On Saturday morning August 11th I met a large group of grade 8 Markham students at 4:45 am! Not my favourite time of the day! We travelled together to the beautiful mountainous region of Huaraz for an outdoor education adventure (or should I say adventureS). We arrived at a hotel nestled in a valley between the glaciers covered mountains of the Cordillera Blanca and the mountains of Cordillera Negre (the White and Black mountain ranges). The trip there took 8 hours through some striking and diverse scenery. Ranging from lush green sugar cane fields to dry, barren hills, multi-coloured squares of drying chillis, vast open plains with white capped mountains towering in the distance. Continue reading
Hauraz: Outdoor education adventure
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RSIS: return to Quishuarani
On our second trip up to Quishuarani to complete the greenhouse, snow had fallen. The landscape looked quite different …. (and the roads were slippery —- eeeeeek!!)
RSIS: Final stage of greenhouse
After a wonderful 3 day break which included a visit to Machu Picchu, we returned to Quishuarani for the second stage of the project. We completed the greenhouse and had the blessing ceremony. Then we split into teams to build smaller greenhouses for individual families. This was also hard work and we were spread throughout the valley.
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The blessing of the greenhouse:
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Working on the “cold frames” – mini greenhouses for families:
RSIS: Greenhouse building stage 1
The whole aim of the Round Square International Service Project in Peru 2012 was to construct a greenhouse for the Quishuarani community in order to improve their monotonous, carbohydrate rich diet, by providing a way of growing vegetables in the harsh high altitude climate. The local people of Quishuarani are known as the “Huayruros” in reference to their bright orange & red ponchos. The project aim included working together with the local people in the construction of the large greenhouse in the school grounds and then later assisting in building smaller “cold frames” for individual families. All the materials were purchased by Round Square.
It was hard work, especially the first day when all the rocks needed to be carted down the hill to the site. Walking back up the hill was a battle due to the altitude. However it was pretty cold so the work kept us warm and whenever we stopped for a break, we soon were reminded of the air temperature!
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The slides show the projection of the project but perhaps not just how physically hard the work was. Despite some frustrations that were beyond our control, the first stage went well and everyone grew fitter and stronger, as well as more skilled as each day progressed.
Alongside the actual greenhouse construction, a small group led by Duncan, dug a long trench from the creek to the site in order to bury a hose to provide water. We were all very inspired by this group’s endurance and the speed of their progress. The first use of the water was for “burro” = mud! This was needed to build the rock wall. Making burro entailed first digging up soil. Not as easy as it sounds as either strong grass roots conspired against being separated from mama pacha or rocks! The next phase was to actually remove all the small rocks from the soil. Only then could the soil be delivered to the highly skilled burro-makers! Soon shouts for “burro” could be heard all across the valley as the rocks began to pile up……
RSIS: Arriving in Quishuarani
July 22-27th: First part of the Quishuarani Project…..
How do you cure a phobia of riding in a bus on windy mountain roads?
Well – you just simply do it over and over and get higher and higher on ever narrowing and steeper gravelly roads. Those of you who know me well will appreciate that this was a pretty tough aspect of the trip. I had not actually anticipated it and was it took me unawares. However the scenery was so incredibly breathtaking that after some intial annoying mini panic attacks, I soon settled into the experience and did my best to ignore the adrenaline cursing through my veins…..
Quishuarani is in the Lares area and is nestled in a valley at about 4200 metres above sea level. It is a place where time has stood still. The people speak Quechua and only the men speak some Spanish. Houses are made out of adobe (mud bricks), rocks and wood. People have sheep, llamas and alpacas and grow potatoes and corn. The weather was sunny and clear, but cold. At night the temperature dropped down between -5 to -10 degrees.
