Community Service and Machu Picchu

We have had a very busy week. Being off the grid for a couple of days as well as being so busy, has made it difficult to spend time on the computer.

Here´s a recap.

We left Cusco for Socma, a small village located in the Sacred Valley. We were driven down a dirt road in a canyon and then deposited on the side of road where we hiked UP to the village. The climb took us through a rocky path and some of us opted to use hiking poles for assistance. We arrived in the dark, but our campsite was set up by Jefferson, the logistics coordinator and chef. We were greeted by several pint-size residents, eager to find out about the visitors in their soccer field. Our campground was the soccer field in front of the school building.

As the sky darkened, it became clear that we were in for a treat. The cloudless sky was laden with more stars than any of us had ever seen. The southern cross, the milky way and many more. There was no electricity or plumbing, so we were roughing it, as they say. Once our meager, campfire burned out, we slowly migrated to our tents for the night.

Some of us were awakened by the rooster that wandered within inches of our tents or the donkeys braying from the mountainsides around us. Surrounded by homes nestled into the mountains, we were sitting in the bottom of a bowl, with people observing us from all around. As students started arriving, we distributed some of the backpacks. The early students were on their way down the mountain to go to a larger school. The local school teacher arrived on a dirt bike and opened the doors of the rustic shool building. We ate breakfast in our dining tent as more and more students and their parents showed up. Any leftover pancakes or hot quinoa cereal was given to the students by Huber, Vidal´s younger brother, who accompanied us on the trip.

Work started right after breakfast. Three projects were underway. We divided into two groups. One group helped clean the storage room so that two tradesmen could build an adobe stove for the school. A woman arrived with the teacher to help set up a school garden to grow alfalfa and rye grasses. These grasses would be used to feed guinea pigs, another school project needed to improve the diets of the children. The teacher thinks the current diet, mainly corn and potatoes is deficient and is affecting the ability of the children to learn. He is working to improve the diets of the children through these projects. I helped with the garden. The terrain is rocky beyond comprehension. Huge chunks of granite are cracked with pick axes and then the women and men pick up the pieces and move them aside to create a garden. The good news is that it did not rain during these projects. The bad news is that it was very sunny during these projects. The sun at altitude is very harsh and unforgiving. Even with heavy applications of suncreen, we all have evidence of sun damage.

The boys helped in the storage room. They moved piles of bamboo, wood and other dusty debris and helped bring in pre-made adobe bricks, which would be used to build the stove in one corner of the room. There was a supply of adobe bricks stacked outside all around the school. In order to create mortar, the men made a mud puddle and dropped the adobe bricks on the ground next to it. A barefoot man who stood in the puddle pulled in the broken pieces to break them with his feet. I helped with this part of the project a while until my feet were adequately soaked by the mud. My tender soles could not hold up for long. It was a bit like mashing grapes barefoot, only with mud.

The garden project was finished by mid-day and we took a break for lunch. We had one porter on site who prepared our meals after Jefferson left early in the morning. The logistics for this part of the trip are considerable and Vidal, our guide has made it look seamless and invisible.

After lunch the community started working on the adobe wall that separated the back of the school from a field of corn. Apparently, the landowner was trying to take back possession of the land that the school is built on because he didn´t think the community was interested in continuuing with the school. Our presence has energized the community and given them a jump on investing their time and effort in preserving the school. The wall is important, because it demonstrates to the land owner, that the parents are willing to keep the school running.

Before we could start building the wall, we had to collect large rocks to use for a foundation. A couple of men dug out trenches and the rest of us made a line like a firebucket brigade and passed the rocks from the supply to the wall. Instead of carrying the mortar from the first mud puddle, a second puddle was started nearer the wall contruction site. Women and men worked together and they worked hard. No special clothing or shoes were doned by anyone. I was embarrassed to wear my gloves and there was no way I could bring myself to leave them for someone else to use. Although they were too polite to laugh at me, I knew that the locals would not use them. Babies and toddlers came with their mothers and were parked in the shade.

I have to stop now because I´m getting a strange message. Will to to continue later