Machu Picchu (Sunday Week 2)

I woke up at about 4:30am after getting about 3 hours of sleep but to my surprise I was not tired. The tour agency picked us up at about 5:30am and then drove us to the train station at about 6:00am. It was cold on the train ride from the Poroy station to Machu Picchu and lasted about three hours. The scenery was magnificent and the view of the Andes was stunning.

Upon arrival we I caught a bus to the Machu Picchu entrance and met with my tour guide. I chose to take the tour in Spanish and am glad I did as most of the guides are non-native English speakers and some things get lost in translation. It was also one of my last opportunities to practice my Spanish.

The sites at Machu Picchu were breathtaking and amazing. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and pictures just cannot recreate the sight of the greenery, the bright sunlight and the smell of fresh air.

The tour guide was very informative and gave a good accounting of the history of the sight, its purpose and why it was built in the “middle of nowhere.” Machu Picchu was built in this location to protect it from enemies and was used to research methods for growing crops and for engineering. The Spanish conquistadors also never discovered the city of Machu Picchu.

About half way through my tour I also ran into Danielle, one of the ladies I met on my tour of Cuzco and again on Saturday evening. I would coincidentally meet her one more time at the end of the tour. After the tour was over I had lunch at one of the local shops and had an amazing trout fish lunch for the equivalent of $4.00. I also met a dentist from the U.K in the train station and was also a coincidence that we would be on the same train and would sit next to each other.

The train ride back was entertaining as we were given a fashion show of traditional Peruvian alpaca clothing. A few travelers also participated in the action. The train dropped us off at the half way point between Cuzco and Machu Picchu at a city named Ollantaytambo.

The tour agency arranged for a Taxi to meet myself, the dentist that I met and two other people for a ride back to Cuzco. The ride lasted about 1:30 hours and this cab driver also drove as if he were in a race and this ride topped my ride as being the most fearful as it was dark and the roads twisted and turned on a two lane road through the mountains. The cab driver also ventured into the oncoming lane to pass slower drivers.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I went to eat dinner and then went straight to bed.

Friday Week 2, My Most Memorable Day!

Friday was my last day at Fe y Alegria and would prove to be my most memorable. To start the students in our first English class surprised us by decorating the chalkboard and giving myself and my partner D.J an applause when we walked into the class room. The teacher Julissa and some of the students gave small speeches thanking us for teaching English, American Football and for volunteering our time. We spent the remainder of the class time taking pictures after the speeches and saying “goodbye” to the students. My little buddy Ruben also stopped by during while we were taking pictures and found his way into the class portrait. This proved to be difficult after spending time and getting to know them.

Some of the students gave us gifts to remember them by and the one that stood out the most were the gifts from Maryt and Angela. Maryt and Angela wrote each of us a card with a personal message thanking us for helping them and for spending out time at the school. Maryt thanked me for helping her in the computer lab and for attempting to fix her USB drive. They also us necklaces to remember them and I will not forget such kindness.

Maryt was unaware of this but I purchased a USB drive for her to replace the one that had problems. I loaded the USB drive with English lessons for Spanish speakers before hand and discreetly placed it into her palm as we said our final goodbyes.

Another gift that stood out was a bracelet from one of the students named Candy from the 13 – 14 year old class. These gifts were completely unexpected and I plan to showcase them when I return home.

Last but not least my little buddy Ruben also gave me a gift. It looked to be a piece of a Christmas ornament and I thought that It was extremely thoughtful coming from such a young child.

It was difficult to leave but we were finally able to get into our van and head home for lunch. After lunch D.J and I went to the mall to print the pictures and left them with our colleague Kelsey to distribute them.

I returned to pack my clothes, eat dinner and then played some games in the living room before saying “goodbye” to my friends for the past two weeks. I had an early flight on Saturday morning to Cuzco and had to go to bed early.

Week 2 (Thursday)

Today we began our workday by playing football at Fe y Alegria. Today was our last day and we did what we could to make the best of it. By this time the students were familiar with the rules and concept of the game and we were able to get in and start playing right away. We took video and pictures and all three classes went smoothly.

At the end of the school day Maryt found me and wanted me to take a look at her broken USB drive. We found a computer and sure enough the USB drive did not work. I gave her the bad news and it was troubling to see her facial expression. It was obvious that she invested a lot in the drive and was disappointed that It did not work.

