing that, finally knowing what our days would entail. On Monday, we explored Jesus Maria, which is the second community that we’ll be working with since we actually have less people working than originally planned.

The previous day, in Las Cocas we didn’t have to walk far at all, but we would soon learn that getting to Jesus Maria by foot is a trek (or at least for me — a 5 ft, non outdoorsy sorta person). First, we had to cross a river via slippery, pointy rocks (mind you, this is is subjective to the writer), so I clung to the rocks with my life (fearing the 2 ft of water). Let me tell you though, it was stunning. We had a guide show us the various potential plots of land for the community center and got acquainted with the area.

Tuesday we started work at the Las Cocas community center, where we began making cement and evening out the land. Towards the end of the day we even made a friend! His name was Umberto; he started by watching us and then noticed to pick up all the rocks from the ground! It was very sweet. We found out that he was 13 and plays soccer everyday. It was a good first work experience, and gave us a taste of what to expect in days to come — including all the dust and dirt.

The scenery was truly gorgeous, and just as gorgeous, if not more so, at our next location within Las Cocas. At that location, we were digging up the pipes from their irrigation system to put in newer ones. This was a tedious job, where a bandana and work gloves were quite necessary. Compared to those members in the community, we were not as speedy or efficient. At certain points along the canal, we would have to burn through the brush because it was so dense. Luckily, I didn’t have to pee in the sugar cane fields, though! We even got to try sugar cane and coco leaves a couple days, both of which did not become my new favorite foods, but it was cool to try!

Though it was a short week and we were just getting adjusted to our 6 am days, it was awesome to finally work in the communities.

 

*Pics soon! Wifi very bad