trip summary

Waterloo SOS sent a team of 22 volunteers down to Peru for our second annual educational development project. It was an unforgettable experience for all involved!

We arrived in Lima (the capital of Peru) around 3:00 a.m. local time on Saturday, August 21. Lima is a vibrant metropolis on the Pacific coast home to almost 9 million people. Over the next day, we had the chance to explore the Barranco district near our hostel on foot, and the rest of the city through a bus tour. Highlights included a tour of Lima’s archaeological museum, with artefacts celebrating Incan and pre-Incan culture; a visit to the catacombs of the Basilica of San Francisco, featuring thousands of human bones and skulls; and a lovely buffet dinner of classic Peruvian dishes, including ceviche (national dish of fish cured in lime juice), causa (chicken/fish salad encased in potato), escabeche (fried fish tossed in lime juice or vinegar), and queso fresco (soft white cheese ubiquitous in Peru). We also had our first round of Pisco Sours, the national drink of Peru consisting of Pisco brandy, sugarcane syrup, lime juice, and egg white. More on Peruvian cuisine later!

After a three-hour delay, we flew to Cusco the following morning. Cusco is perched 11,200 feet up in the heart of the Andes Mountains. Until the Spanish conquest in 1533, Cusco was the capital of the thriving Inca Empire. Cusco is still home to a variety of surviving Incan sites, and as such its main industry is tourism.

We set off on a guided tour of the city and surrounding attractions, namely Saqsayhuaman; the remains of a fortified Incan complex in the shape of a puma), Pukapukara (an Incan military fortress), and Tambomachay (an Incan bath). In the evening, we explored Plaza de Armas, the central square of downtown Cusco. Over a dinner of alpaca tenderloin, trout, and lomo saltado (marinated beef), we met Jorge Sanabria. Along with his wife Jenny, Jorge runs Voluntarios Sin Fronteras (Volunteers Without Borders), also known as Awaiting Angels. Their NGO aims to increase educational opportunities for Peruvian children and young adults.

Upon arriving at the volunteer residence (Jenny’s and Jorge’s house) for the first time, we were pleasantly surprised to be living in relative luxury: four bedrooms, hot showers, and home-cooked lunches and dinners every day. The majority of our group managed to adjust to the abrupt change in elevation with few side effects, although some of our group members vomited and/or suffered from headaches the first night in Cusco (there was some unrelated diarrhea as well).

On Monday, August 23, our building project began. The goal of the project was threefold: to build a pronoi (kindergarten) for about 30 three to five year-old students; a technical sewing room to teach the trade to 16 to 25 year-olds; and an English language training centre for locals aged 15 to 24. We also planned to construct an office, storage room, and two washrooms to round out the complex.

We arrived at the worksite in the impoverished community of Tica Tica, on the outskirts of Cusco. By my crude estimation, the site was about 20 feet wide by 75 feet long; mostly barren save for a dilapidated brick wall, two empty rooms, and a makeshift washroom; and on a steep decline. The first day primarily consisted of gruelling levelling work: using pick axes and shovels to remove stone, cement, and dirt to flatten the terrain. On Tuesday, the wood frames for our three modules (schoolhouses) arrived. After placing the frames on their wooden foundations, we started varnishing the wood and painting the office and storage room.

Work continued to progress quickly over the next two days, as we placed corrugated roofs on the modules and finished the varnishing and painting work. We also engaged in the complicated art of making cement, which involves mixing gravel and dry cement in the ratio of 40 shovels of the former to one bag of the latter, moving the pile back and forth 3-4 times to incorporate the dry ingredients, creating a ‘volcano’ in the pile and adding water, and continuing to add water until the proper consistency is achieved. The 100 pound buckets of cement were then poured to form the foundation of the washrooms, office, and storage room. On Friday, we began work on rock paths linking the various rooms, and we installed doors and locks on the modules.

Going to Peru without visiting Machu Picchu would have been sacrilege. Needless to say, we were extremely excited to travel to one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Our trip began Saturday morning with a 2.5 hour bus ride to the town of Ollantaytambo, and then a 1.5 hour train ride through the Urubamba Valley to Aguas Calientes (Hot Springs), the traditional jump-off point for Machu Picchu. Saturday afternoon and evening were spent enjoying the hot springs (maybe a little too much) and browsing through the 4-for-1 happy hour drink specials and 15 soles ($5.50) three-course dinner deals. Then it was early to bed in preparation for our 3:00 a.m. wake up Sunday morning.

The first tour buses to Machu Picchu arrive around 5:45 a.m. every morning. To beat the crowds, it is necessary to complete a hike from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu consisting of 1,094 vertical steps. After a taxing hour-long climb, we made it to the entrance gates in plenty of time to secure one of 400 coveted passes to climb the narrow Huayna Picchu, which overlooks the world-famous archaeological sites. Ironically, we didn’t end up scaling Huayna Picchu, but the accomplishment of making it to Machu Picchu on foot and being there for the sunrise was well worth it.

