Bright warm sun shines down and trees barely sway with a breath of wind. The mountains are grand as ever on all sides, and like Tyler said this morning, ‘that view just doesn’t get old.’ We have only been a complete team since Sunday, but so much has happened already.
The altitude showed its teeth on Monday, to those of us who tackled the steep climb toward Cuyo Chico. Pounding hearts and heaving breath slowed us to a jog, and then nearly a walk up the rocky trail. We left the trail and wound back down the gradual switchbacks of the road. The word humbling came up. We learned some respect for high altitude. Across the valley, the ancient terraces above spoke of the Incas’ aerobic abilities.
Tuesday was our first day teaching at Divino Corazon, and because of a big holiday in Cusco, many teachers couldn’t make it to school. That made for a bit of a hectic start. Today the classrooms are much more orderly, and all the teachers are here, working alongside our Strive interns. With the continued help of the teachers here, and the growing confidence of our interns, I have great optimism for the next six weeks.
On Wednesday, we had our first classes at the Strive center. We were a little nervous as we quickly sorted and stapled a mountain of photocopied materials. Though we had signed up over a dozen people, we weren’t sure how many would show up. At first, all we had were three children, but a man from the market brought himself and four more children. We split into groups for individual attention. We had planned on forty-five minutes, but at the end of ninety minutes of focused work, we had to tell the students it was time to go home. With smiles and skipping, it was a very encouraging start.
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