Saturday was the last day of the pilka dig and boy were we tired! It was difficult to hike up to the pilka let alone dig a two meter hole in the ground after already digging the previous day. Our human power was dwindling at this point as we were becoming physically and mentally exhausted from the culture shock and labour intensive workload. We decided to stop at lunch.
After lunch our group embarked on a trek across the mountainside to see how the women of this community really grow their coffee. Saturdina and her sister lead us along the mountainous terrain that they take every day to work. It showed us a great apprication to what a five minute hike means to them. It also gave us a broarder perspective of an honest day´s work; In North America we take for granted the simplest things. Saturdina stopped and showed us the various fruits in the area, and made sure to point out any topics of interest as we walked. We continued walking and they gave us the best oranges of our lives. Heading back along the path a few of us followed Saturdina up to where they peel the coffee. On the way there, we passed by a banana tree and one of the locals with us cut down a bunch of fresh bananas. They were absolutely phenomenal! Continuing on our journey, we passed where the coffee beans are layed out on tarps and sun dried. What a process!
When we all arrived back to the village, the locals challenged our group to a game of soccer. It was amazing to see that despite the language barriers our groups still overcame this challenge and became closer as an entire community.
Saying goodbye to our new found home was difficult to do. The entire community came into our dwelling, where we both expressed our feelings of graditude for one another. We cannot thank this community enough for all the life lessons they have taught us. They welcomed us into their community with open arms, giving what possessions they had and offered them up to us. They demonstrated the power of family and friendship to our group. They greeted us with smiles and sent us off with enriched hearts, demonstrating that material possessions have little value but a realtionship between each other is what matters.
Regardless of the fact that they had been mourning the loss of their brother, they did all that they could to ensure that our last night was a memorable one. It is in their culture to refrain from dancing two months after a loved one has passed away, however they still hosted a dance party for our departure. The music went on for hours into the night as we danced under the stars. There were smiles all around as we enjoyed dancing to the local music, however, at that same time participating in something that is very familiar to Canadians. A party is party no matter where you are!
On Sunday we began our trek back down the moutain at 6:15 in the morning. Covered in bug spray, sunscreen and stocked with plenty of fluids we were prepared for our three hour hike. As we travelled through the mountains, the trucks awaited us at the top, rock music blasting, to continue our journey back to Chiclayo. Upon our return we had our final dinner with Glen Lombard. Isabel met us at the hotel to see how our adventure went and to provide us with Cafe Feminino Coffee to bring back to our families. We packed up our things to prepare for our early flight to Cusco the following morning.
Love Meg, Jess, Natalie and Jordan
