The two weeks that have passed since our grand inauguration have felt to be mere days. Two weeks, 33 meals, 3 volleyball games, 2 English classes, one art class, one visit to the medical post, a birthday and a death. Our second week was marked by nearly all of these events....
While Bianca and Eli are still down in Peru doing everything, I escaped back to the States for a wedding and to try and keep our fundraising efforts alive. As you can see from our pictures, the dorm looks great and is becoming more like a home with each passing...
People keep telling me that it must feel great to have the dormitory up and running. Sometimes it does feel great. Like on Tuesday when I went with the girls to play volleyball. Watching the girls become a team, I got that gushy feeling of “I’m doing...
In briefing, the inauguration was a success. Our six families arrived early in the morning to help prepare the inaugural feast and to get their daughters situated for their first daunting evening in the dormitory. Throughout the morning, mothers busied themselves gutting the cuyes and cleaning the house, fathers readied the...
Primera minca Faena, as it is know in the Sacred Valley, has no direct translation to English. It comes from the rich Incan tradition of communal labor. Schools, rural communities, community associations all require faenas. These faenas are used to improve water supplies, maintain communal land and build community buildings. On...
In Ollanta on a dismal and sodden morning. Today marks the third day of March and consequently the first day of school in Ollantaytambo. The rains continue and the newspaper reports ‘Otra Tragedia’ as the Quesermayo River inundates the Pisac region leaving seven dead in Taray and hundreds more without...
Yesterday Alex and I spent the afternoon playing pick up soccer with a group of guys who get together most days. It felt good to have an afternoon off from working on the dormitory, but it also felt productive. A big part of working in a town like...
