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It´s hard to believe I´ve been here in Urubamba for over a month now.  And in the country of Peru for 7 weeks.  Really wild.  But I can definitely say that I haven´t been wasting any time here as my days have few, if any, gaps without work or some other activity.

Last week I taught my first self-created lesson plan at the school on the theme of Amistad y Enamoramiento (Friendship & Love).  Partly a success.  Partly a learning experience.  I think that since I worked with 4th and 5th year students during my first couple of weeks at the school, my concept of what was feasible for the 2nd year classes may have been a bit skewed.  In other words, what I had planned on accomplishing in a week and a half ended up needing a solid two weeks to finish.  Nothing too crazy, but I have certainly learned a bit more of what works (dictation, short question/answer sessions, class discussions) and what requires a significant amount of time and effort (any kind of group work).  As it turns out, last week we accomplished all of the ¨meat¨of the new theme such as new terms and ideas, and this week the kids are performing their plays (based on different situations I created for them on either a topic of friendship or love).  These, I must say, are truly entertaining.  Many lack adequate preparation and end up being impromtu skits, and I honesty can´t even understand half of what´s going on because of the incredible amount of slang they use that is unfamiliar to me, but it´s some of the best entertainment I´ve found in ages.  I am also extremely thankful that I am working closely with Victoriano during these classes as his help with my many communication glitches is priceless.  I´m definitely enjoying these classes, but have quickly learned that the more planning and effort that is put in prior to class makes the actual class time that much more worthwhile (for both parties).  As for the subject matter, let´s just say that I spent about a quarter of each of my classes answering questions from the students about what ¨enamoramiento¨ is like in the United States; more specifically, what my relationship is like with Megan (yes, lucky you).  I made sure to sneak hidden lessons into my responses, such as telling the kids about the importance of equality in relationships (something that lacks in many Latin American relationships) and that the basis for a loving relationship should be founded mainly upon friendship as opposed to just physical attraction, money, etc.

For my environmental work, I´ve continued to focus on the educational campaign for the new trashing/recycling plans here in Urubamba.  I´ve been working on a proposal to approach schools with in order to convince the school directors to include their children in the project.  We´ve been going from school to school with these ideas and so far have been able to get all but one on board in one way or another.  These kids will be helping us to put on a weekly radio show, television show, and weekly movie night, among other promotional activities.  Lots of work, but it is definitely necessary in order to hit the community from as many angles as possible in terms of education.  The separation of trash and recycling efforts is a new concept here and will take some pushing and shoving to reprogram the minds of the residents.  As for the 2am dump truck run last Thursday… it was a no go.  After waiting in Urubamba´s Plaza de Armas from 2 until after 3:30am, we finally heard it off in the distance.  We connected in an alley and talked with the workers.  They clearly had not received word that we were going to be riding along with them and were very confused as to why these two foreigners were approaching garbagemen in an alley and further, why exactly we wanted to ride along in the dump truck with them.  After fully explaining ourselves, we came to find out that, because the following day was a holiday, they weren´t even running the normal route so tagging along would have done us zero good.  Instead, I ended up back in bed at 4:30am.  Just another night in Urubamba.  But no need to worry since tonight (actually tomorrow – Thursday – morning at 2am), we´re off to try again.  This time we´ve made direct contact with the boss and everything should be better organized.  We shall see… in 5 hours.  Additionally for my environmental work last week, I traveled to Cusco to take part in a regional conference on environmental issues at Cusco´s Municipality.  This was really a great experience in that I saw how a real Peruvian governmental meeting is run.  It was a full house and even included an intermission with music, dancers, and people in giant bird costumes.  Don´t ask me… I was just as baffled.

On Tuesday last week, I took a day off from my environmental/teaching routine to travel to the remote community of Huaka Wasi with Yasmine for her Artisan project.  This village of 280 or so people is a hefty 3.5 hour drive on steep mountain roads from Urubamba and provided some of the most spectacular views of my trip thus far.  The community itself literally rests among the clouds and was pretty chilly.  All the members of the village wore traditional dress (by choice, not for tips) and were certainly intrigued by our presence.  We were shown a demonstration of the craftwork by the women of the town and I soon found myself in the center of a circle being blessed in Quechua (native language) while flowers were being sprinkled on my head.  I was able to get minimal information on exactly what that whole event was all about, but it certainly felt special.  After taking loads of pictures for a future brochure of their work, I was invited in for some freshly boiled potatoes (all natural! as they like to point out), carrots, and tea straight from their hillside farms.  The day was really an amazing cultural experience that I will not soon forget.  It´s refreshing to know that there are still some people in the world who are generally content with a (respectively) simple way of life.  At the same time, it worries me to think about the fate of such a community when their glacial water supply will most likely be gone within the next 20 – 50 years.  Right now they are a fully self-sustaining community with very little outside income.  How they will adapt to the rapidly approaching affects of climate change is not a question I am currently able to answer.

And now for the adventure of this past weekend.  Jean Gabriel and I went on a 2 day trek to some Incan ruins (Huchuy Qosqo), starting the hike in the small town of Chinchero.  We were led by two friends of Conny, Javier and Grit.  The hike itself was at about a moderate level for me; in other words, just right.  However, as we approached the end of day 1, Jean Gabriel stepped onto a slick patch of grass, sliding out of control like an inebriated figure skater, and landed hard face-down in the mud.  My initial reaction was to laugh as it was one of the funnier things I´d witnessed in a while, but it turned out that he landed pretty badly with his elbow on a rock.  It swelled pretty rapidly and he was unable to straighten his arm.  I gave him some advil and fashioned a make-shift sling out of a sweatshirt, and we finished the walk to our campsite.  Where we camped sat just above the ruins, overlooking a massive wall of mountains and a valley.  Pictures are up: http://picasaweb.google.com/scottwood83 To get JG down to a doctor would have been a few hours hike down, and the chances of getting him an X-ray for at least another day would have been slim to none.  Leaving the decision up to him, he opted to just get some rest on the mountain since he wasn´t in excruciating pain or anything.  After a great afternoon of clambering around the ruins and a freezing cold night of sleep, we got back to Urubamba late morning on Sunday.  Of course there were no X-ray facilities available until the next day, so Monday morning, JG finally got to the hospital in Cusco to learn that he had indeed fractured a piece of his elbow.  Part of the bone had chipped off near a nerve which was why trying to straighten the arm was causing him so much pain.  So he´s now in a full cast from shoulder to hand and will be re-evaluated in a couple weeks to see if the chip is healing properly.  If not, it could mean surgery (not something I would be too happy about having done here).  We´re keeping our fingers crossed.

All else is going well here in the small, but lively city of Urubamba.  It´s approaching 10:00pm here on Wednesday night and I am realizing that I should be in bed in order to get at least a couple hours of sleep before my 1:30am wake-up call.  I hope all is well with everyone at home and elsewhere.  Keep in touch and be well.

Scott

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