Saludos desde Cuzco!
We have now been in Peru a month! Time is flying! We have been back in Cuzco for over a week, and we'll be here for another 10 days or so. Steve's students are in language school and staying with families for the next two weeks. Our family and along with Rachel and Paul and their family are staying in Hostal Magico, a hostel which is part of a larger social project aimed at helping kids in this area. This hostel is equipped with a kitchen and other nice amenities (like computers and Wi Fi), and its proceeds go to fund the social project. The majority of other guests here are volunteering with the social project which is called Aldea Yanapay. Aldea Yanapay is a free after school program for kids ages 5-13. I am volunteering in the project this week and next, and River and Sage are participating. All in all, it is a bit chaotic, but fun! It takes me back to my days of working with youth programs as well as my years of working in bilingual education.
A typical afternoon at Aldea Yanapay is like this: Kids arrive at an unassuming doorway on a narrow street a block from our hostel, and they go through someone's yard and end up in a courtyard area with basic but colorfully decorated classrooms. A host of volunteers are there to greet them with hugs and kisses. Those who have homework or need tutoring help, go to the library, and others go to the art or game rooms. So far, I have been helping out in the homework room with the younger kids. River and Sage have been mainly doing art projects and games. After an hour or so of this, the entire group (nearly 60 kids) meet for a circle time and then go to groups to work on themes and performances. Each Friday (today), every group presents their work, art or performance in a Friday show. This week, each group has to create a Yanapay (means Helping in Quechua) song. I am with the 4 and 5 year old group, which reminds me a lot of my years teaching bilingual kindergarten. We'll see how our show goes this afternoon... ! At the end of the kids' time at Yanapay, each child gets a cup of milk-oatmeal drink before going home. It is a fun, and a fairly rustic experience, all in all. Bathrooms with faulty plumbing, etc. I wish I had brought some school supplies and books for the project, as the project really runs on a shoe-string budget, but the folks and children are resourceful, and it is a cheerful place. It is really great to see River and Sage interacting with other kids and learning more Spanish! This is what they say:
River - "At Yanapay in art class, I have been making a paper mache volcano and cutting out dinosaurs to put on it. It is fun!
Sage - "At Yananpay, I played store in Spanish! And legos! I am learning more Spanish!"
It is all fun, but downtown Cuzco where we are located is crowded and busy, and we are looking forward to moving to Pisac at the end of this month and renting a house there for the months of May and June. Pisac is 45 minutes away in the Sacred Valley, a place we have already visited. It will be a good central place for Steve to supervise and guide students both in Cuzco and elsewhere in the Valley. It is a much more peaceful place than Cuzco (although we have loved Cuzco!) We have been looking for a house in Pisac, and hope to settle on a place soon. We visited a Waldorf school there that looks to be a great place for River and Sage to spend some mornings.
River is learning typical Andean music from a very sweet older gentleman who we met at a Folkloric Dance performance. We will have a few lesson with him over the next couple of weeks until we go to Pisac. It is great to get familiar with the folkloric music!
I am enjoying having family time and helping out with the Yanapay project as well as doing my yoga practice and studies. I have to admit that living out of travel hostels is wearing on me a bit, especially with the whole family. I look forward to settling in and having a bit more of a sense of rhythm to our lives. Nonetheless, it is all a great adventure, and I'm totally grateful to be here!
More notes and photos on our journey soon!
Much love,
Annie
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
April 12 Ollantaytambo, Peru
Hola amigos,
I´m sitting in the internet center in Ollantaytambo, Peru. I am getting a fast connection, so it´s a good time to write another post!
We are in the Sacred Valley for the second time, this time on the Sacred Valley ruin tour with Steve and Rachel´s 37 Evergreen students. It is a great group of students and everyone is having a blast!
We all have the 10 day boleto turistico, or tourist ticket that is good for 16 ruin sites and museums in the Cuzco and Sacred Valley region. So, we have been visiting ruin sites and hiking around for several days now. I saw many of these sites 14 years ago, but motherhood must have erased them from memory because everything seems fresh and new again. This valley is incredible. It would take years and years to visit all of the ruin sites and hike all the trails!
Some of the highlights are Sacsayhuaman outside of Cuzco, a large ruin site that was thought to be a place of ceremony and ritual, the ruins outside of Pisac, a large complex, larger even than Machu Picchu with 3 separate ¨neighborhoods¨as well as a fine ceremonial complex, the ruins of Moray, a set of concentric circular terraces where agricultural tests were likely performed, and the Salineras, a series of salt pools where salt has been mined for thousands of years. Tomorrow, we will visit the main ruin site here in Ollanta, but the entire area is an archaeological site itself, and anywhere you walk, you stumble upon Incan stonework.
