Hello SMA parents!
The St. Mary's Academy group has landed safely in LAX and they are waiting to board their flight to Denver. The flight is on time so far and they should be landing in DEN at 1:35PM. We will update with any changes or delays, but so far everything is going according to schedule. Thank you for your continued trust and support! Happy Thanksgiving!! Rachel Good Student Travel Manager World Leadership School
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Greetings SMA families,
WLS staff here! The St. Mary's Academy group has arrived at the airport in Cusco and is checking in for their flight to Lima! All flights are on time so far and the group should arrive back in Denver at 1:35pm tomorrow. We will update this blog if there are any flight changes or delays. We are wishing the students and faculty a safe and speedy return home! Thank you for your continued trust and support, Rachel Good Student Travel Manager World Leadership School Dear families and friends,
Yesterday we spent the last day in Ollantaytambo with our homestay families. We met up for lunch and had a Pachamanca ceremony with all of our homestays. We shared a final meal together and exchanged many thanks and appreciations. It was quite a beautiful community gathering. Afterwards, we went back to our homestay families and spent the last evening together. We are incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to travel with your kiddos. During the last two weeks we have experienced so much here in Peru with them. From learning about the many Incan ruins to trying new foods, from getting to know the community and communicating in a different language to working alongside the community on a service project at the local school, from listening to new music, accents, and bargaining/shopping to adapting to new habits of mind (pet with your eyes, not with your hands!), we have learned so much from this group. This trip has clearly opened their world; we see the wheels turning and the questions that are being asked. We are inspired by the insight and hope they bring each and every day. This morning we shared our last breakfast together in Ollantaytambo. We will depart to Cusco at 10:30 (local time) and spend time in the main plaza to eat lunch and do some final shopping. We will then start our journey back home! Our first flight departs from Cusco at 7:30pm. We will then have a series of layovers and flights with our FINAL ARRIVAL time in DENVER at 1:35pm (Wednesday, 11/22-AA 1667 from LAX). We are all SUPER excited to see our families at the airport (just a reminder- pick up is at the airport, not SMA). Warmest regards and many thanks- Sra. Garcia and Sr. Gesler Sunday morning we woke up at the campsite and had breakfast in one of the large tents. After breakfast, we hiked up to nearby Inca ruins and journaled, then we had a discussion about leadership and related it to our experiences in Peru. Through this discussion, in many ways, we found that this experience has changed each of us. We hiked back down and briefly stopped at the campsite then continued on for an hour and a half back to Ollantaytambo. We ate at a local restaurant where they served burritos and tea. We then had about two hours of rest time back at the lodge until we headed off to have dinner with our homestays. After dinner, we met back at the lodge and went over the schedule for tomorrow, which will be our last full day in Ollantaytambo. While we are all excited to go home and see our families, we have found a second home here in Peru which we will be sad to leave, but hope to visit again. We love you all and look forward to seeing you soon!
Maggie M. and Elle Saturday morning all of us ventured out to a small weaving village called Patacancha, about an hour and a half from Ollentaytambo. When we arrived they greeted us with tea and flower lei's, welcoming us to their community. They showed us how to make their all natural dyes using plants from the valley, and then how to spin yarn using alpaca and sheep wool. They then let us try it, and even when we messed up A LOT, they were very patient and walked us through the steps. Then, they helped us weave some bracelets for ourselves. We learned the women in the village start learning to weave at a very young age, typically 8-11, and that the major source of village income comes from their woven products.
After Patacancha, we went to a camp site to stay the night. It took an hour to hike to the site from the road, but once we got up there it was AWESOME! It was definitely less camping and more glamping. There was a large 20 person table already setup inside one of two huge tents (the other was used for cooking) and there were cooks to cook dinner and breakfast for us. Also, there were tents, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads all setup. We unpacked and played cards and then had tea time. After that we all ran around a bit and played, and then everyone gathered around the fire, ate marshmallows, and sang songs- a lot of songs- after which we had dinner. Dinner consited of soup, chicken, rice, and some fried vegetables. We ate for a while and then played games and told scary stories (not too scary!). We are all so excited to see our families!! Best wishes:) Mia & Braden Hello friends and family! Today our team went to Sacred Valley Health (in Quechua, the native Incan language "Ayni Wasi"). We learned about how they teach people to promote awareness in their communities. They instruct community members on preventative health care, women's health, how to treat sickness and injuries, and personal hygiene. Afterwards, we had a great lunch with our homestay families, and then returned to help coordinators create first aid kits, information binders, and sort vitamins. Today we learned many different ways to stay healthy and help injured people. We are also more aware of how to protect ourselves and the people around us in case of an accident or emergency. We are learning so much about this culture and also learning to appreciate what we have back home. We miss all of you and can't wait to see you soon!