We returned to the house after placement for lunch and afterwards people went and did their own items. I had a lot to do and unfortunately had to skip my last Spanish lesson. Before doing so I advised my teacher and went run a few errands.

I had plans to have dinner with one of my Peruvian partners from the website Sharedtalk.com. We agreed to meet at Ripleys in Miraflores and then go to a restaurant for dinner. My partner ran a bit late so I went t Ripleys which is a store similar to Sears in the USA and did some browsing. I found the electronics department. I remembered Maryt and her broken USB drive and was able to purchase a 4gig USB drive for 40.00 soles which is approximately $13.33. My plan would be to give this to her on Friday. She used the USB drive to save her school assignments and I wanted to make sure she had the ability to continue to do so.

My Spanish partner showed up and we went to a local restaurant for a dish called “Pollo abrazo” which is a dish of chicken prepared in a Peruvian way. The food was great and the so was the meeting with my Spanish partner. We had the whole meeting in Spanish and I was able to learn even more about the Peruvian culture and ways that things are done in Lima. For example the reason that bathrooms don’t have soap and toilet paper is because people steal them. This is the reason its common for Peruvians to carry a small supply of soap and toilet paper with them at all times.

After dinner we walked around Kennedy park in Miraflores for about 20 minutes and then it was time for her to leave. I advised her of inconsistent prices from Taxi drivers so she called one for me and the driver gave her a decent price of 10 soles from Miraflores to Jokey Plaza instantly. I thanked her for everything and took the taxi to the CCS home base.

Down Town Lima

Wednesday was another good day at Fe y Alegria. It was a little tough getting up today as we spent the night dancing and celebrating the birthday of our college. I spent the morning helping my colleague Kelsey color in flash cards for an English class. At approximately 9am I caught up with D.J and Julissa and helped the students with an English assignment. The assignment was for the students to translate a small story from English to Spanish. D.J and I walked around the classroom and helped the students with the translation. We did this for about three different classes and went back for lunch at about 1pm.

After lunch I went on a tour of downtown Lima with the new group. The city of Lima has a lot of history and the guide did a great job of showing and explaining all that he could have in the amount of time allotted. We toured the Plaza de Armas in downtown Lima and saw the Presidential Place, the main post office, a Famous church and the catacombs below the church.

Tuesday (Week 2)

Today at Fe y Alegria 17 the day started with playing soccer during the first recreation period and then taught a class on American football for the final two classes. I was interrupted while teaching football during the second period when the football was stolen by Ruben six year old kid that gets to school early. Ruben followed me around while at the school and today he thought it would be a good idea to take the football and play a game of keep away. I found it amusing as he ran away while my partner D.J chased him to get the ball back.

The next two football classes went well and the students enjoyed it.

Later that evening we went to Barranco to celebrate the birthday party for one of our colleagues Allison. We went to dinner and randomly met with just about 15 other volunteers at about the same time. It was a great thing that we met spontaneously because we left in three groups, at three separate times but managed to meet in the same place and had a great time dancing all night long and celebrating the birthday of one of our fellow volunteers.

Beginning of Week 1 (Monday)

Monday morning we woke up, had breakfast and got a chance to meet the new volunteers that arrived over the weekend. Approximately 10 new volunteers arrived at the house from who were enrolled in the CCS “Insight” program bringing the total to approximately 30 people in the house.

We then headed to our placements promptly at 8:00am after eating breakfast. Today was a slow day at Fe y Alegria as the English Teacher Julissa did not have classes and there was no physical education class. I was placed in the computer lab and provided assistance to students that needed help researching their homework assignments.

I spent my first day in the computer department and found it to be boring as the students are familiar with and know how to use computers. One of the students who introduced themselves to me were two girls named Maryt and Angela. These two stood out to me because they were studying to speak either Japanese or Korean. I found this to be very unique and they seemed to have a good grasp of the language. Maryt also asked me for help with a USB disk drive that she had. She explained that It did not work and became hot when she tried to use it in a computer. I told her that I would try to see if I could fix if she brought it to school with her.

