Rachel Nicoll overseas crew Summer 2011 project - Crew Blog!

Ayarmaca Village

Our community teaching and building project will take place in a rural village called Ayarmaca which is about a 40 minute drive from Cuzco. The village is in desperate need of toilets, some families have their own but a lot of the community aren't fortunate enough to have these facilities. The village is lucky enough to have a drainage pipe (a lot of villages don't) but no toilets connected to it. We will aim to build as many toilets as we can in the given time frame for the project. Any work that's not completed we hope to finish in the next project phase with our July/August volunteers later in the year. We also hope to work in the village, and surrounding areas for 2012.

Village School - There is a small Kindergarten with around 12-15 children who speak Spanish and all speak Quechua. Quechua is a native South American language. It's mainly spoken in Andean area's of Peru and Bolivia by the more indigenous people.

Village life 

There are approx 65 families in the village and their day to day lives will hopefully be made a lot easier and healthier with the installation of family toilets. The village is pretty basic and unfortunately has never had any help from the government, NGO's or volunteers. This is a new village to Madventurer and we hope to work with them for as long as possible to help develop the community resources. Madventurer have worked in Peru for nearly 8 years so we have helped many, many villages like this before. Ayarmaca is a typical Peruvian village which is warm, friendly and very traditional.

Accommodation

The Mad house is basic but comfortable, in the main street of the village. You live as how the villagers live which helps you get immersed into village life. There is outside tap which you can use to wash and brush your teach.  There is also toilet, its not a long drop toilet but you'll need to through a bucket of water down it as there is no flush (all part of the experience!).  Its usually girls in one room and boys in another depending on the number of volunteers. The house has a kitchen and big garden and is owned by a village member.

Weekend Travel

There is lots to do at the weekend if you would like to travel away from the village and project site as most volunteers do. You can head back into Cuzco and relax. Cuzco is an amazing city to visit and was the capital of the Incan Empire. The city is surrounded by a number of ruins including Sacsayhuaman which is worth a visit if you have time.

Take time to explore the cobbled backstreets with stunning architecture, artisan markets, museums and galleries, Incan walls, statues and the Plaza de Armas which has lots to offer (churches, shops, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, street vendors). In Cuzco you'll find shops, internet, bars, restaurants, laundry facilities, backpackers, hostels, hotels plus lots more. If you're feeling adventurous travel further a field to places such as Lake Titicaca, Arequipa, Colca Canyon and the Amazon. Chat to your overseas crew if you need help with places to visit.

Mad Overseas Crew Blog - Rachel's Blog.....

crew updates…..

All is well here in Cusco! The first week has gone really well, on Saturday when volunteers arrived we just relaxed and had lunch in the hostel and then went on a really nice walk around Cusco which was fantastic. On the evening we had an early night as we were all quite tired. Sunday we went to the village and had a great welcome ceremony in our big garden with the president of the village and loads of village members. Speeches were made, the villagers sang and we all danced, an amazing introduction to village life in Peru. The village then cooked us a meal and we all ate in the garden.

The village is really beautiful and our hosts are extremely happy to have us around to help with the project build. We have been doing lots of building every morning and then stop for much needed lunch around 1pm. At 3pm we have an English class Monday to Thursday so far we have been teaching numbers, colours, animals and body parts and we usually get a handful of kids come and then we all play a game of football or duck duck goose or bulldog etc. The kids love it and don't want us to finish the class.

On Tuesday night - We had a big bonfire in the garden with all the kids and we toasted marshmallows it was really fun. The kids have never really seen foreigners before as they never had volunteers or guests in the village they are so excited by us and always wanting to play. The volunteer's obviously love the attention.

All the people in the village are really friendly and the family who's bathroom we are working on each day they usually come out and serve us with loads of potatoes (their diet mainly consists of potatoes and maize) or quinoa soup. The first three days we worked with a builder from the village called Nico, then Thursday and Friday we had Victor and the volunteers really learned a lot as he is an excellent teacher and has a lot of patience. Usually we are split in two groups and we work on two different bathrooms. At the moment we have mainly been doing the floor of the bathrooms, we will move onto the walls next. We have actually done about 4 or 5 floors but need to build the walls and there are hopefully 8 we will be doing in total.

This weekend - Connie, April, Bethany and Owain have all gone to the jungle for 4 days on some independent travel. Edward and Gabrielle are just in Cusco with me and out for dinner last nite, and today we will just go for a walk around town. All the group are getting on very well. We ate guinea pig twice this week! One of the men who lives next door who we are doing his bathroom invited us to eat guinea pig. In the evenings we have been going to bed about half 8 as we are really tired and it's a little cold!!!!!!

More Updates - We have done all the walls of all 8 toilets but just need to do the roof and do a quick mural so a bit more work to do. We had an excellent bonfire on Thursday night and the volunteers organised to get all the kids in the village hot chocolate and bread which they loved. Loads of people came, it was great and Bethany who's sadly leaving got given loads of presents and we danced for ages. We will miss you Bethany please keep in touch!

On Monday - It was the 25th Anniversary of the village so there was lots of celebrations, food and beer etc and was enjoyed by all. On the whole the week has been fine. The teaching is fun, the kids just come to our garden each afternoon and we do a class with them. It's very laid back but and a welcome break from the building which can be hard work.

Today - We have been in Cusco as its Inti Raymi which is the biggest Inka festival in Latin America and biggest festival in Peru. There are literally millions of people in Cusco which is a sight to see. Most have enjoyed the day as we walked up to some Inka ruins above Cusco and they did a big Inka demonstration, there are also hundreds of parades etc.

Crazy News - We had snow in the village overnight the first snow fall in nearly 15 years and it's a little chilly (the first time in Peru that snow has stopped the build). So glad we packed some warm clothes, there are plenty of stalls/markets to pick some up as well.

I will send another update at the end of the project just to catch up on anymore project news. That's all for now hope you enjoyed our Peru blog…..

Finished Project Build - 8 Sustainable Toilet Blocks

Our June/July project in Peru has sadly come to an end.  All 8 toilet blocks have been completed and we spent the last week putting on roofing and making final touches to the blocks.  The weather has vastly improved back to glorious blue blue skies and Peruvian sunshine which is amazing.  On our last building day the locals decorated their bathrooms with flowers and leaves all around the doors then hung a bottle of Chicha as a present.  They made very heartfelt speeches of thanks and the bottles were smashed to good luck, and to bless the toilets so they last a long long time.  Each owner of the toilet came out with presents for the volunteers (and crew) to say thank you for all their hard work.  In the afternoon we gave presents to the kids and the village cooked a hugh lamb BBQ.  We had a bonfire and there were more speaches and lots of dancing to end the night.  On Friday we went for a really nice walk and picnic near Cuzco and had a leaving meal with real alpaca steaks.  Then it was sad goodbye's to everyone as they set off home or further afield for onward travel. 

Madventurer would just like to say a massive, massive thank you to Bethany, Eddie, Owain, April, Connie, Gabrielle and Rachel for all their hard work on the project.  Thanks to them the village of Ayurmacas now have 8 more toilets which will hopefully last them for years to come.  Our July/August project will continue this work and hope to build a lot more.  We would also like to thank the locals at Ayurmacas village again for their wonderful hospitality in helping us achieve our goal.  We look forward to working with you again over the next few months.

If you would like to see more photos of the finished building just check out our Mad Tribe Blog photos albums - June & July Volunteer Project in Peru 2011