Party in Pisac... kind of.

Buenas noches amigos! I hope that all of you have had as good of a day as the team has had here in Pisac. We had an early morning at the Nexos house so that we could get on our way to Pisac with enough time to check into our new hostel, see a bit of the city and finally begin our project. It's taken me a while to figure out how I feel about Peru, but let's just say... Pisac had me at hola! As soon as we got to our hostel, we climbed to the roof to take in the view. The mountains feel closer here, and everything surrounding us is a lush green. With the mountains closing in on us in every direction, the clouds are sometimes the only reminder that we're at such high altitude... well, that, and the fact that every time I walk up a set of stairs my heart beats about a million miles per minute and I'm breathing like I just finished a marathon. Also, I just have to add that Pisac is aprime perro/perrito watching location (stay updated- I might have to create a Peru "dog blog") and for me, that's enough to fall in love.

This dog lives across from our hostel. Maddy & I named her "Oso polar" after a polar bear... but we realized soon after she belongs to a little boy across the street and has a real name.

Anyways, today was really about our project. While we've seen some really cool things here in Peru, we were all excited to get our hands dirty and connect with the people here on a deeper level. One of our Nexo leaders, Ronny, has been working extremely hard to put together a construction project of sustainable toilets for four families in Maska, a small community just outside of Pisac. What's really amazing about this project is that we get to build these with the families and community members who will be using them. Well... okay, we get to watch them build the toilets with extreme efficiency and precision while we try to be helpful. Still, we felt so grateful to be welcomed into the community with open arms and to have the ability to communicate across cultures. Before we began the physical work of digging the foundation and laying stones down, the families welcomed us with a special ceremony and we sat down for a project briefing that, due to the trilingual translation of Spanish, English and Quechua, was actually not so brief.

At our project site, Sinjin, Amalia, Maddy and I worked with a man named Arccadio to build our toilets. We struggled a little bit with building something none of us have seen before, but after a few exchanges of new vocabulary (what's a ruler in spanish? what's a shovel in english?) we were movin' along just fine. When the men were hard at work, the girls took a break to play with two brothers and their little sister who were eager to help and take a lot of pictures for us (I sincerely hope my camera still works). The project site was the most beautiful view I have seen in Peru thus far. It's a small house backed up to a corn field that overlooks the valley, mountains and the Pisac ruins... definitely worth the mud and the rain.

Maddy and the ninos playing!

When 5:00 came, we returned to Pisac for dinner together and afterwards, a reflection of the day. Everyone expressed how much they enjoyed the day's experiences and excitement for the days to come. I particularly enjoyed some words from a woman named Cana who has willingly agreed to help us with our project. Speaking of the people in Peru, she said "everyone here speaks slowly because they want to feel the vibration of life" and also that "everything is counted. Nobody here takes anything for granted." It was a great reminder of how lucky we all are to have the life we live, but also of how possessions and privilege do not make up a life. It was a humbling experience to start to create something useful for a community, with the community, using their own natural materials out of their front yard.

After dinner, the group sought out a little relaxation at a restaurant called Urika. Cana said the carrot cake there was amazing, and none of us could resist (very Peruvian, I know). I have to say, I have not laughed so hard in a long time. Joined by Cana and two teenage boys who are helping us with the project, we played apples to apples, pick-up sticks, cracked up about nothing, and learned some awesome phrases in Quechua... which I won't repeat here.

Well, tomorrow is an early 7am start, so for now, it's time to get some sleep.

Los extrano a todos...Ciao!
Kate

PS- I'll upload a video tomorrow.