After that class was over I spent the rest of the day with the computer lab teacher Mario. We spoke about various issues at the school politics and education. He told me that He is working on his masters degree and needed to practice English because most information concerning his degree program was written in English. I then showed him how to use www.sharedtalk.com and he instantly fell in love with it.

Meeting on Villa El Salvador

We had a meeting with Kique and one of the CCS Staff members Tony who is from Villa El Salvador. Tony told us about the history of Villa El Salvador and how the people turned it from a patch of desert sand into what it is today. Villa El Salvador began in the 1970s as an area to provide urgent housing needs for people coming from the mountain regions in search for life in the city. The community was largely self organized and was recognized for it. The city was organized into residential, commercial and recreational zones. Many of the habitants were descendents of the Incas and its evident in the way they organized the city. The zone was also hit hard by terrorism from Sendero Luminoso or the Shining Path during the 1980s. The history of Villa El Salvador is relatively short but was found it to be very interesting.

Inca Market

After our placements we went back to the CCS House had lunch and headed to the Inca market to do shopping. The Inca market is located in Miraflores and is a market where people sell souvenirs and jewelry targeted at tourists.

Desert Nights Youth Hostal (Huacachina Peru)

We stumbled upon this hostal by chance by surfing the net and were lucky to do so. I decided to call and set reservations and The first thing that surprised me was that the owner Kristy spoke perfect English. This was un expected because we had called several different Hostals before and were unable to set reservations.

Our rate was 15 soles per night per person for our group of eight people (about $5 US Dollars) and she also offered to pick us up from the bus station and take us back to the Hostal in Huacachina for no extra charge.

We arrived at the bus station the next day at about 10:30pm and Kristy was there at the bus station as promised with a van to take us back to the Hostal. Upon arrival she showed us to our room, gave us a tour of the hostal, a quick tour of the area and recommended a nice restaurant for dinner.

There were a total of 5 bunk beds in our room and it could sleep a total of 10 people. The beds were clean and adequate for our short stay, and the only down side were the bathrooms. They were a bit small and are shared with the restaurant bringing a lot of traffic during certain hours which can be uncomfortable while taking a shower. The best time to take showers is in the morning or in the evening when the restaurant is closed. The Hostal also has free Internet access on about 8 computers

Kristy also made arrangements for us to go sand boarding and ride in the dune buggy and also made arrangements for us to go to Paracas, take the boat tour of the islands, and set us up with a bus ride to get back to Lima.

She provided excellent service and she was the reason why out trip went so smoothly. I’d highly recommend this Hostal to anyone traveling to Huacachina. Even if you don’t stay there, the food is good and Kristy is an excellent source of information about the area.

Here is a link to the web site if you’re interested in this location:

http://www.bookingbox.org/desertnights/index.html

Paracas

We woke up early on Sunday morning for a trip to Paracas. Paracas is a port city about 60km north of Ica and its main attraction are its tours of the islands off of its coast that provide homes for migrating birds and other marine life including sea lions and dolphins.

Upon arrival we got into the boats and went on a two hour tour of the surrounding islands. The waters off of the shore of Paracas are rich with fish which attracts the birds and other marine life. The Islands also provide the birds with a safe place to reproduce without the threat of predators.

One of the Nazca Lines is also visible from the shore and added to the value of this nice weekend trip. Kristy from the Desert Inn Hostal set us up with a package for 65 soles which included a van ride from the I enjoyed this tour and we got it for a great price with our tour package.

After the tour we ate lunch and I had some of the best pieces of fish ever at one of the restaurants on the sea-shore.

We had to wait about 6 hours after lunch to catch our bus. The bus arrived about 30 minutes late and when it arrived it crashed into a wall. I found this to be a bit funny and ironic that the bus would hit the wall and get stuck as soon as it arrived. There were only a few scratches on the bus and we boarded and headed back to Lima.

Huacachina

We arrived in Huacachina at approximately 10:30pm and were greeted by out Kristy our wonderful Hostal owner. She picked us up from the bus station as promised and took us back to the Hostal and then showed us a great restaurant for dinner.

Saturday morning we woke up had breakfast and then climbed one of the sand dunes that surround the small Oasis of Huacachina. It proved to be difficult as the sand is soft and you slide down a bit with each step taken.

