Katie’s family: Mayli, Adolfo, Charmely, and Silvestra.
Tuesday-Wednesday, March 7-8.
Katie is the first student to have this village as her service assignment. The connection was made through Katie’s host family in Lima: the host mother of Katie’s service family is the sister of Katie’s host mother in Lima.
Caraybamba is reached by a 14-hour overnight bus ride from Lima, followed by a 30-minute taxi ride off the main road to this quaint village of a few hundred residents. When we arrived, we found Katie at the school where she will teach English; since Peru is at the tail end of their summer vacation period, classes would not begin until March 13. The director and teachers were at the school, playing volleyball during a break between class preparations. Later we went to the traditional adobe home where Katie lives with her host family and enjoyed a lunch with the Andean staple – potatoes – flavored with local herbs.
We returned the following day to pick up Katie for a visit to the town of Vito, a 3-hour taxi ride away, where students Isaac and Rowen have their service location. A narrow, winding mountain road took us up through the tundra, past breathtaking scenery, to a high mountain pass where we gradually descended into a neighboring valley. In the next blog entry we’ll share our visit with Isaac and Rowen in Vito.
The village of Caraybamba, at 10,800 feet.When we (Doug, Maria and Willy) arrived, Katie met us at the volleyball court by the school.Maria talks with the school director, Laureano, about the teaching Katie will do.Others teachers joined us and brought snacks: potatoes, cheese, and spicy peppers.One of the main, paved streets of Caraybamba.Most of the streets are just for pedestrians.The hills surrounding the village have extensive terraces dating to before the Incas.Maria stops to pick a common fruit from a cactus.Katie’s family: Mayli, Adolfo, Charmely, and Silvestra.Katie’s family had 2 granddaughters visiting from Lima.The door to Katie’s room.Silvestra prepares some herbs for cooking our lunch.The courtyard of Katie’s home.Before lunch we snacked on cancha, roasted corn, and talked with Katie’s brother visiting from Lima.All the homes in Caraybamba are adobe.On our way to Vito we crossed a mountain pass high in the tundra at 14,700 feet.To stretch our legs in the 3-hour taxi ride we got out and hiked a short stretch.Nearing Vito we stopped to visit a local family in their field.They had just made fresh cheese they were eating with cancha.They readily shared their food with us.At left is our driver, Pablo. In the big bucket is the cheese, still in the whey, they were making from fresh milk.During the harvest seasons families leave town to stay in their fields in huts like these.Inside the hut. Notice the alpaca hide blankets (and radio).
