A bit about Fredy (Shelisa at Aldea)

Getting to the orphanage I was not sure what to expect, I was blown out of the water at how amazing the children are and how loving they are even to a complete stranger. When our truck pulled up the children came flooding in and they helped us instantly with our bags and carried them to our house. I enjoy and love so many of the children already and it has only been two weeks but they have my heart. The children have been so patient with me and the language barrier. They are also always willing to help out even without being told if they see us doing a chore they jump in and do it for us. I am there to serve them but it does not feel that way they are always serving me with their love and kindness.

The one child that I would like to tell you about today is Fredy, he has stood out to me the most. He is 15 years old, at first he is quiet and does not say much, but really just observes you. He is the father of the orphanage here. He is always setting the example to the children and is very kind to them. When I see a child having a hard time or crying he is there to cheer them up and take care of them. He is always there to help the little ones who get picked on of that just need a friend. He is also a very hard worker with a lot of determination; you can tell just by the way he carries himself and how he works around the orphanage doing his chores. He is now warming up to me, it may have something to do with the fact that we play soccer (football) with them.

I was told a story about him that just made me so happy, it was around Christmas time and he was running around the orphanage yelling children children…. Come out and play, they created a train of children and played with them that day! He really is like the father of the orphanage. He is also always willing to learn new things. The other day while teaching the younger children to swim he was there watching and learning what we were teaching them.

Alfredo and Ruben (Mitch at the Aldea)

One kid that I have absolutely fallen in love with is 4 year-old (3 or 4, I really don't know exactly) Alfredo. If I was to have a little boy of my own, I would want him to be like this little guy--spunky, happy, funny, strong and super trusting. Every time Alfredo sees me, even if he is 50 feet away, he makes a huge mischievous smile and then starts running full speed straight at me, and right before he reaches me he jumps and for some reason trusts that I will catch him. Sometimes I go looking for the guy just so he will come and jump into my arms--I absolutely love it! He loves sitting on someone's lap and is always curious of what you are doing.

And then there is Ruben. This guy is a little older than Alfredo, but just as much fun. I went to the beach last week with his house and another house and we had an absolutely awesome time together. Along with the help of some of his friends, we were able to bury Ruben completely in the beach, leaving only his head out of the sand. The waves were so good that day and the beach had the perfect steepness that when the waves would break on the shore they could carry a kid 10-15 feet up the sand, not to mention me along with them! Of course Ruben was one of the first to figure this out and it wasn't long till many of the kids all opted to get hammered by these waves and rocketed up the beach. So much fun, and so much fun to watch!

Also at the beach, him and most of the other boys starting playing a game where they would throw a soccer ball into the sea and then wait to catch it as the waves would shoot the ball up on shore. Pretty soon they started asking me to throw the ball out to sea as I could throw it considerably farther than they could. As usual, the ball would eventual make it back to shore and they would scramble to be the first to catch it. The game evolved further to include point values for who ever grabbed the ball first when it finally came back to shore. We would play games up to 500. Ruben is almost fearless and always willing to try new things. If you didn't already figure it out, he loves to swim!

Antonia's Dream (Mitch at the Aldea)

Another amazing week! Every day I feel like I am making more and more connections with the kids, especially the older ones this week. Their shells are a lot harder to crack than the little ones, but with all the time I am spending with them has sure helped. I taught the four older boys how to play uno and since I was eating at their house this week, we must have played it everyday at least 2 or three times. The weird thing is that they were the ones that kept asking me to play and didn't want to stop. I guess they are not so big and bad after all.

On friday the older kids, another volunteer and I did a caminata from the athletic stadium to Huaca del Sol (some ancient town that had been buried under earth). Besides the fact that it was scorching hot and we were walking for 3 hours and then on the way home we ran out of gas and had to wait another two and a half hours till we were on our way again, it was a productive day. I got to know a little better a girl named Antonia. She is 17 years-old and will be having to leave the Aldea soon. She has a little boy that is two years old and from what I understand it was not her choice to become pregnant and have a child. She is one of my favorites cause she is so responsible and mature compared to the other youth there. She doesn't have to be told everything in order for her to do it and she is really good at complying with what others ask her to do. She never fights with the other kids but is usually the peace maker of the bunch. She always participates in the activities that are planned for her. Her dream is to become an English professor, I say go for it. Whether she ends up teaching English or some other subject doesn't really matter to me, but i made her promise me that when she does leave the Aldea that she will do everything possible to make her dream become a reality.

dancing Carla (Brianna at the Aldea)

(note: this posting is from our intern Brianna at the Aldea)

This week was so great! Once the kids know your name they really love to talk to you more. They love when I bring the camera out, always asking for their photo to be taken. I have been taking a lot more photos lately and it gives me a chance to watch the kids so closely.

We have been doing a lot more sports this week and the one game all the kids loved to watch and play was volleyball. I was taking pictures of the game and I couldn’t take my eyes off Carla. Carla has a real talent for sports and dance. You notice her especially when she plays volleyball. She moves with such grace and hits the ball with such force. If she were in a public school in the states, she would kill any competition.

Carla also has a talent and a love for dance. She couldn’t stop dancing and wanted to learn more even after the class was over. I had taken the class an hour over but we were having too much fun to notice.

I can’t wait for next week. I have a lot of fun dances for the kids to learn and they are very excited too. Peru is amazing and these children are beautiful in every way. I am truly blessed to be with them.

a bag of chips by intern Cori at Aldea

This week has been so incredible- I feel like the kids are teaching me more then I could ever teach them. . . I feel so inspired each time that I am with these kids, there is so much each day that they teach me. It's hard to even know where to begin with it all, but I will do my best. I am still trying to get to know these kids on an individual, more personal level, and with the language barrier sometimes it makes it hard, but I have realized that actions speak so much more then words, so I decided to highlight a moment that I will never forget.