love- Izzy and Fatima Hola amigos y padres! Today the group went to a new school which was a mix between a middle and high school. At the school we split into pairs and visited the classes. During our time in the classes, we learned that the teachers there have high expectations about academics and behavior. Yesterday, the Peru soccer team won a spot in the world cup (arriba Peru!!). Peru hasn't competed in the world cup in over 30 years. Since they won, the students were supposed to have a day off today, but they came anyway knowing that we would be there. After the classes, we played some games with the students. They won most of the times because they are in sync. We learned that it takes teamwork to make the dream work. We then had lunch with our homestays which is always delicious. After lunch, we met in the plaza and walked to the field of the first school. Whilst on the field, Johan and Javier led a group leadership activity. From todays activities, we learned to be much more apreciative of the resources given to us at SMA. In our team building activities we learned that good leaders are also good followers. This means that when you propose something, others should listen, and when they propose something, you should listen. We all hope that everyone reading this is having a good time, but not too good without us. We all love you
and appreciate you. Hasta Luego! Maggie G. and Daniel Hello parents and friends, today was a lot of fun for the group. We started off our day with an amazing breakfast of hard boiled eggs and bread with honey.
After eating breakfast we walked down to the local elementary school for our third day of service work. At the school we layed down concrete to create a walkway to the dining area. After the service work we had lunch with our host families. In the afternoon we had a scavenger hunt around the town with various activities showing us the daily lives of the townspeople, including feeding guinea pigs, learning to dance to Peruvian music, making Peruvian "popcorn", and helping the farmers clear a path so they can work between the rows of corn. Then we had dinner with our host families and then had our nightly meeting to discuss the day and the plan for tomorrow. We are all very thankful for the townspeople who took part of their day to show us their lives and for the great mojo we are having with the weather. We are learning a lot about how we each lead. Some of us lead through taking control of a situation and others lead indirectly. Something we all took away from our experience helping to build the dining room for the school is that, even though it seems like what we did for the school didn't seem like a big deal, it matters a lot for those kids, the school, and community. We also realize if we continue to have a positive mindset on everything we do, we can have a huge impact. We all miss our friends and family and want to wish them well. Liam & Weston This morning, we woke up and were fueled with a great breakfast at the B&B before we ventured to the school again to do service work. We actually did it this time! Today it was very sunny and hot, unlike the weather we experienced yesterday. Today we picked up rocks from a field to help build the foundation for the floor of the dining hall. We also took a break at one point to play with the kids, but after that, we resumed our work. It didn’t seem like the work we were doing was very much help, but in the end the floor was completely finished and our coordinator said the community effort today got more done in a single day than had been previously achieved in three days last spring. After carrying all those rocks we were hungry, so our generous homestay families cooked us lunch and it was so good! After lunch we went to the plaza to meet up and split into groups again. We did the opposite of what we did yesterday which was basket weaving and shopping/exploring the town. After that we returned to the homestay families for dinner.
We are realizing just how rich their culture is. We appreciate how nice, welcoming, and open they have been to us. They are a very trusting community. It’s like we’re all a family. In fact, our homestay mother even called us her children which felt so different than how it is in the US. It also has caused us to realize just how blessed and fortunate we are to get the education we have. What was also very surprising is that for their children to go to the local school, the parents are required to volunteer their time and energy for the school (parents helped pour and form concrete today). This experience, even though it’s not even close to done, is already changing us in ways we didn’t expect when applying to go on this trip. We love you all and you are in our hearts and thoughts every day. Reid & Tiffany (having wifi issues, will post more photos tomorrow) Today we woke up to a light sprinkle, and had an amazing breakfast at the B&B. Then, we collected tools and work gloves from our coordinator Adela’s house, and we headed off to the local school called Manco Inca. When we got there, we met with the principal and had a quick recess with the children. We played games like soccer, volleyball, and more. We were going to do our service project, but it was very rainy, so we had to stay inside. We were able to tour through the different classes and help the teachers! Once we left the school, we went back to the B&B for a quick meeting with our instructors. Shortly after, we went with our homestay families. We had amazing lunches and really got to know everyone in our families. After meeting with our homestay families, we split into 2 groups. One group went to a basket weaving workshop, and got to weave their own baskets! The other group did activities with Johan and toured around the town picking up some souvenirs to take back with them. Both of the groups met back up in the town square to then disperse into our homestay families for dinner. After dinner the groups played games, and got to know even more about their families! We walked back to the B&B for a quick group meeting! Hope everyone back home is doing well!
Petra |
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