Today was filled with work. The volunteers and I went to
Pachacutec to take some of the children to the beach. Man, the walk to the
beach was insane! It took nearly forever to get there walking on mountains of
sand and rocks. I just love how the children talk to me like I am a natural
Peruvian when, in actuality, I have no idea what they are saying. Usually, I
pick up a couple of words they say and hope that I understand.
Once we got to the beach, the view was amazing. All the
volunteers and I made sure that none of the children were out of our sight. Many
of the children remained close to the volunteers and I. Some of the children
found dead crabs (I have no idea where these kids found them) and explored
them. It was really relaxing. The water was freezing!
The walk back to the bus stop to the orphanage was
extraordinarily… terrible. Everyone was just so tired. Fortunately, police
officers offered all the children a ride in their truck. Some volunteers and I
could not fit so we ended up walking most of the way. Lucky for us, a little
motor buggy-like-thing came along and everyone got on. I was able to enjoy a
very ticklish experience on the motor buggy thing.
The bus back to the orphanage was very scary. I was almost
caught in the middle of a fight. There were no more seats on the bus so I was
one of the few people who were standing. I let Allie take my seat since her
feet were in so much pain. I stood by the doorway while Juan and one of the staff
members of the orphanage stood by me. Juan was talking to the guy who collected
the bus money and, slowly, I could see something was beginning to form. Voices
began to escalate and I heard Juan saying “no” and that he would call the
police. The staff member, an old man, began to shout “abajo” (“let us down”).
The driver refused to let us down while the bus money collector stood by the
doorway. Juan and the elderly man both began saying “abajo.” I was starting to
get really scared because I was right in the middle of everything. All of
sudden, the elderly man grabbed the bus money collector by the neck. I moved
away into Allie’s lap and she held me. Thankfully, the driver halted the bus to
a stop and everyone got off. I could hear the bus money collector apologizing
to me and calling Juan and the elderly man “bad people.”
It turns out that what happened all stemmed from the fact
that the bus money collector went back on his words. Before everyone got on the
bus, he agreed with Juan that for everyone it would only be 5 soles. Once on
the bus and in motion though, the bus money collector decided that it was going
to be 8 soles because he didn’t know the adults would be going as well.
I don’t know. I thought that was unnecessary. I mean, the
volunteers and I would have been more than happy to pitch in another 3 soles.
It was not a big deal. For things to get so out of hand like that, I think it
is utterly ridiculous. So many children were on the bus. It would have been
unfair to them if something more extreme were to happen. Seriously, I was so
close to everyone involved in that incident. It was really scary. I could have
been majorly hurt if things got more intense. I am just grateful that nothing
happened.
Back at the orphanage, the volunteers and I had lunch before
we started repairing the two classrooms that were in need of some new renovations.
Lunch was delicious! We had this soup-like thing with rice, pork, chicken, and
onions.
After lunch, the volunteers and I had to take off all the
wall paper inside the classrooms (the classrooms are essentially 4x4 slabs of
wood). It makes me sad to see and compare the differences between the
classrooms in Pachacutec and the classrooms back in California. They literally
have nothing here. They have a table and some chairs. That’s pretty much it. No
books, no individual desks, no pens and pencils, and, definitely, no paper.
It was a long process getting all the wall paper off since
most of it did not come off. Water was used to soak the remaining patches of
wall paper and a scraper was used to scrape the wall paper off. Blue was the
preferred color for the classroom. Everyone had so much fun. We all listened to
music on my Ipod while we worked. I left the place with paint on my clothes,
arms, and face. Fun! :)
On a completely different note, I gotta talk about my cool
volunteer t-shirt. On it, the name Tarpuy Sonqo (the Quechan word for “spreading
love) is written on it. On the back, it says “I am a volunteer in Peru” in
Spanish. It’s grey and even though it’s a size small, it looks like a dress on
me. It has a little globe on it too! It's great!
Tonight my roommate, Lan, left for home. I feel so sad and
lonely in my room :(. I got along so well with her. We would always stay up and
talk to each other. We’d have so much fun together. I really dislike goodbyes
so I always tell people, “It’s not a goodbye, it’s a see you later.” :) I said
that to Lan and made her promise me that we would see each other sometime in
the future.
I am really feeling happy and content about so many things. I
feel really fortunate for everything that I have witnessed and experienced. I’m
also looking forward to so many things as well. I believe that I am the most fortunate person
in the whole entire world because I am continually surrounded by love. It’s the
greatest feeling that can ever be felt.
I love you, bye! :D
