Mathilda's Peruvian Gap Year Adventures

This week has been very busy as it was the last week of summer break and there was so much to do before school starts on Monday. I am very excited to meet all the children and see the school in action, as it feels quite empty now.

At the Rainbow school, I mainly worked on a new mural I designed for the wall on top of the outside sink. I wanted to get it done before the children get here next week, as you have to stand on or in the sink to paint there and it can get quite tricky. Marina helped me to work on it, but it still took very long as it was more detailed than the previous mural I did. The idea for this one was to have bubbles that looked as if they were rising from the sink. Some small bubbles and some bigger ones with soap, shampoo, and other cleaning related things in them. Although it took a lot of patience to complete (and I did feel like I would never finish outlining all those bubbles) I am happy with the result. I think it brightens up the wall a lot and makes the sink look more inviting so I hope it encourages the kids to use it more.

We also went to the Hogar (or the Rainbow House) a few times. On Monday, it was Matilde’s birthday and she turned 9 years old. We all went to celebrate there and brought a card and a gift from the volunteers. After singing a very long Happy Birthday Peruvian song, we had cake and popcorn. I also tasted the famous Inca Khola drink that everyone loves here. However, I didn’t like it at all because it is extremely sweet and just tasted like chemicals to me. I was introduced to a Peruvian tradition where everyone at the birthday party says something to the birthday girl. I wished her a happy birthday and a wonderful and said I was so happy to be able to spend some time with her until May to get to know her better. I think it’s such a nice tradition that I was so glad to discover, and I will certainly start this back at home! Then, we played some games and danced all together. Overall, it was a really nice celebration and it was so great to see how happy she seemed. The day got a sadder towards the end, as it was Profe. Dina’s (the Rainbow House tutor) last day.  The kids had a hard time saying goodbye since she has been the closest thing they had to a mother, but fortunately there is a new tutor now who they seemed to love.

On Wednesday morning, as a complete surprise, there was a ‘Back to School Parade’ through Urubamba. This consisted in all the teachers from all the schools in the area, some children and some volunteers like us to march around town with big posters announcing school was starting Monday. There were also a series of speeches given by some of the teachers in the main plaza. I thought it was such a strange concept at first, but then realized that parade takes place since so many kids here don’t go to school. Parents prefer to make them work from very young, because they don’t see the point in education. This way, the government tries to motivate and remind parents to bring their children to school.

In the afternoon, on Wednesday, Rewena and I went to the Hogar again to do a last summer activity for the kids. We decided to hide 80 10cent. coins around the living and dining room that they had to find. It was like a small treasure hunt and they had so much fun trying to find them all, although we could not find the last four… We then split the coins between everyone and went to a corner store so they could buy some candy. I think it was a really nice way to end the break. I also a took a few photos with them for my brother, with the water bottle he produced for his personal project. So happy I get to see him in 36 days!

Yesterday was the last day to get the school all ready so there was a lot of cleaning and organizing to do in all the classrooms. I helped Profe. Yessica in Primaria. It does seem like everything is done at the last minute here, but as well all worked together we managed to get most of the school ready. After a long morning of hard work, Profe. Luisa, the school’s cook, made lunch for everyone. We had a typical Peruvian lunch that consisted of a huge portion of roasted chicken, a sweet potato and ‘Chocle’ (Peruvian boiled corn). It was delicious and a great way to end the break.

Finally, today, we had a day off so I went to Ollantaytambo, a lovely town close to Urubamba. It was my first time there and I loved it. There are Inca Ruins all around the town in the mountains, so the views are really beautiful. More about it in my next post!