Pictures!

I FINALLY sat down to upload some photos. Here's the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mariya.connors/MariSAdventuresInPeru?authkey=-TrDUn9vXuw

Just got back from a wonderful countryside bike tour. The other girl I was supposed to go with was too hung over this morning (GVI did go out pretty hard last night...), so I had a private tour with Peru's number one mountain bike champion! There were definitely some dodgy traffic moments, or moments where I was pushed between a car and a pack of sheep or cows, but it was wonderful. It was a tour of some towns outside of Arequipa that pre-date the Incans, and they have the same irrigration systems from those times! The land is lush and green and beautiful despite Arequipa's two weeks of rain per year. We were on the road for some of the time and then it was more mountain bikey for some of the time (and I'm not ashamed to admit that I had to get off my bike a couple of times on steep, rocky downhills). We stopped at a beautiful old farm for some chicha, which is a traditional Peruvian drink made from purple corn that tastes kind of like drinking bubblegum, but I really like it! Then we made our way back into Arequipa, dodged some more traffic, and arrived without getting hit by a car, falling off, or being pushed to far into a herd of sheep.

Backtrack to yesterday, which was a fabulous day in the school. It was Liz and Dave's last day, so there was a ceremony with cards and hugs and thank yous and tears. It was the first time that I had seen the whole school in one room, and I had my two favorite little boys cuddled on my lap. The kids were happily playing and laughing and I couldn't stop thinking about their incredible resilience. They go through unimaginable, terrible things every day, but they still laugh and play and go to school and make friends and, though it isn't always apparent, are excited about learning. GVI's presence in this school is huge, and the volunteers play a huge role in giving them the love and encouragement that is absent in their homes. Leaving them will be heartbreaking, but knowing that more volunteers will come and brighten up their days a bit helps. They have a lot of potential, but they are fighting pretty fierce odds to break the cycles of poverty, abuse, and lack of education. They have amazing character and spirit and I wish the world weren't so cruel to them.

The rest of the day and tomorrow I'm doing some relaxing, meeting new volunteers, prepping for the week, and we might be going to Alpaca World, which is a weird tourist trap sort of zoo of alpacas (similar to llamas). I'm determined to ride one, even though they can't hold very much weight. We'll see...