River and Sage are awesome hikers. Little chivitos, mountain goats! They are picking up more and more Spanish everyday. Life is mostly harmonious. I think they will both really enjoy the enrichment school in Cuzco which we will be trying out in a week or so, as they would both love to spend more time with kids their age. But, as long as we get lots of outside time - and there is plenty of that - we are all happy!
The weather has been amazing. Beautiful sunny days, cooling off in the late afternoon. Perfect for hiking. I had forgotten how much I love it down here... I could easily just stay and stay! We return to Cuzco in a couple of days and we´ll be settling down in the city for 3-4 weeks while Steve´s students are in language school, and then returning for another month in the valley, probably in the town of Pisac. I have been resourceful finding possible rental options for March and interesting educational options for the kids. We´ll see how it all pans out!
I´ll post again soon!
Hasta luego!
Annie
I´m sitting in the internet center in Ollantaytambo, Peru. I am getting a fast connection, so it´s a good time to write another post!
We are in the Sacred Valley for the second time, this time on the Sacred Valley ruin tour with Steve and Rachel´s 37 Evergreen students. It is a great group of students and everyone is having a blast!
We all have the 10 day boleto turistico, or tourist ticket that is good for 16 ruin sites and museums in the Cuzco and Sacred Valley region. So, we have been visiting ruin sites and hiking around for several days now. I saw many of these sites 14 years ago, but motherhood must have erased them from memory because everything seems fresh and new again. This valley is incredible. It would take years and years to visit all of the ruin sites and hike all the trails!
Some of the highlights are Sacsayhuaman outside of Cuzco, a large ruin site that was thought to be a place of ceremony and ritual, the ruins outside of Pisac, a large complex, larger even than Machu Picchu with 3 separate ¨neighborhoods¨as well as a fine ceremonial complex, the ruins of Moray, a set of concentric circular terraces where agricultural tests were likely performed, and the Salineras, a series of salt pools where salt has been mined for thousands of years. Tomorrow, we will visit the main ruin site here in Ollanta, but the entire area is an archaeological site itself, and anywhere you walk, you stumble upon Incan stonework.
River and Sage are awesome hikers. Little chivitos, mountain goats! They are picking up more and more Spanish everyday. Life is mostly harmonious. I think they will both really enjoy the enrichment school in Cuzco which we will be trying out in a week or so, as they would both love to spend more time with kids their age. But, as long as we get lots of outside time - and there is plenty of that - we are all happy!
The weather has been amazing. Beautiful sunny days, cooling off in the late afternoon. Perfect for hiking. I had forgotten how much I love it down here... I could easily just stay and stay! We return to Cuzco in a couple of days and we´ll be settling down in the city for 3-4 weeks while Steve´s students are in language school, and then returning for another month in the valley, probably in the town of Pisac. I have been resourceful finding possible rental options for March and interesting educational options for the kids. We´ll see how it all pans out!
I´ll post again soon!
Hasta luego!
Annie
Monday, April 5, 2010
April 5, 2010 Cuzco, Peru
Hola Amigos,
Greetings from Cuzco, Peru!
We arrived here by plane a week ago. Cuzco is the capital of the Inca Empire and now a thriving predominantly Quechua speaking city, with both ancient and modern attractions. Sitting at nearly 11,000 feet, it take some adjustment for those of us coming from sea level.
To avoid altitude sickness, we quickly descended several thousand feet to Sacred Valley, first to the town of Pisac at about 9,000 feet where we spent our first 3 nights and connected with Rachel and Paul and their kids, the other TESC family joining us on this adventure. River and Sage were happy to spend time with Rebecca and Arlo, playing card games and running around the plaza.
Pisac is a lovely and interesting town with nearby Incan ruins and a thriving crafts and produce market. As this was the week of Semana Santa, Holy Week, there were interesting happenings throughout the Cuzco and Sacred Valley area. In Pisac, we saw the construction of a beautiful sacred heart design on the main plaza, made with flower petals and colored amaranth. It took a long time to make and only lasted the evening! Sage liked the market in Pisac and he bought a leather journal. River liked watching the flower design be made. Steve
Pisac is right next to the small town of Taray that was destroyed by floods last month. We saw the damage from the floods all over the valley: mudslides, erosion, etc.
