More Beautiful Days in Ollanta

Wow! I think this is the longest I have been without writing a blog post. Lots of things are happening everyday, but not many that are exciting to write about. My days are blending into one another. I wake up at 6:30am (except on Tuesdays when we get up at 6am to buy fruit from the fruit truck from the jungle). Then Hallie and I head out for our morning semi-hike. We walk the first (and hardest) hill of the Canteras hike. It takes about 40 minutes from our door to the top of the hill. Then we turn around and hike back down for the next 20 or so minutes. On Mondays and Wednesdays we do lunges across the bridge and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we do jump squats. Today we actually had 5 more walkers with us. The last two days we've had the company of Loba (translates to female wolf) on our walks. Loba was Hallie's host dog, she is a husky mix if you didn't figure it out by the name.

We get home and shower and eat breakfast and then begin our work days. I have been escorting new volunteers to the different clinics and introducing them around. I just organized the start of our "intercambio" with the clinic staff. We have paired up 15 of the Posta staff with our volunteers to start language intercambios. We will teach them English and they will help with our Spanish or Quechua. Everyone seems really excited about it and it will be a great relationship builder with the Posta staff.

Hallie and I make lunch and then get back to work. I generally spend my afternoons working on the computer or running meetings of some sort. It really is a lot of work trying to get this up and going. I know Keri, Ben and Annie don't feel very involved from the States, but I try to keep them updated by writing up minutes and emailing out summaries of the week. Hopefully the website and donation page will be up and running in full power soon.

Hallie and I joke about little slogans to use when asking for donations. We can get 7 bananas for 1 sol, which is about 33 cents. So we were saying that for the price of one Value Meal at a fast food restaurant, you could feed one child a banana a day for 3 straight months! Intense when you think about it. 90 bananas for $4.50.

We still enjoy our pub quiz nights and movie nights. The Public Health classes continue to be a big hit at the telecentro's after-school program. This week Audra and Kelsey will be teaching about the dangers of smoking.

I am actually excited about just hanging in Ollanta for the next month and a half before I leave. I have no plans to travel anymore. When Betsy and Mare come, we are just going to stay local with our adventures. There is plenty to do and see around Cusco, Ollanta, Urubamba and Pisaq. I am taking on 3 of the intercambios myself so hopefully I will also gain some good new words in Quechua and Spanish. I need to be here for the weekends to meet with the people.

So I am just rambling now, but I think you get the point. Life is good. Steady and routine. Today was absolutely breathtaking on our walk. We got to the top of the hill and for the first time in 3 and a half months, we saw the mountain named Veronica (the patron mountain of the Sacred Valley) in her full glory. There were no clouds, you could see the snow/glacier on the top in detail. It really was beautiful. I wish I had my camera.

Okay, hope all is well wherever you are. We have started the party planning for this weekend. As if there isn't going to be enough to see, do and drink without the extra games and events we are planning. The Fiesta starts on Saturday afternoon. We have to buy our crates of beer now because they run out in town. Nick's host dad said that the town will go through 3000 crates (12 1.5 liter bottles per crate) over the four days!!!! Ridiculous! They say that per capita, the adults drink 4 crates each. I am going to make some jello-shots and Hallie has some games planned along with a mimosa power hour on Sunday morning. We'll see how that goes. It may get ugly! Wish me luck!