After the climbing the sand dune we hung around the area and went to the shops and took a boat ride in the lagoon. We also got a chance to meet the CCS group from Ayachucho who happened to be eating lunch at the Hostal we stayed at. It was a coincidental meeting but I’m glad I got a chance to meet them.

At approximately 4pm we loaded into the dune buggy and took a ride through the desert. The dune buggy ride was extremely exciting and was more fun than expected. We also went sand-boarding in which you slide down the sand dune on a snowboard. This was also fun yet dangerous as we had a scare when a person in our group took a fall. We ended this day by watching the sun set over the sand dunes and then headed back to the Hostal for dinner.

Football at Fe y Alegria 17

Today was another day to introduce football to students at the Fe y Alegria. Today I had the help of my partner D.J and we split the class into two. DJ instructed the boys and I instructed the girls on how to play. The boys were able to grasp the concept of the game pretty quickly and quickly became acclimated to the sport. I intended for the game to be two hand touch, however the students soon began to tackle each other and I became worried that someone would get hurt with each play.

Mean while I tried to explain the game to the girls however it a little bit more time. They eventually got the concept and enjoyed themselves by simply passing the ball around and running from each other. The girls stopped playing after about 30 minutes and then the instructor opened the entire soccer field for the boys. They invited me and we played football for about 30 more minutes. Each and every student had a good time and enjoyed themselves and seemed to embrace the new sport that they learned.

The Instructor Louis Humberto was also grateful for showing the students how to play football. At this point this has been my best day at Fe y Alegria 17.

Second Day

Today was my second day at Fe y Aegria and it went very well. It was the day that I introduced the students to American Football. I spent the first hour of the day with the physical education teacher Luis Humberto explaining the concept and the rules of American football to him. After an explanation of the game we watched some videos on Youtube for him to get a better idea for how the game is played.

The children then went to recess at about 10:00am and I ended up playing soccer and basketball with them. The children were really good at soccer and were very competitive.

After the soccer game I gave a presentation on American Football to the class and then we went outside to play. The teacher separated the boys and the girls and had the girls sit and watch the boys play as I only bought one football. (Tomorrow I’ll bring the other football for the girls) We played for approximately 25 minutes and believe they were able to get a good idea for how the game is played.

After the gym class was over I went and severed the children lunch. We first bought the plates to the small children and then I worked in the kitchen to help serve lunch to the older children. They ate a dish of white rice, and fettuccine alfredo. The principal invited me in for lunch and I ate with the staff. I was a bit hesitant at first to eat because of the fear of getting sick, however realized that if the children and staff eat the food on a daily basis that It should be ok for me to eat. I accepted the lunch and ate with and socialized with the cooks and some of the teachers in the kitchen. I learned that some of them have lived in Villa El Salvador since the inception and had been working at Fe y Alegria for 20+ years. This proved to be a great session to lean Spanish, to get to know some of the staff, and for them to get to know me.

While the food was cooked in a large metal pot and was mixed with giant utensils, it was still good and I cleaned my plate.

Pachacamac Ruins

The cultural activity for today was to visit the Pachacamac ruins that were South of Lima close to Villa el Salvador and near to the Pacific Ocean. These were ancient Inca ruins and had a lot of history behind them as with many of the ancient Inca structures in Peru. Some of the structures that stood out to me were the temple for the Sun god and the temple for the moon god.

Talk with Lucein Journalist

After visiting the Pachacamac ruins we had a meting with Lucein a journalist for “The Economist” and for “Time Magazine.” He specializes in writing articles about Peru and gave us a lesson on the history and the currently political situation in Peru. Again this was very informative and helped us understand the motive behind some of the protests with people in the jungle regions of Peru.

First day at Fe y Alegria

First day at Fe y Alegria

Today was my first day at Fe y Alegria 17 and it was an amazing experience. I was placed in a class with Sr Miguel, a computer teacher and assisted him with teaching the students about storage mediums for computer data such as zip drives, USB drives and optical drives such as CD-ROMs. I had a SD Flash card and was able to show the students what they looked liked and could tell that they learned something new. After the class was out the students took the time to introduce themselves to me and asked for my e-mail address and I wrote it on the white board. Many of them wrote it down and said that they will e-mail me so I hope that I get inundated with e-mail from the students.

