Hello parents,
I just spoke to Anna Tuttle who told me the group is just about to take off from Miami. Because of a delay, the estimated arrival time of AA 410 is now 11:40 p.m. in Nashville. Our instructor Jason Hunter, and country coordinator Adela Arenas, really enjoyed this group. They had a very positive attitude living and working in a very rural Peruvian town. They created an internet lab for a school in Piscacucho, Peru, which now allows WLS to continue to work with the teachers and students on teaching internet skills. Thank you so much for the support of our programs, your children were a blessing to have in Peru,
Ross Wehner
Executive Director, World Leadership School
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
End of the trip- from Mitchell
Hello gang. This is Mitchell. My favorite part of this trip was being with the family and learning about their culture. We went on this 15 mile hike, which at the time was terrible, ended up being one of my favorite parts about the trip. Machu Picchu was one of the coolest sights I have ever seen. We made a huge impact on this school. One classroom started with 3 tons of beans filled in the room, and now it is cleaned out, repaved and painted. Our family was very nice and she gave us some gifts for my family at home. I had a great time.
Santa Rosa, Cuzco
Hey yall! Here in Cuzco. Today we went to an all girls' public school, which was quite a change from the small elementary school we did our service at. It was beautiful. You enter from the streets and step into this huge gated oasis. The school is three stories high with a courtyard in the middle. The girls were amazing. They spoke almost fluent English. After lunch with them, they gave each of us a book of Inkan Legends in Spanish, English, and Quechua that they had helped create.
Peru is amazing!!! Best trip ever.
-Laura
Peru is amazing!!! Best trip ever.
-Laura
Cusco- from John
Today we went to Cusco and our sister school. The school was completely different from the one we worked at in Piscacucho. It was nice and the students were incredibly orderly. The classrooms and things were nice. The girls were kind of crazy and were excited to see American boys. Then we walked around the city. This whole trip has been fun.
Cusco- Jack
Today we woke up in Ollantaytambo ate breakfast and got on a bus to Cusco. When we got to Cusco we went to one of the best schools in the area. It was an all girls school, i cant remember the name. We ate lunch with them. The girls at the school had some odd fascination with Thomas. They formed a line of at least 30 girls to take a picture with him. Thomas really enjoyed it and he said, "Why don't girls in America like me like this". After the school we had free time in Cusco and we are about to go to dinner before we leave tomorrow.
Last Day In Peru
On Wednesday we finished our Service Project with the Piscacucho elementary school (Primeria). We were able to finish painting all the walls, built all the bookshelves, painted them, built all the tables, painted them with fun designs, and took a final picture in front of our favorite wall mural. The room looks beautiful and Graham, the project coordinator, said it would be a "much loved room."
After we finished work we had a traditional Pachamanca "earth oven" celebration with all of our families and the workers on the project. The men of the families spent all day building a rock earth oven, put in meat, potatoes, and beans, and then collapsed the oven on top of itself to cook everything for a half hour. After checking a potato to make sure it was done, they served the community out of their home-made pit barbecue, and we all had too much meat to eat.
Thursday we said goodbye to our families as the sun rose and headed on the train from Piscacucho to Macchu Picchu. Piscacucho is also where most people begin the Incan Trail (kilometer 82), so we saw several groups of hikers heading off to Macchu Picchu on foot. They will get there in four days- it took us about 1 hour in the nice traincar with a dome roof so we could see views of the mountains and Urubamba river all around. We spent much of the day with a tour guide from Macchu Picchu and then hiked all the way to the sun gate (the entrance to Macchu Picchu from the Incan Trail). That was hard but the views were well worth it. The "lost city" is still architecturally beautiful, and unbelievable. We'll post pictures when we get back to the states.
Jason and Adela treated us to dinner at a local adobe-oven pizza place, Pachamama's, in Ollantaytambo last night. Very fun and delicious, but we were also very tired from sightseeing, walking, and hiking all day. But it was a good kind of tired.
Today we are finishing our Leadership Curriculum where students will try to come up with their own ideas for future projects and enhancements we can give to the city of Piscacucho. Then we'll head to Cusco to meet Ensworth's partner school, the Santa Rosa Collegio. We have heard this is the nicest school in the entire Sacred Valley so we are anxious to see the differences between this school and the Primeria where we worked for two weeks. We'll have a little time this afternoon to see some ruins in Cusco and shop for souvenirs before our final group dinner. Early tomorrow morning, we'll be headed back to the states.
Everyone says hello and misses their families but all of your students have kept their spirits so high and taken advantage of every opportunity on this trip! Thanks for sending them to spend their time here.
See you Saturday,
Anna
After we finished work we had a traditional Pachamanca "earth oven" celebration with all of our families and the workers on the project. The men of the families spent all day building a rock earth oven, put in meat, potatoes, and beans, and then collapsed the oven on top of itself to cook everything for a half hour. After checking a potato to make sure it was done, they served the community out of their home-made pit barbecue, and we all had too much meat to eat.
