Peru Community Service

Adios Patacancha!

2009-07-22T09:18:00.011-04:00

As quickly as it began, our time in Patacancha has come to and end. Our hard work paid off and the classroom is near completion!

On the Friday before our departure, our friends in Patacancha threw us a send-off and thank you party, complete with the typical Peruvian pachamanca feast. Some of the students participated in the prep work for the feast, including the slaughtering of a sheep, but most of the cooking was done by the teachers and elementary school staff. The food was different from anything we had tried before but it was delicious and hearty, so we eagerly devoured it all.

We were all sad to leave our home. In the short time we were here, our students formed close friendships with the local kids, the families we had come to know, and the construction workers who helped us with our projects. Much of the last day was filled with goodbyes, photos, and final games of yoga ball soccer.

Part of the group decided that our final departure from Patacancha should be done on foot. It is a 3.5 hour walk (15km) from Patacancha to Ollantaytambo, but it is all downhill. It was a beautiful walk, but it proved to be quite difficult! Fortunately, at the end we were rewarded with warm showers and a delicious meal at our favorite Ollantaytambo restaurant.

For the past few days, we have been exploring Cusco and doing a lot of hiking. On Sunday, we took a day trip to Pisac, famous for both its ruins and its weekly artisan market. Yesterday, we wandered through some of the ruins and museums that make up central Cusco and today we hiked up to yet another ruin - Sacsaywaman.

There's lots to see in Cusco, but we are all ready for our big trip to Machu Picchu on Thursday! We hope you enjoy the photos, below.

Saludos!
Hannah and Yaser

The group at Pisac

Enjoying our farewell feast in Patacancha
We were all sad to say good-bye to our construction supervisors, Narciso, Ignacio and Juan
Goodbye Patacancha!
Walking from Patacancha to Ollantaytambo
David buying our breakfast at the market - Pervian english muffins!
Visiting the Inca Museum

At the Sacsaywaman ruins
The girls learned a traditional Andean dance!

The group with Cusco in the background.

Staring contest

A photo update

2009-07-18T08:00:00.006-04:00

Michelle putting the finishing touches on the mural she designed.

We finished our big mural. Hooray!

Finishing work on the roof - tomorrow we start on the floor!

Austin on bonfire-duty with some of his local friends.

Some members of the group resting after a long hike.

One of our painting projects - a sign welcoming vistitors to the elementary school in Spanish, English and Quechua.

Saludos desde Patacancha

2009-07-15T09:57:00.005-04:00

Greetings!

We are now back in Patacancha full time, hard at work on our projects. We returned to Patacancha on Sunday to get a head start on the week´s work. The painting crew jumped right into efforts to finish the mural and the building crew got a feel for the work that needed to be done this week.

After a few days in the city of Cusco, it was great to be back in the mountains. The local kids were happy to have us back as well! As soon as our bus pulled up, we were greeted by our welcoming commitee all over again, only this time they knew our names. They were yelling "Sarita, Madison, Katie, David!" and begging us to come play with them.

Just two days later, we have made tremendous progress. We finished the mural (hooray!) and tomorrow we are starting a new one designed by our own Michelle. Although the school´s paint job is in good condition, it lacks any bright colors, so these murals are an excellent addition- and many of the elementary kids have told us so!

The construction project is making great progress as well. The classroom now has a roof! Today, we finished leveling the ground of the classroom, a job that required the muscle and efforts of everyone in the group. Tomorrow we will start mixing the adobe that will be used to coat the walls and to support the floor boards. With the help of our three local construction maestros - Juan, Narcisso, and Ignacio - we should make great strides towards finishing the project by the end of the week.

We also celebrated a birthday in Patacancha this week! Sam turned 16 on Monday and we celebrated with a fantastic chocolate cake followed by a 2 hour game of yoga ball soccer! The kids in Patacancha had never seen a yoga ball before and they were enthralled. We had at least 30 elementary school kids running around the soccer field with us, laughing and having a blast. We ended Sam´s birthday around a bonfire with a few of our local friends.

We only have four days left in Patacancha and we have much left to do!

Saludos,
Hannah and Yaser

Greetings from Cusco!

2009-07-11T08:34:00.004-04:00

Hello all,

We have tried to make the most out of our unscheduled days here in Cusco. Cusco is an amazing city with stunning architecture to marvel at and narrow, winding, cobblestone streets to explore. We hope to be back in Patacancha and back to work on Sunday. There is much left to do and our trip is nearly half over!

Hasta la proxima!

