Anywho. We were awakened this morning by the noisy donkeys that live on our farm. Apparently they enjoy special time each day around 6 am. After a quick porridge breakfast, we headed off for our first day of work in the village. Richard figured we would just be marking out where to dig the toilets and distributing tools, so we trolled off with pick axes and shovels but no work gloves. Lesson #1. Don't leave home without your work gloves.
When we got the first house, the people were really excited and put Brendan and Claire to work straight away. At the next house, Parker and I met a similar fate. I have to admit, the working conditions took some getting used to. The home owners had several ducks that lived with them, so the dirt we were picking and digging into was green with ducky doo. Ack. Also, the soil here is about 90% big rocks, 5% little rocks, and 5% plain dirt. This is the Andes, not sure what I was expecting I guess. At any rate, digging out a 1.5 meter x 2 meter hole in rocky soil is a bit taxing. Especially if you don't have gloves and are used to typing all day vs. manual labor.
breaking ground
blisters...
The family we were helping was really nice though, and brought us soup late in the morning. I had been told not to eat anything the locals gave us, however, it seemed rude to say that so I threw caution to the wind and downed the whole bowl. Starving! They also gave us chicha, which is some of kind of fermented corn drink that is supposed to give you strength. Kind of pulpy but not bad.
We finally went home for a lunch break and Elizabeth, Yrene's daughter, gave me a flower. Awwwww! This totally made my day and it was perfect timing because Parker and I had to head back up for some post-lunch digging. We got about 10 minutes of digging in when five bulls stampeded into the yard where we were working. Richard had warned us not to mess around with bulls, so we very calmly picked up our tools and backed our way out the gate. I was a little freaked out. These suckers were HUGE.
Brendan and Claire were working next door so we went and picked them up, then headed home, stopping at the local tienda for beer. The sun goes down at 5:30 pm here...gotta have some form of entertainment, right?
Back at the house, Yrene made us a popcorn snack and we played with the children for a little while.
Volleyball in the courtyard
After dinner we broke out the beer, however I think it was Brendan, Richard, and I who drank the majority of it, sitting in the courtyard under a blanket of stars and the Milky Way.
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