After three days in Pisac, we traveled to Ollantaytambo where Steve had to make lodging arrangments for his students. Ollanta has fabulous ruins. We didn't go to the main ruin site because we will go there with the students, but we hiked up to a granary ruin site next to the town. Sage loved the ruins! River too! We saw fabulous wild flowers. It is the end of the rainy season, and the entire valley is lush and green.
It is the corn harvest time and throughout the valley and small towns we saw the locals harvesting and drying their corn, and shelling their beans. Delicious choclo con queso (corn on the cob with cheese) can be found everywhere.
Now we are in Cuzco. We have been here three nights. We are staying in the same hostel where Steve and I stayed 14 years ago when we traveled all over South America for 9 months. The same lovely family owns the hostel. The hostel is large enough for all of the 37 students who are arriving here. Many have already arrived and are getting acquainted with Cuzco.
We saw several processions, dances and activities here in Cuzco, all part of Semana Santa. Cuzco is a beautiful city, both modern and ancient. Everywhere you turn, there are remnants of ancient Inca stonework existing along modern day cafes, etc. The center of the city has several beautiful plazas and churches. Where we are staying has a beautiful view of the Plaza de Armas from the lovely upstairs terrace.
River likes a dish called lomo saltado as well as ice cream. Sage likes the ice cream, surprise, surprise! All flavors! I love the tamales. We all love going to the central market where there is a startling variety of incredible fruits, vegetables and local dishes.
We are here three more nights, and then back down to the valley with the students to visit many of the Inca ruin sites in and around Pisac and Ollantaytambo again.
River and Sage are now ready for me to be done! So, more later!
Hasta luego!
Greetings from Cuzco, Peru!
We arrived here by plane a week ago. Cuzco is the capital of the Inca Empire and now a thriving predominantly Quechua speaking city, with both ancient and modern attractions. Sitting at nearly 11,000 feet, it take some adjustment for those of us coming from sea level.
To avoid altitude sickness, we quickly descended several thousand feet to Sacred Valley, first to the town of Pisac at about 9,000 feet where we spent our first 3 nights and connected with Rachel and Paul and their kids, the other TESC family joining us on this adventure. River and Sage were happy to spend time with Rebecca and Arlo, playing card games and running around the plaza.
Pisac is a lovely and interesting town with nearby Incan ruins and a thriving crafts and produce market. As this was the week of Semana Santa, Holy Week, there were interesting happenings throughout the Cuzco and Sacred Valley area. In Pisac, we saw the construction of a beautiful sacred heart design on the main plaza, made with flower petals and colored amaranth. It took a long time to make and only lasted the evening! Sage liked the market in Pisac and he bought a leather journal. River liked watching the flower design be made. Steve
Pisac is right next to the small town of Taray that was destroyed by floods last month. We saw the damage from the floods all over the valley: mudslides, erosion, etc.
After three days in Pisac, we traveled to Ollantaytambo where Steve had to make lodging arrangments for his students. Ollanta has fabulous ruins. We didn't go to the main ruin site because we will go there with the students, but we hiked up to a granary ruin site next to the town. Sage loved the ruins! River too! We saw fabulous wild flowers. It is the end of the rainy season, and the entire valley is lush and green.
It is the corn harvest time and throughout the valley and small towns we saw the locals harvesting and drying their corn, and shelling their beans. Delicious choclo con queso (corn on the cob with cheese) can be found everywhere.
Now we are in Cuzco. We have been here three nights. We are staying in the same hostel where Steve and I stayed 14 years ago when we traveled all over South America for 9 months. The same lovely family owns the hostel. The hostel is large enough for all of the 37 students who are arriving here. Many have already arrived and are getting acquainted with Cuzco.
We saw several processions, dances and activities here in Cuzco, all part of Semana Santa. Cuzco is a beautiful city, both modern and ancient. Everywhere you turn, there are remnants of ancient Inca stonework existing along modern day cafes, etc. The center of the city has several beautiful plazas and churches. Where we are staying has a beautiful view of the Plaza de Armas from the lovely upstairs terrace.
River likes a dish called lomo saltado as well as ice cream. Sage likes the ice cream, surprise, surprise! All flavors! I love the tamales. We all love going to the central market where there is a startling variety of incredible fruits, vegetables and local dishes.
We are here three more nights, and then back down to the valley with the students to visit many of the Inca ruin sites in and around Pisac and Ollantaytambo again.
River and Sage are now ready for me to be done! So, more later!
Hasta luego!
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