Friday, March 6

In Peru each village is in charge of a different commodity, today I went to Oropesa, the bread village. The best bread you've ever tasted and they transport it to the main city of Cusco every week to sell at the markets. Most of the women in this town spend hours making bread everyday and that's how they make their living. They have brick ovens, sometimes right outside their homes, and they live in a little adobe shanties - The best bread you've ever tasted, I swear!

But that's not why I went there -- an hour and a half away from Cusco, past a bunch of cows and long dirt roads, lies a boy's orphanage. Kristy and Tim, my family housemates and possibly the cutest couple ever, invited me to come with them to the orphanage this afternoon. I'm always up for a new experience and I jump at the invitation. I have to admit that I've been fortunate enough not to experience a Peruvian bus since I've been here but today I broke the mold and it was interesting. Catching the bus out of Cusco was no problem but 20 minutes into the bumpy ride there's: people sitting on top of me, guys hanging out the doors and windows, kids screaming, women breastfeeding, people pushing, and I'm just trying not to fall as I stand in between two Peruvians for an hour and a half.

Reaching Oropesa was a relief - Tim, Kristy, and I squeezed ourselves out of the bus and onto the cobble stone pavement. The minute we hit fresh air we could taste the smell of bread as it eased its way into our nose and down our throat. Now everyone that knows me knows I rarely eat bread or rice but since being in Peru that's all I eat! The bus dropped as off in the village plaza but there were barely any people around. The few Peruvian kids we did see running around looked at us as if we were aliens. They stared as we walked through the plaza and some even waved because they got a kick out of seeing us wave back. In Cusco the people are a little more used to seeing foreigners but in Oropesa they never do and they stare out of curiosity. I'm just as curious about them as they are of me and I smile back.

Kristy and Tim warn me that the orphanage is a little bit of a hike as we continue to walk through the town. The small streets we walk down look dead, like a ghost town. Then I see a man walking our way with two donkeys and he looks like a farmer. Little baby alpacas scurry across the street and Kristy and Tim talk to me about a few boys at the orphanage that I'm about to meet. Walking along what has now become a dirt road we see a school to our right and woman comes out to greet us. Apparently she knows my housemates but I can't really make out what she's saying because it's in Spanish. From the little I do gather I figure out that the school is still under construction and it has to be ready by Monday for classes. She invites the three of us to come in and take a tour of the place. The paint smell is strong and there's a few men on the roof and a bunch of dirt on the ground -- it looked FAR from done. The woman continues to talk in Spanish to us and I can tell she's very excited about the new school opening. The only thing done is the framing and that's not even complete because inside just looks like a bunch of dirt and gravel - I don't know how it will be done by Monday. But we wish her luck and give her a hug and a kiss, the standard Peruvian good-bye.

Kristy and Tim explain that the school gets very little help from the government but they need more resources to ensure it's success. They make due with what they have and hope some kids will show up for school on Monday. But in Peru it's more important to work and make money for the family then to go to school so unless you know English you're more than likely going to be working on a farm or doing construction. The English speakers get to go into tourism which is a huge money maker for the country and only the wealthy Peruvians can afford English classes like those at Maximo Nivel.

Further away from the small town and up the road we start to see cows and chickens. Women and kids farming the fields or picking corn, there's not much around and all you see is fields and mountains. There's a calming feeling that comes over me and it's nice. We're getting closer to the orphanage and I can see it's blue awning off in the distance. Two little boys are walking down the road towards us and they stop to shake our hands. Kristy and Tim seem to know the younger one who introduces himself as "Walking". They are all talking Spanish and I try to pick up on a few words but get nothing. After we say goodbye to both the boys I get the translation and all I'm thinking is I have to learn Spanish. The little boy is the son of the man who runs the orphanage, Carlos. He comes to play with the boys sometimes and was walking home when we bumped into them on the road. The other boy walking with him is Orlan and he lives at the orphanage.

When we turned off the dirt road onto this patch of land, two small puppies came running up to us and tugging on our shirts and pants - they were super friendly. There were cows, chickens, ducks, and all kinds of other farm animals on the land. The orphanage looked like a little cabin and surrounding it a lot of land and crops. We see the boys off in the distance playing soccer on a self-made field and yelling words in Spanish. They're so consumed in their game, they pay little attention to us. But one little boy came running up to us with water balloons and a big fat smile. He was a bit shy when he saw me and realizing I'm a new person he decided not to throw the water balloons. Kristy threw her arms around the dirty boy and wrestled him to the ground, he laughed and tried to wiggle away. Tim, being as tall as a basketball player, lifted Danny over his shoulders and on top of one of the goal posts but Kristy got a little nervous about that so he put him back down.

Danny was the cutest kid and it took some getting used to but he finally warmed up to me after a little bit. We spent 3 hours at the orphanage and I also got to meet Carlos. He was happy to see a new face and thanked me for coming over. Tim worked with Carlos in the green house while Kristy and I taught English to the boys. It took a lot of work to get them off that field and into classroom for a lesson but they finally all made it in, especially after Kristy busted out the lollipops.

I was fortunate to meet Laura before leaving the orphanage, she's a girl from the U.K. (probably about my age) and has been living at the orphanage for 7 months. She gave us the scoop on some of the boys and while she spoke, I thought to myself, it's amazing how sheltered we are in comparison to the rest of the world. Hearing some of their stories made me feel selfish about all the things I take for granted. Fernando, one of the boys at the orphanage who was intrigued with my camera and insisted on taking 30 pictures of us. He was found by an elderly couple who caught his mother trying to dump him in the river. Orlan came home one day and found both his parents dead but Laura doesn't know too many of the details surrounding that incident. Danny and his siblings grew up 16 hours away from Oropesa and his parents were too poor to take care of him so they sent him and his brother, Willbur, to Oropesa. If Danny's mom wants to come visit him she has to walk 8 hours to the nearest bus stop and then take an 8 hour bus ride to Oropesa. From what I gather, she was living at the orphanage for a couple months as a house maid but left about a year ago and hasn't been back since.

I finish up classes in a couple weeks and I need to start looking for places to teach. I was contemplating staying in Cusco and teaching at Maximo because they guarantee steady work and a decent salary but after my day in Oropesa I'm starting to change my mind. If I decide to teach outside the city of Cusco I will literally be living amongst the poorest of the poor with very few resources. But Maximo Nivel has plenty of resources and they are internationally funded with thousands of volunteers. The places that really need help are out in the mountains and jungle. I leave the big family house in 2 weeks and I need to decide where to go asap. I think I'll talk to my advisor next week about some of the opportunities outside Cusco. I would love to help out in Oropesa if I can.