Checking out the area

These last few days have been filled with lots of events to get to know the area and figuring out how things work.

On Saturday, we went with Andy and Sam (2 of the volunteers here that we will be working with a lot) to the market in Coroico to buy groceries for the house in order to learn the places to go to and which ones to avoid. We enjoyed a juice of strawberries and milk after filling three large bags with food. We lucked out by meeting up with one of the students here, Celia, and she helped us shop. We saved a lot of money with her making sure we were getting the right amount to match what we were paying for and by selecting the best of the best. It was great to watch although I know I will never be able to look at the worker and say, "Can I weigh that myself?" after it seems like it's not right.

We are going to be organizing weekend events and had our first event on Saturday. I worked on the lower campus with Sam to show the new movie "Che" to the students. I had a lot of fun popping popcorn on the stove to give to the students: some batches were great, some not so great. I would call the event a success. We had about 30-35 students stop in to check out the movie and maybe about 15-20 of them watched the whole movie.

On Sunday, all of the volunteers went to a rutucha, a ritual for the first hair cutting of a child, because Hugh was the godfather and we were all invited. (Hugh started as a volunteer here and is now the Vice Director General) I rode in the back of the truck, which was perfect for sight-seeing. When we got to the house, the boy had the cutest mop of hair and it was a shame to cut it off. Each participant cut a lock of his hair and then donated some money to be saved for something important in his future. I was a little nervous that I would cut him or cut off too much hair. I cut a door in his bangs, similar to the one I gave myself when I was in second grade. Luckily, the idea is to cut off all of his hair , so at the end Hugh gave him a full short haircut to make it all as close to even as possible. Turned out the boy was just as cute with choppy short hair as he was with his long locks. Afterwards we had a meal together and Hugh did a ceremony with the locks of hair, money, and some rice for prosperity. The family also had three cute girls that I played a version of peekaboo with. I love genuine kid laughter. We also got to go in the goat house and I held a little goat. I was nervous my allergies to life would get the best of me, but it turned out I survived. And he sure was adorable. The goats are part of a project that Carmen Pampa has. I got attacked by some bugs that have decorated my arms with welts. Surprise surprise. I have been doing super good with the bug spray, but never good enough.

On Monday, which actually ends up being part of the weekend due to the Tuesday through Saturday schedule the campus follows, we went on a long hike to Trinidad Pampa. Sliding through the mud on slippery paths through the trees is a great way to experience the surrounding areas. Along the way, both to and from, we talked to area farmers and kids to make sure we were headed in the right direction. We climbed up to the Puerta de Viento (Door of Wind) which offered an outstanding view of the valley and both campuses. The students and classes are divided between 2 campuses that are about a 20-30 minutes walk apart. We live on the lower campus, and the students seem to be evenly split between campuses. After that we climbed down through the trees on small slippery paths and through farming fields to Trinidad Pampa to meet with a student and her family. I arrived covered in mud, but what else would you expect of me? They were the friendliest family and invited us back anytime. Going back we took the long way on the road in order to avoid climbing the muddy paths. The whole trip was about 8 hours.