I then went to speak with the physical education teacher named Luis and advised him that I wanted to teach the students how play football and he said that He would like to do so and to return tomorrow (Wednesday). I’ll be prepared as I have a football and prepared instructions in Spanish on how to play two hand touch tag football.

After leaving the gym teacher I returned back to the computer class and spoke with the teacher Miguel who had a class on how to create websites and blogs. I then showed the students a blog I created for Guatemala and for Peru. I also gave them a brief introduction on the possibility of making money on blogs at www.blogger.com using Google Adesnse.

Made it to Lima!

I finally made it to Lima and my bags are also here!

I arrived in Lima at approximately 11pm after a 6.5 hour connecting flight from Atlanta GA. After arriving we made our way to immigration and had to wait in line for about a 30 minutes to get our passport stamp and some sort of tourist card. We were also warned that if we lost the tourist card we would have to purchase another one before leaving the country.

After getting the tourist card I went to claim my baggage and was delayed for about 20 minutes due to a security issue. It seems that someone left a bag unatteded and we had to wait for the security team to remove it.

I then claimed my bags and then had to go to Aduanas or Customs. I submitted my declaration card, pressed the "Lottery button" and proceeded into the lobby as the light turned green. Customs Lima conducts random bag searches and if your light turns red after touching the green button you will be pulled to the side to have your bags searched.

I then entered the lobby to find hundreds of people all with signs looking to pick up people from international flights and was bombarded by people asking me if I needed a taxi.

I took my time and started on one side and looked at every sign until I found Juan Carlos holding a sign with the CCS logo. I introduced myself to him and also Stefani who arrived before me.

We waited for another volunteer (Cora) to arrive and then headed to the CCS house to begin our trip. The ride lasted about 45 minutes and was a good chance to get to know each other.

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Upon arrival at the house we got our room assignments and went to bed. Many volunteers travel on the weekends so there were not that many people in the house.

The next morning we introduced ourselves to the volunteers that were there, went to the mall close by and then to Miraflores.

That night we ate dinner at the CCS house and introduced ourselves to the rest of the volunteers who either arrived for the first time, or who came back from their weekend vacation.

Will I Ever Get to Lima?

I'm scheduled to leave to Lima today and am sitting at DFW Airport. I missed my flight on Thursday due to weather delays in Dallas, and today it seems like there may be bad weather in Atlanta... Hopefully my next post will be from Lima..

Today's song is Lenny Kravits - Fly Away

Being Delayed was a Good Thing

Yesterday I was down about being delayed, however it has allowed me to do some more research on my placement. I did a google search for my placement and was able to find a phone number for the school that I'll be working at. I called it via Skype (it has low rates on international calls) and was able to speak with the lady that I'll be working with. She was able to give me a background of the school, told me a bit about the students, and gave me some information on what to expect. She explained that the students begin to learn "english" in the secondary school seem greatful that I would be going there to help them.

This also allowed me time to create a guide in English and Spanish on how to play the game of "Touch American Football" I plan on showing the students how to play the touch version of the game and I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.

I just hope that my baggage gets there in time with my equipment.

I'm a firm believer that God makes things happen for a reason and this was a perfect example. If I would have went to Lima yesterday as orignally planned I would have missed the opportunity to speak with my placement manager and wouldn't have been able to document instructions for playing "Touch American Football."

Flight Delayed! 6/11/2009

My flight was delayed today due to bad weather over DFW airport and missed my connecting flight to Lima as a result. I wont be able to get another flight to Lima until Saturday 6/13/2009. Things happen for a reason so I wont complain, however this does change my schedule. I wont be able to visit Cuzco first like I expected but will do so afterward.

Hrmm... I wonder where my luggage is.... lol

Volunteer Placement Recieved! 6/8/2009

I just got my volunteer placement today and will be working with children at "Centro Educativo Fe y Alegría # 17" in Villa El Salvador. According to the description the mission of the school is to improve the lives and living conditions of the students through education. It also has students ranging from day care through 11th grade.

I'm sure this will be a challenging task as the description also states that the school operates in two shifts, and severs 1600 students and the facility has 20 class rooms. If you do the math, that's about 800 students per shift which means there are about 40 students per class if there are 20 class rooms.

This is the type of placement I wanted and will do my best to make a positive impact with my short stay. I'll be researching large group activities for the rest of the day.