Janaq Chuqibambaand the PC 5

Hello again!

Last week was a huge highlight from our time in Peru

We spent it with the PC 5 and some other volunteers who came with Ascend, and these were the greatest group of people

They were so fun, everyone worked hard and had a great attitude, and we had a blast

The week started at the girls orphanage which I didn't get pictures of.

This is the child abuse refuge center, we played a game of volleyball and they killed us

We passed out a new set of clothes and shoes to each boy at the boys orphanage, which was desperately needed. 

Then we went to Janaq Chuqibamba! (Ha-knock Chew-key-bamba)

They had all there children line up and shake our hands

The the entire community lined up and told us their names

These were the pet chickens at our house, they followed anyone moving

Then our host dad, Billy and I planted sustainable trees that grow fruit 

We spent a few days building the school, which was a blast. 

The locals working with us were hilarious

These girls greeted me and Billy every morning. The youngest didn't speak much Spanish (only a few of the men speak Spanish, the rest speak Quechua the Inca language) so every morning she told us "Estoy bien!" 

This is the sheep pen at our house, the sheep look out when there is noise and try to see who is talking (so funny)

Our host's backyard

We had two soccer matches with the locals, we won the first time, they won the second

Billy heading the ball

We did a health fair at the school, the teachers all round up the kids with big wooden sticks just like sheep 

No one in the village owns a toothbrush, so most of them lose their baby teeth and grow in rotted adult teeth. We gave them each a tooth brush

A lot were scared to do it, though these were the cool kids brushing their teeth behind the school

Then we cut down trees for the roof of the school

doing my part

We went on a sweet hike, we're about 14,000 feet up

The kids had never seen a picture of themselves, so much of the week was spent taking a picture and then everyone fighting to see it

The last day we particpated in one of their farewell traditions, dancing around a tree taking turns swinging an axe at it

When it falls the kids run to get things that were hung up in the tree, mostly toilet paper

Iegdio (ee-he-dio) I worked mostly with him building the walls of the school

He called me Anita, or little Annie

Us with our host family (we are missing our host mom and brother) and Ryan, another Ascend intern

Sorry for the picture overload!

We just had so much going on and it was all so fun

This is our last week here and we can't believe it

Luckily we got to do pretty much everything on our list, and are ready for some good food at home!