I feel Full

Hello everyone! It is 10:00 PM here in Chiclayo and we have just finished saying our goodbyes to Isabelle and Victor, the presendents of Cafe Feminino. We also had the oppertunity to purchase some Cafe Feminino Coffee of our own from them, which I am sure we will let you taste when we get back to Canada.

I now have a bit of down time to tell you a bit more about the mountains. So to pick up where Jason left off....

We were awoken by the rooster at around 4:30 AM, then the pigs at 5:00 AM, then the donkeys, then the goats, and lets not forget the dogs that roam the community. Breakfast was at 7:30 so we could begin our work on the pilca around 8:00. We were all very tired from our journey the day before, but still put on all our sunscreen, bugspray, and carried our water bottles up the mountain side to help out the male workers of the community.

Are those men ever in shape! They worked just as hard as they did the day before and did not show an ounce of tiredness. Us, on the otherhand, we slowing down a fair bit. When lunch time rolled around, it was clear that we were struggling. One of the women of the village, Saterdina, noticed this and was quick to tell Rebecca that we should take the afternoon off and get to know the community and appreciate the place that we had come to visit. We were of course happy to take up her offer, but I did feel a little guilty about leaving the men to do work all afternoon while we got to rest. Saterdina explained that we should not feel bad at all. Just bringing the materials for the pilca with us we were helping the village.

We took this oppertunity to branch out in small groups and get to know this lovely community that we were living in. It turns out that the community is essentially one large family. The grandmother and grandfather live in the main area with some of their children and grandchildren, while other children of theirs, Saterdina included, live at nearby farms with their families and hike into the main area every day.

While the men were busy working on the pilca, the women spent their time doing chores and crafts and watching over the children. Kristina, Natalie, Jason, and I decided that we wanted to play with the children. We met the cutest little boy who looked ot be about 5 years old. We played with his truck and had took turns trying to make him laugh. Soon his little brother and and other little girl had joined us and Jess snapped some really great photos. I loved spending time with the children because I find them to less intimidating to get to know, especially if your spanish is as poor as mine. It is amazing how much you can communicate just by smiling and laughing.

We moved into the main house area and Kristina brought out some bracelet making tools. We showed the younger women who were looking after the children how to braid the bracelets. I also multitasked by entertaing the two little boys I mentioned earlier by tossing a ball of yarn back and forth. Meanwhile, Becca, Megan, Jenna, Jess and Barbara chatted with Saterdina and Megan tried to learn how to make a blanket from scratch. We had a good laugh at her because it certaintly was not as easy as Saterdina made it look!

Before dinner, we took a walk with Saterdina back to her farm. She chatted more to us about what life in Peru was like and also showed off the beauty of our surroundings. She truely is such a spectacular women and I can´t even begin to describe the love that we all felt toward her.

After saying goodbye to Saterdina, we chatted about the day together on our way back to the community. Jenna and I talked about our frustration that we just couldn´t find a good word to describe how we were feeling and how amazing this experience has been so far. Becca came up with what I think is the best way to describe our feelings when she said ¨I feel full¨ Meaning that our hearts are full of love and happiness to be in such a spectacular part of the world and that we now feel some sort of new completeness. This still may not describe my experience perfectly, but it is so close!

Much love and talk to you all soon!
Kat