Urabamba

Last Thursday , before the dreadful throat attack, I had the wonderful opportunity to take an hour and a half bus ride over the mountains to a small village in the Sacred Valley called Urabamba. There is a school of 200 students 1st through 6th grade and because they are so far from Cusco they have very limited supplies. So last Monday I put together various donations that myself and other volunteers brought and divided all the goodies up into 200 small gift bags. These are not ordinary gift bags with candy and treats and so on...not at all...each bag had maybe 3 things in it and they ranged from a toothbrush, to a pencil, to a glue stick and/or if they were lucky a small coloring book. In my past experience if I were to give this type of gift to some kid in the States it would be met with disappointed looks and potential tears...

The whole time I was putting the bags together I kept trying to figure out what else I could possibly put in them, trust me it is hard to divide 200 random donations into bags and make them seem somewhat fair. My Program Director assured me that the kids would love whatever they got and that it would be like Christmas...she couldn´t have been more on the spot. I had no idea what this small bag of goodies would do for them...

On Thursday morning I caught the 8:30am bus with my Program Coordinator and one other volunteer with 3 large boxes of gift bags in tow...we had to get to Urabamba early because all three of us had to be back by 3pm for our assigned projects.

The ride was really beautiful and I had the most enlightening and informative conversation with my Program Director, Heidy. What she is doing is so commendable. She works her butt off for very little compensation...and I don´t even think she realizes how many lives she is touching, both in her hometown of Cusco and around the world. I can only hope that my future endeavors can reap as much change as hers have only begun to do. It is really quite amazing what they are able to accomplish on very little funds. It is also so rewarding to actually see the goods that you have donated go directly to the children! I advise any and everyone (no matter the downfall of the off and on sicknesses) to VOLUNTEER at some point in your life. It has been one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done and I plan on making sure that it is somehow always in my life...either in the States or abroad. I am actually hoping while I make my trek in Chili and Argentina to find some places that I might be able to visit and possibly work at in the future...we shall see...but now back to my Urabamba voyage....




So...the ride was beautiful and the final destination lovely...it is about 3,000 feet below Cusco so there is a definite wooziness that happens in the belly when you make the trek and the weather is SO different...Urabamba was about 80 degrees whereas Cusco is about 60...that is a bit of a shock to the system...could have been the reason for the Friday morning illness the day after the voyage...hmmm...

When we arrived in the village we caught a taxi and made off to the school...a bumpy 15 minute ride over dirt roads and rocky terrain. The word of our arrival had obviously been whispered around the school and there was quite the twitter when we arrived. We were greeted by two awesome volunteers, Kelly and Ty, that I had the pleasure of meeting at the Family House the weekend before last. They will be teaching English at the school and doing some other projects around Urabamba for the next 3 months...a lovely couple...I must note I think it is fabulous when a couple is able to travel and work together...I hope to do that sometime in the future with my significant other...I think travel is so difficult and that if you can survive it...you can survive anything...I give my brother and his wife a nod for that. I must say I have always been in awe of their travel adventures together!

Anyway back to the kids...They were overjoyed with the bags. We went into each class and handed them out to the kids individually. I was able to get some good shots of some of their reactions...I must make a shout out to my former company Classic Media...their inkind donations where met with HUGE smiles! I never thought a pencil, toothbrush or coloring book would make such a difference...

We left a few hours after we arrived and I was filled with a huge sense of accomplishment and pride...even more so then bringing home a Friday paycheck or closing a long run of a show ...I am still trying to figure out what I am suppose to do or be when I grow up and I truly believe with more experiences like this I am destined to find out...or as I am beginning to more and more understand...is that being completely satisfied with what I already know and have might be enough...