Hannah and Yaser

Chinchero, Salineras, and Moray

2009-07-06T10:23:00.005-04:00

Saludos!

This weekend we went to the nearby town of Chinchero to visit a women´s weaving cooperative. This cooperative was started 32 years ago with the intent of saving the traditional art of weaving. These women get together seven days a week to weave, share stories and teach the once endangered art of weaving to area youth.

We also visited the ruins of Moray - and old Incan amphitheater - and the salt mines of Salineras. There is a lot to do here in the Sacred Valley! We hope you enjoy the photos.

Saludos!
Hannah and Yaser

salt mines of Salineras

women's weaving cooperative

painting a mural

teaching local children

Greetings from Patacancha!

2009-07-04T07:14:00.003-04:00

We made it to our community service village on Thursday morning and were eagerly met by the entire school. As soon as our bus pulled up in front of the Patacancha elementary school (grades 1-6), school children started pouring out of the classrooms. They met us as we came off the bus, shaking our hands, introducing themselves and insisting that they help us with our bags. It was the best welcoming committee we could have wished for!

Patacancha is a lovely town. It is situated in a small valley with mountains surrounding us on all sides. We are still getting used to the high altitude, but the school children run and play up and down the mountain as if it is a piece of cake. We are hoping that we will have that stamina before long, too! We took a quick tour of the town and visited the teachers at the elementary school as well as students at the high school.

High schools are uncommon in this part of Peru and so most of the students are boarding students who stay in Patacancha during the week. We met two sophomores who walk 6 hours to get to school every Sunday night and then 6 hours home on Friday! Now that is dedication! The high schoolers showed us all of their weaving projects and promised to join us for a game of futbol later in the trip.

We also had the chance to meet some local women who promised to stop by and show us how to weave the traditional textiles of Patacancha, so we are all looking forward to that.

Our housing is fantastic and – surprise – we have bunk beds! We all were expecting to sleep on the floor during our time in Patacancha, so these bunk beds are a real treat. We also learned that our showers are solar heated, which is great news. Most showers in the mountains of this region are not heated. And our cooks are fantastic. All things considered, this is really comfortable!

Today was our first day of community service work. We divided the group into three groups of six. One group visited the classrooms and worked on teaching Spanish and math to the kids (most of whom speak only Quechua!), one group started drawing a mural that we will later paint and the third got to work on finishing the construction of a classroom. Construction of this classroom began over a year ago, but they haven’t had the man-power to finish it, so it will be great to see this project to its completion.

Everyone worked very hard all morning and by the afternoon, when the local women arrived to teach us weaving, we were eager to try our hand at the task. What we learned is that it is very, very hard! These women work two months to finish a small blanket, up to a year for large, bed-sized ones. What they got us started on were belts, which sounded easy enough but proved to be very tricky! Needless to say, we are all very impressed with the great skill and patience that goes into this handiwork.

We are loving it here in Patacancha. The people are incredibly friendly and there seems to be an endless supply of children to play with. I’m sure that we will be busy for the rest of our time here!

Saludos,
Hannah and Yaser

Ollanta Raymi and the old Inca trail

2009-07-01T12:11:00.004-04:00

Hello all,

Monday was the Ollanta Raymi festival here in Ollantaytambo and the town was abuzz with much excitement. On our way across town, we saw llamas being hauled out of trucks by young boys and scores of women in gorgeous, traditional garb. Many children were dressed up in costumes and make up as part of the festival. We watched hundreds of townspeople running up and down the ruins, dancing, playing music and shouting chants. It was a spectacular event which we were lucky to see!

Yesterday we hiked the old Inca trail to the quarry where rocks were extracted to make the fortress. It was quite a hike and we were all incredibly proud of ourselves when we reached the plateau. . . to think that the Incas did this same hike while carrying heavy stones is absolutely astonishing!

Today we are off to our village and home for the month, Patacancha, to meet our hosts. We are all incredibly excited and can´t wait to get there. Hasta la proxima!

-Hannah and Yaser

Greetings from Ollantaytambo!

2009-06-29T09:34:00.005-04:00

Hello all,

It is hard to believe that it is only day three of the trip – we have already done so much!

Yesterday was our first full day in Peru and it started with an early departure to the city of Cusco, right in the heart of Peru’s Sacred Valley. The views from the airplane were spectacular – snow capped mountain ranges as far as you could see – but that was nothing compared to the sights we saw on our journey to Ollantaytambo. The Sacred Valley is as visually stunning as it is full of history.