Thursday we said goodbye to our families as the sun rose and headed on the train from Piscacucho to Macchu Picchu. Piscacucho is also where most people begin the Incan Trail (kilometer 82), so we saw several groups of hikers heading off to Macchu Picchu on foot. They will get there in four days- it took us about 1 hour in the nice traincar with a dome roof so we could see views of the mountains and Urubamba river all around. We spent much of the day with a tour guide from Macchu Picchu and then hiked all the way to the sun gate (the entrance to Macchu Picchu from the Incan Trail). That was hard but the views were well worth it. The "lost city" is still architecturally beautiful, and unbelievable. We'll post pictures when we get back to the states.
Jason and Adela treated us to dinner at a local adobe-oven pizza place, Pachamama's, in Ollantaytambo last night. Very fun and delicious, but we were also very tired from sightseeing, walking, and hiking all day. But it was a good kind of tired.
Today we are finishing our Leadership Curriculum where students will try to come up with their own ideas for future projects and enhancements we can give to the city of Piscacucho. Then we'll head to Cusco to meet Ensworth's partner school, the Santa Rosa Collegio. We have heard this is the nicest school in the entire Sacred Valley so we are anxious to see the differences between this school and the Primeria where we worked for two weeks. We'll have a little time this afternoon to see some ruins in Cusco and shop for souvenirs before our final group dinner. Early tomorrow morning, we'll be headed back to the states.
Everyone says hello and misses their families but all of your students have kept their spirits so high and taken advantage of every opportunity on this trip! Thanks for sending them to spend their time here.
See you Saturday,
Anna
Monday, July 5, 2010
Peru vs. Kenya
Dear Readers,
Well we decided to check in on how our friends in Kenya are doing on their trip. Wow! 35 posts stacked up against our lowly 12... I guess we know who´s doing more work! Ha, I am mostly kidding, but seriously, we have ¨heard¨ our cross-globe WLS students are staying in a nice dorm, with Internet, cooks, translators at their homestays, probably AC, a soda machine, television, massages, and a Starbucks (I deduced this from reading about all the delicious `chai` they are drinking)...Life here in Peru is a little different...
Friendly competition aside, work on the classroom is going very well. We were impressed to hear about all of the work the Kenya students have accomplished. We learned a lesson in Peru pace when we attempted to start our project but first had to move over 3 tons of beans out of the room we are making into a library. We are painting murals but have to make sure to take time to show the school kids how to paint and help them paint parts of their classrooms, because they want to be involved with our project so much.
Our students are just loving the homestays. The mamas have been so generous with their cooking, space, and love that all of our hearts have been warmed. It will be difficult to leave them even though we´ll be rewarded by seeing Machu Pichu and experiencing our 2nd hot shower of the trip (this Thursday).
We`re in our homestays until Thursday, and we`ll be able to have student blogs again when we get back to Ollanta that evening. To write this post we had to navigate about 6 sockets, 3 modems, 2 computers, contless wires, and a satelite dish, all while keeping an eye on the loose wire hanging from the wall in the `mudroom of casa de Mario`(my homestay)... he is the President of the community so he gets to have a computer. Not sure how many more times we´ll be able to successfully log on.
Off to bed- it`s 815...Mama will be here at 5 to cook us breakfast.
-Peru Trip Leaders
Well we decided to check in on how our friends in Kenya are doing on their trip. Wow! 35 posts stacked up against our lowly 12... I guess we know who´s doing more work! Ha, I am mostly kidding, but seriously, we have ¨heard¨ our cross-globe WLS students are staying in a nice dorm, with Internet, cooks, translators at their homestays, probably AC, a soda machine, television, massages, and a Starbucks (I deduced this from reading about all the delicious `chai` they are drinking)...Life here in Peru is a little different...
Friendly competition aside, work on the classroom is going very well. We were impressed to hear about all of the work the Kenya students have accomplished. We learned a lesson in Peru pace when we attempted to start our project but first had to move over 3 tons of beans out of the room we are making into a library. We are painting murals but have to make sure to take time to show the school kids how to paint and help them paint parts of their classrooms, because they want to be involved with our project so much.
Our students are just loving the homestays. The mamas have been so generous with their cooking, space, and love that all of our hearts have been warmed. It will be difficult to leave them even though we´ll be rewarded by seeing Machu Pichu and experiencing our 2nd hot shower of the trip (this Thursday).
We`re in our homestays until Thursday, and we`ll be able to have student blogs again when we get back to Ollanta that evening. To write this post we had to navigate about 6 sockets, 3 modems, 2 computers, contless wires, and a satelite dish, all while keeping an eye on the loose wire hanging from the wall in the `mudroom of casa de Mario`(my homestay)... he is the President of the community so he gets to have a computer. Not sure how many more times we´ll be able to successfully log on.
Off to bed- it`s 815...Mama will be here at 5 to cook us breakfast.
-Peru Trip Leaders
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