Some of the boys have made me feel so comfortable and so at home, feels like I have a bunch of younger brothers who have become more and more special to me each day. But it started out last week when I was sitting on the court at night after a run, and three boys came up and started to talk to me and Brianna. It was Juan Carlos, Juan Estevan, and Junior. They started talking to us and teaching us different words. They were so patient with us, and really tried to teach us which I thought was so sweet. The boys seem harder to "crack" a little harder to reach, especially at that age, however from the first time I talked I felt there is a way to help these boys feel important to feel special, but they have made me feel that way instead. I just can't get over their kindness.

But this past Monday we were in Truijillo waiting to go to swimming lessons there with the older kids. While we were waiting there, which lasted quite a while, these 3 boys Juan Carlos, Juan Estevan, and Kenny came back from buying some snacks and they handed me a bag of chips. They wouldn't let me turn them down and insisted that I take them. I was so inspired by their kindness. None of them would take credit for who actually bought it (partly because I think they were embarrassed), but I just couldn't believe how giving they were. To someone they didn't really know that well they were willing to give, when they don't really have a ton to give. I was so impressed by their unselfishness. They made not only feel welcome, but cared about.

That's what I wanted to highlight this week was the kindness and generosity of these teenage boys. They help take care of other people, other kids in the orphanage including the volunteers. As the week went on, they continued to talk with me, mostly joke with me cause I have quite a lack of words (poco espanol). It made my week, playing futbol with them was the highlight of a lot of the days this week. These 3 boys brought me joy each day that I was there. . . I am looking forward to getting to know them even more as time goes on.

the little bug expedition - day nine (pam)

Breakfast at McDonald’s! What could be better than that? We had a little free time this morning before our flight to Lima, so Wayne and I went to the city square of Cusco for a breakfast sandwich. (McDonald’s is kind of hidden in the colonial buildings of the plaza, so don't be too disappointed.) We were also looking for Jorge, a young man that we’ve run into at the plaza on our previous trips selling artsy note cards. Jorge has a great resemblance of Britt. He even has freckles plastered all over his nose. Imagine a Peruvian with freckles! Sadly, we didn’t find Jorge in his old stomping grounds.

The flight leaving Cusco for Lima was about 1:30 pm, so we arrived at the airport a couple of hours early. What a surprise it was to see our old friend and bus driver, Octavio, walking from his bus into the Cusco airport! It was a happy reunion.

We all made it to Lima. While the rest of the group went to visit the catacombs of the Iglesia de San Francisco (that we’ve seen many times), not far from the Palace in Plaza de Armas, Wayne and I went with Zarahemla (our tour guide) to the Museum of the (Spanish) Inquisition. I’m not sure that I know exactly what that was all about as the tour was in Spanish, but I didn’t like the feeling there as I walked through the tiny jail cells underground.

Everyone met at Don Juan’s for one last dinner together. I always have the flat-iron steak with the avocado salad when we go there. Wayne had the pork fried rice. Yum! Yum! This is where we said our goodbyes to the group – a great group, by the way. Wayne, Cameron, and I had an earlier flight to Ecuador, so we left everyone in the good hands of Zarahemla, our tour guide. She was going to make sure everyone got to the Lima airport.

The three of us flew from Lima into the Quito airport about 1:00 am. Dr. Zambrano, from Charity Anywhere, was waiting for us there, thank goodness. He took us to the Finlandia Hotel where we yearned for a goodnight’s sleep.
Sleep was at the top of my agenda, and it was at the top of Wayne's also.

the little bug expedition - day eight (pam)

I love saying Ollantaytambo. Besides the town’s cool name, it has some really cool Incan ruins. To enjoy them, though, you really have to climb hundreds of ancient steps. Sadly, we didn’t have time to spend at Ollantaytambo on this trip. We had a train to catch about 9:00 am – and it was on time! Amazing! It took a couple of hours to arrive at Aguas Calientes, the colloquial name for the Machu Picchu pueblo at the base of the mountains that house the ancient ruins. Wayne didn’t feel he could do much hiking around Machu Picchu, so he and Cameron found somewhere to hang out at Aguas Calientes. The rest of us boarded the bus that took us to the ruins. This was my third trip to Machu Picchu, so I broke away from the group to take photos at my slow pace. It was too bad that the sun didn’t peak from behind the clouds, because Machu Picchu always looks better under illumination. It was a VERY hot day, even so. And I mean hot! I almost got eaten by huge red ants that found me resting on a ledge. I didn’t rest after that until I got on the bus that took me back to Aguas Calientes.

Wayne and Cameron were easier to find than I thought. Actually Wayne found me walking through the small plaza. He had a window seat at an internet café that didn’t have any internet. No electricity either! The entire town hadn’t had electricity for almost twenty-four hours. Not an uncommon occurrence in South America. At least the trains were running – and running on time. Thank goodness!

But the return train ride was going to be longer; almost twice as long as the one we took this morning. Instead of returning to Ollantaytambo (and Urubamba), we were headed to Cusco. So imagine a train seat that makes you sit straight up with hardly any leg room. Imagine your butt gone numb. Imagine people sleeping on the floor because it is a lot more comfortable. If you can imagine being on a buck-board, you can imagine the jarring ride. And then there was the time the train stopped in the dark and backed up the length of the train. I think the engineer took the wrong track. Either that or he had to back up to get the momentum the train needed to get over the mountains. Then there was the time the train came to a screeching halt.. It appeared that we had run over something. The engineers were under the train with their spotlights for a while. That was enough excitement for one day, believe me.