Ollantaytambo, our home for a few days before we head up to our community service village, Patacancha, is an beautiful, cobblestoned village that has been continuously lived in since the 13^th century. Women still walk around in traditional dress and an Incan fortress towers over the city – a reminder of the role it played in the days of Incan civilization. The people are incredibly friendly here and the group spent the first afternoon wandering the many streets, buying warm alpaca hats and practicing Spanish with the locals.

Peruvian cuisine has been a BIG hit with the group. Everyone is eager to try as many new things as possible and many students hope to focus on Peruvian cuisine as their independent project once we get to the village.

Today was our big rafting adventure! The water here is COLD, but they suited us up with wetsuits and windbreakers and no one even flinched as we climbed into the chilly water. For two hours, we drifted down the Urubamba River, taking in the Incan sites along the way, tackling a few mild class 3 rapids and getting in more than one splashing war. No one was dry by the end of the trip, despite our best efforts!

It is day three of our trip and the group is itching to get to our host village and to start work on our community service projects. We are almost there! Tomorrow is the big Inti Raymi festival, Ollantaytambo's most important festival which is definitely a must see. We’ll head up to our village first thing on Tuesday.

Saludos,

Hannah and Yaser

The group has arrived

2009-06-27T06:29:00.001-04:00

We've received word from the leaders that the group has arrived in Lima.

Meet the trip leaders

2009-06-16T16:27:00.002-04:00

2009 Peru leaders: Hannah Gilkenson and Yaser Robles

HANNAH GILKENSON: University of Michigan, B.S. Hannah graduated with honors in Anthropology-Zoology from the University of Michigan, where she studied chimpanzee behavior and vocalizations. She worked with bats at the University of Maryland and at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. before moving to Costa Rica to study the social behavior of the white-faced capuchin monkey. Hannah remained in Costa Rica for six years working as the field station manager for the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. In Costa Rica she worked closely with the community where she lived, and succeeded in bringing conservation education to local school children. Hannah now works as an Associate Director at Putney helping to coordinate programs in Latin America and overseeing staffing for Putney’s Excel programs. This will be Hannah’s third summer with Putney. She taught wildlife and ecology for Putney's Costa Rica Foundations program and this past summer led a National Geographic Student Expeditions program to Ecuador and the Galapagos. Hannah is fluent in Spanish and proficient in German.

YASER ROBLES: Brandeis University, B.A., Political Science & Latin American Studies; SUNY Buffalo, M.A., Caribbean Cultural Studies; SUNY Albany, Ph.D Candidate, Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies. Yaser’s commitment to cultural understanding and community service has taken him to many different parts of the world. As a high school student he participated in two cultural exchange programs to Israel and to Mexico. While at Brandeis University, Yaser interned at the Center for Middle East Non-Violence and Democracy, a non-profit organization located in East Jerusalem. There, he helped coordinate a summer camp for youth living in conflict areas. Participating students came from occupied Palestinian territory, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. As an Ethics and Coexistence Fellow at Brandeis, Yaser interned at another non-profit organization called Ikamba Labantu in Cape Town, South Africa. He taught English to Angolan and Congolese refugees and coordinated a summer program teaching students life skills through the arts, music, and theater. During his time at Brandeis, Yaser participated in study abroad programs in Cuba and Brazil. Upon graduation, Yaser returned to his community in the South Bronx in New York City, where he worked as a College Advisor for ASPIRA of New York, Inc. Currently Yaser is pursuing a Ph.D at SUNY Albany, where he is also an undergraduate instructor. This will be Yaser’s second summer with Putney. He led a Community Service program in Brazil in 2006. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Welcome!

2009-06-03T10:48:00.001-04:00

In order to keep parents updated on the progress of their child's Putney program, from time to time over the course of the program, the trip leaders will post an update on this blog. We hope that the occasional updates will keep you informed about the activities, projects and successes of the summer, as well as comfort the usual worries in sending a son or daughter to a far-away place.

You should expect leaders to post blogs no more than once per week during the program. We feel strongly that the leaders' first priority is the students and the program. The reasons for infrequent updates will be the very busy schedules of our program leaders as well as inconsistent internet access at Putney's various destinations throughout the world. Please know that any important issues on the program will be discussed and resolved with leaders and parents by phone, not through the blog.

We suggest that you subscribe to the blog during your first visit so that you will receive e-mail notifications at the end of the day whenever a new update is posted. To subscribe, enter your email address under 'Subscribe via e-mail' on the right-hand column of the blog.

Have a fantastic summer!