Machu Picchu was home to approximately 1,000 venerated members of Incan society from the 14th to 16th century. Fortunately, it was left virtually untouched by the Spanish during their conquest of Peru; 80% of the original complex is preserved. Machu Picchu was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham almost 400 years later, in 1911. It is quite the ‘site’ to see.

We explored the grounds by ourselves for an hour, and then went on a guided tour of the spectacular archaeological site for the rest of the morning. Machu Picchu is divided into several broad areas: an agricultural zone where thousands of different varieties of crops were cultivated; the ‘Sector of the Temples’, which contains many sacred buildings; a rock quarry; and a residential sector, just to name a few. Academics are still puzzled as to how the Incas created structures of such scale and intricate detail using relatively-primitive technology.

There was so much to see and learn throughout our tour, but there were several highlights that stood out in my mind. The Temple of the Sun was constructed so that, on the Summer Solstice, light will shine directly through the ‘Sun Gate’ in the surrounding mountains, into the window, and along the line formed by the raised altar within. Almost as impressive is the Temple of the Three Windows, formed out of massive blocks of stone and also devoted to the Incan Sun God. The interplay between sun and rock shows up in numerous other areas of the site, including the Intihuatana stone (thought to be a sundial) and this nameless rock, which casts a shadow in the shape of Chakana, the Inca cross. The most mind-blowing revelation about Machu Picchu for me was that, when you lay your head on your shoulder, the mountains surrounding the site resemble a face!

After getting our fill of history and ‘Wow!’ moments in the morning, we were ready for another strenuous climb. ‘Machu Picchu’ means ‘Old Mountain’ in Quechua, the ancient language of the Incas, and literally refers to the tallest mountain surrounding the ruins. Distance-wise, the climb up Machu Picchu was shorter than the hike to the site that we completed earlier in the day. However, the path up Machu Picchu is virtually straight up the mountain. The steepness, combined with the heat of the mid-day sun, made this second climb much more difficult than the first.

Bypassing some llamas that initially blocked our path up the mountain, we set off for the top. Unlike in the first hike, rest breaks were certainly necessary (and appropriate, as the views during the climb were spectacular). We were told that the ascent would take about an hour and 20 minutes. You can imagine my surprise—and relief—when after 40 minutes, my ‘brother in climb’ Andrew and I saw the flag at the top of Machu Picchu peeking out over the trees. Five minutes and two removed t-shirts later, we were at the summit looking out over a 500 metre vertical drop to the Urubamba valley below. It was breathtaking in every sense of the word.

Over the next 70 minutes, the rest of our sweaty and exhausted group slowly trickled in. For all 22 of us to make it to the top was a great accomplishment and a testament to the determination and persistence of our team of volunteers.

Although not nearly as physically demanding, the hike down the mountain was much more precarious. There is no protection on the sides of the hiking path, so one misstep can spell disaster. Fortunately, using all four limbs at times, we all made it down safely.

After a wonderful night’s sleep back in Cusco, we returned to work Monday morning determined to finish the project over the next three days. We continued the rock paths begun on Friday, this time with some help from the locals. The sewing machines also arrived, complete with faulty assembly instructions and missing parts; had I been on the assembly team, we would probably still be in Peru. In the afternoon, we celebrated the completion of the washrooms, and we started the electrical wiring within the modules, which was finished over the next two days. By the end of a very cold day on Tuesday, nearly all of the functional work was complete. Wednesday was primarily devoted to aesthetics: painting the tables and chairs for the kindergarten, seeding grass and planting flowers, and stencilling the façade outside of the complex. We were thrilled at the transformation over eight days from an empty parcel of land to a fully-functioning three-room education centre.

Now all that was left to do was party! On Thursday, the community was invited to celebrate the opening of the complex. In lieu of a ribbon cutting, Jorge from Awaiting Angels smashed the ceremonial bottle of sparkling apple cider to officially open the education centre. Well over 100 people came out to enjoy a Canadian-Peruvian fiesta featuring lots of food, free giveaways, and fun.

Over the previous week, we had opened registration to each of the three classrooms to the community. The response was overwhelming; each program was substantially over-registered! We didn’t have to wait long to see the fruits of our labour, as classes began Thursday afternoon.

Back in the residence that evening, we were served a congratulatory dinner of cuy, or guinea pig. This Peruvian specialty is generally reserved for weddings and other special occasions. Delicious! After a night on the town to celebrate, we packed our bags and departed for Lima Friday morning. A 13-hour layover and a 7-hour flight later, we were back in Toronto.

All in all, it was a challenging, eye-opening, and infinitely-rewarding fifteen days. We completed the project and had loads of fun along the way. I was fortunate enough to share the trip with 18 old friends and three wonderful new ones. The community and Awaiting Angels extended an open invitation to members of our group to come back as volunteer instructors in the English language training classroom, so hopefully a return trip will be in the near future!