Cuzco, Peru

Hi everyone,

Greetings from Cuzco! Last night Rachel and I took an overnight bus from Pisco to Cuzco and arrived around noon today after 16 hours on the bus. Leah decided to spend another few weeks in Pisco and is going to fly to Argentina to meet up with us in about three weeks.

I spent my last two weeks with HANDS ON mainly working finding the materials necessary to complete the potable water project in Con con and Ramadilla. Trying to find 23 cubic meters of small rounded rocks and 16 cubic meters of uniform medium sized sand proved to be quite difficult! By the time I went up to Con con with a group on Wednesday we had decided to carry the rocks and up from the river and sieve them. Luckily, however, a meeting the engineer and I had had the week before with the deputy of the district paid off and the mayor decided to pay for the sand and rocks to get delivered right to the job site. Even so, the sifting and washing of the rocks will probably still take about two weeks with 12 volunteers and some locals. I am really sad that I didn't get to see the project through to the end, but Rachel and I had already changed our leaving date multiple times and it we hadn't left when we did it would have meant skipping Bolivia which is where we are headed next.

I also spent my last few days in Con con helping to organize an inauguration of the canal ceremony and fiesta. I spent all day Friday with the family whose house we stayed in shopping in the market to buy everything needed for the party. On Saturday we had a turnout of over 100 people, including politicians, the press, donors, the director of Hands On, locals, and a bus load of volunteers that came up for the day for the celebration. The locals voted me the godmother of the canal and Marc (the director of Hands On) the godfather so we had to give on the spot speeches while a handful of microphones were shoved in our faces. Part of their tradition is to break a full beer bottle at the end of the ceremony and they gave it to me to break and wanting it to break on the first try I hit it pretty hard and got beer all over the mayor's shoes and pants (oops!). After the ceremony, which took place at the canal, we went back to the house and ate and danced to live music, while the locals proudly passed around their homemade pisco and cachina (a drink similar to wine). It was a bittersweet night for me because even though we were celebrating everything we had accomplished, it was also a night full of goodbyes and of the locals trying to convince me to stay. And they almost did! They also spent much of my last week there trying to find a husband for me so that I would stay forever.

It is amazing how my relationship with the community changed over the almost two months that I was with them on and off. The first time I went I enjoyed myself and loved the landscape, but found the locals hard to get to know. Each time I went back, however, they realized that we could be trusted and that we were going to do what we orignally planned to do and it just got easier and easier. By the end I had completely fallen in love with the community and I plan to keep in touch with them and visit again when I am able. My goodbye on Monday morning with the family was a tearful one and as I left I felt like I was leaving behind a second family.

Tomorrow Rachel and I are going to take an early morning train to Aguas Calientes and then on Thursday we'll go to Machu Picchu. It feels strange to be back in the land of tourists after volunteering for so long...but I'm sure we'll get back into traveling mode after a few days.

All for now,
xoxo, Katie