Please enjoy this slide show of our drive up the mountain to Quishuarani and our arrival and walk to the greenhouse built by Markham College in 2008. Mr Rafael Solomon, the project leader, was delighted to see the greenhouse still in good use. We were greeted by the ladies of the village selling their handicrafts. Children always came out to see us, some to stare, some to smile and some in hope of a game of football. Their beautiful faces belied their varying degrees of malnutrition and bellies full of parasites, as pointed out to us by Dr David, our accompanying physician from Cusco.
Please watch in full screen. Music: Tu Fotografía by Gian Marco……..[wpvideo dtYji7VB]
RSIS: The Apulaya Centre for Music & Art
We were very fortunate to visit The Apulaya Art & Music Center in Calca, where we enjoyed workshops with Emerita and Valerio who were inspirational in their passion for Andean art and music.
Emerita is a talented artist and sculptor originally from Switzerland who specialises in pre-Incan and pre-Colombian art. Our session with her involved first drawing a bean that we selected from a dish. After completing our own drawing, Emerita introduced us to art pieces that centred on beans and lead us to the conclusion that we were only drawing the bean as it is in its current state and not seeing its potential. We were then encouraged to expand our drawings to include the “potential” of the bean. “Not only did the pre-Colombian artists “thematize” the physical appearance of a human, vegetable or divine being, but they also manifested it in its totality, with its full potential in which creation, fertility and development are fundamental” (Emerita). This was a unique insight into the meaning and interpretation of cosmo-vision in the Andean art and work Emerita shared with us.
Valerio is a classically trained flautist from Cusco who also studied jazz flute in Switzerland. Valerio gave us an excellent workshop on two instruments that are played during different seasons. The tarkha is a wooden aerophone with 6 holes and is played in the humid (or rainy) season. It has a very raspy distinctive sound and we played two different sized tarkhas which had rather interesting tunings!
The other flute we learnt was the Siku or traditional pan flute, which is composed of two rows of tubes: Arka (Male) and Ira (Female). “To produce the melody, these two rows must interact by means of two players (Each one plays one row). This action is called the “braid” or “braiding”, and serves as a melodic development pillar. The music produced with these flutes is called Sikureada, and its practice comes from the high plains´ region”. We also learnt two Quechan songs.
Below are some pictures and short videos of our two workshops.[wpvideo zaBeCxzC]The most amazing outcome of this wonderful workshop was achieved on the final night of the service project in Quishuarani 2 weeks later. Emerita & Valerio drove up to join us, bringing a car load of surprises – traditional dress for us to wear for our performance to the villagers. We spent an hour reviewing and practicing the pieces then later in the evening we had much fun putting on the magnificent traditional garments.
We then had a quick rehearsal in the dining room (that was of varying musical success!), before heading outside to perform around the campfire for the entertainment of the villagers who gathered around.
[wpvideo NSepph1H]I am pretty sure we all enjoyed it more than the folk from Quishuarani!
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RSIS: The Sacred Valley of the Incas
We departed Cusco city on a coach and headed to The Sacred Valley of the Incas, also known as the Urubamba Valley. After a short stop in Pisco where we enjoyed browsing the markets, we settled into our hotel for the next 3 days while we acclimatised. Qawana Lodge is in a beautiful setting, directly on the Urubamba River, near Calca.
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The food was also amazing!
On one of the acclimatising activity days when the students went rock climbing, I took a day off and went walking along the river. I crossed over the footbridge in the nearest little village then walked along the opposite bank for about an hour before crossing back over at San Jose: another tiny village, nearer to Calca. Along the way a lamb appeared out of nowhere and followed me! In the small village, a couple of children were herding a family of pigs (mum, dad and piglets). I also passed a very ferocious dog who charged me, snarling and snapping and barking. I was completely convinced he was going to rip my ankles to shreds, but luckily he was more woof than bite. I admit to huge sighs of relief as he finally backed off, only to soon realise that I had taken a wrong turn and needed to go back past the damn dog again! As I retraced my steps I prayed the slavering beast was not habouring rabies!
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