A whole new world!

Hello from Ollanta! Of course our ride was a bit bumpier than planned, but we made it safely and are already loving the town and our host family. We were scheduled to fly out of Lima at 10:10am yesterday for an 11:30 arrival in Cusco. Well, we checked in for our flight and sat and sat and sat until finally (after 1 gate change), we boarded around 2pm. However, they were very nice and offered soda and mini sandwiches while we waited.

We befriended an American guy named David in the airport and we all just chatted happily throughout the wait and the flight. I was the lucky one who got the window seat because flying into Cusco was gorgeous. The mountains are so green and huge. There are lots that are even bigger and snow-capped. At one point, we were a little too close to some of the mountains for my taste, but we landed safely. I have to say, I immediately felt the effects of the altitude. Cusco is just over 12,000 feet up in the mountains. I laughed when I saw a stand with "Free Oxygen" at the baggage claim area. You really can get free cannisters of oxygen if you don´t feel well. I just felt a bit dizzy and light-headed.

So, since our flight was so delayed, the driver that was arranged to pick us up was nowhere to be seen. However, this really pretty English girl named Emma popped up out of the crowd and saved us. Emma is the Director of Awamaki Peru and was, by sheer luck, doing some shopping in Cusco so she was able to direct us to the taxi area for Ollantaytambo and load us onto a little minibus. Keri and I were a bit unnerved when they threw our back packs up on top of the bus and wound a tiny piece of rope over them once, however we just went with the flow and piled in!

The drive was amazing. At turns a little scary b/c of the steepness and sharp turns, the scenery was so unbelievable. The mountains are amazing and the towns are really cute. After an hour or so drive, we were deposited in the center of town (at the plaza) and we phoned the Awamaki volunteer coordinator, Hallie. Hallie just started working for Awamaki as an unpaid intern last week. She walked us down to our host family and had some tea with us.

We are living with Ana (host mom), Celestino (host dad), Sando and Yogi (host dogs) and about 30 cuy (host guniea pigs!). Ana and Celestino have a 15 year old daughter, Shura, who lives in Cusco during the week and goes to school there. She will be coming home this afternoon for one night. Ana is pregnant with a little boy and is due in about 7 weeks! If she has the baby early, we may end up moving into a hostal for a few days. We shall see!!

Anyway, Ana and Celestino are so nice. They are very patient with our broken Spanish and have been acting as great teachers already. Keri and I share a room. The housing is completely different from anything we would see in the States. I´ve taken photos and realized I forgot to bring the memory card with me to upload so I will do that tomorrow. The house has two rooms upstairs, the dining area/kitchen is downstairs and then there is a shed-type thing out in the courtyard that houses the guinea pigs and the stove, chopping table, cooking utensils, etc. So all the food is cooked out in the shed then brought into the dining area. In the dining area is a table with chairs, the refrigerator and all of Ana´s sewing things. The bathroom is also out off of the courtyard. We are actually really lucky that our family has a shower with an electric shower head. Instead of using water heaters, they have a shower head that is electric and warms the water as it goes through. I know what you are thinking -- Electricity and Water do not go together! And yes, rule #1 is to NOT TOUCH the shower head! However, to get somewhat warm water, you have to have the water pressure on low, otherwise, the water does not warm up at all and you freeze. Luckily, it isn´t bad and I´m quite glad I don´t have to wait for bath water to be boiled for me and I don´t have to take bucket showers. Basically, you have to walk outside to get to all of the rooms, not one is connected from the inside.

It is so much colder here than in Lima. I´m wearing jeans, a long-sleeve shirt, my fleece vest and have my rain jacket just in case. The nights are pretty cold too. Luckily we have like 20 pounds of blankets on the bed. As Keri says, you feel like you are smashed under a stack of pancakes! But hey, I´m not complaining!

This morning, Hallie and her 11 year old host brother Luis came and picked us up to go on a short hike up to some of the Incan ruins. Her host father Ivan also joined us. It was amazing. The views are beautiful and the ruins are so cool. We hiked around the remains of an artisan school -- where the men and women learned to weave and sew and stuff. We saw where they kept all of their dry goods. We also hiked up around the areas where they would throw law-breakers off of the mountains to their death. There were 3 laws in Incan times and if you broke them, the consequences were fatal. Don´t steal, don´t lie and don´t be lazy!! I agree with the Incans, nothing wrong with those rules!

We have a 6 hour hike planned for tomorrow morning. These hikes are key if I´m not going to gain weight. They eat a very starchy diet here. Lunch is the big meal of the day and they serve both white rice and potatoes with every lunch. So today we had chicken breast, white rice, fried potatoes and an amazingly simple yet delicious sald of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers with lime juice and salt. Breakfast is interesting. They eat something that is like a mix between oatmeal and cream of wheat with evaporated milk. It is actually made by Quaker so who knows if you can get it in the States. So you have this warm cup of that stuff and a piece of bread with jam. Dinner is the lighter meal. Last night we had chicken noodle soup.

You may be wondering why there are 30 guinea pigs living in the shed (soon to be a lot more as at least 7 of the cuy are pregnant). Well, they eat the guinea pigs on special occasions. Keri and I are trying not to get attached to the little guys b/c we will most likely be eating one soon. Ana and Celestino´s anniversary is on Valentine´s Day and we have a feeling there will be some cuy eaten then!

Okay, I will not bore you all with descriptions any longer. Keri and I plan on exploring the town a bit better tomorrow after our hike. There is a pizza party for the Awamaki staff and volunteers tonight. We will get to meet everyone (there are 15 of us total) and hang out. We will learn about our volunteer duties at the health clinic as well as opportunities to work with the weaving project and other things. 2 volunteers are creating a trail guide so we will be hiking the trails with their instructions and giving them feedback.

Hope all is well with everyone. I promise to post photos tomorrow!!