Here’s our first week’s wrap-up and recap of our STRIVE Peru adventures brought to you by Paul and Lindsay. Please continue to follow us and all the interns throughout the summer as we trade off painting the picture of our Peruvian summer for you in each of our unique writing styles.

On Thursday after the morning run. We were surprised to see Larissa stroll into the hostel green space. Larissa, originally from California, is now a resident of Pisaq and runs the STRIVE Center after school learning program. Without her, there would be no after school care after the summers when STRIVE is not in session. Additionally, it was clear to me (Paul) when we visited her on Wednesday, that the relationship she has with the kids and the community is a key element to the success of the STRIVE center. She has facilitated an impressive turnout. In the coming weeks we will be teaching english at the STRIVE center from 3-4pm M-F.

On Thursday Tyler and Larissa had a surprise for us: we would be spending the day working on a traditional Andean farm! We hired Hector our favorite local driver to take us another 3,500 ft up the mountain about 30 min outside of Pisaq. That meant that not only were we closer to the sun, but the thinner air provided little protection. It felt like the sun was practically on top of us as we walked from the road to the main compound. I (Paul) on the shorter side for an American at 5’9’’ had to duck to enter the adobe and wood structure. We learned that almost all the wood here comes from eucalyptus trees native to Australia, which are now abundant here (brought over during Spanish conquests).

Once inside we found ourselves in a small grassy courtyard used for outdoor weaving and potato storage. Coming out to greet us were several smiling faces. Although it is not surprising, we were impressed with their obvious fitness. The elderly women had flexibility and strength far surpassing their American counterparts, which they showed by sitting on the ground to weave beautiful tapestries. Mothers harvest crops and do other farm work all while carrying their young children on their backs. Not to mention they were doing everything at an altitude that turns climbing stairs into a workout.

Any nervousness that comes naturally with visiting a stranger’s home evaporated as our hosts kissed the cheek or shook the hand of each member of our party of 13. Greetings out of the way, they brought out traditional (and very colorful) Peruvian clothing just like theirs for us to wear. This is a big deal because not only was it all handmade, but because they take so much more pride in their clothes. There were hats and ponchos for the men and skirts and shawls for the women. The amount of color and detail in the clothes was beyond anything I’ve worn (Paul). The clothes were fit for a king, and I could tell everyone felt more regal.

Donning our royal garb, we were marched to the potato fields where we milled around taking in the view of the sacred valley, new angles on the mountains, and watching two snuffling pigs tethered in an adjacent field. As we awaited instruction and sucked air, we were all suddenly enthralled with what our hosts were doing. They were doing a controlled burn of the field, nimbly rushing around snuffing out unwanted flames, and spreading flames to desired areas. We were nervous, but as Tyler said, “They have probably been doing this for hundreds of years”.

Once all the flames were put out, our attention was turned to the potatoes. We self delegated to diggers and pickers. The diggers used something akin to handmade pickaxes to cut through the hard packed soil and unearth the potatoes. The pickers sifted through the dirt and gathered them into baskets. Little did we know, we weren’t digging for regular old spuds, we were digging for gold! The potatoes were all bright yellow or orange and were the size of large gold nuggets. Sometimes as the blade of the tool was drawn out of the dirt the ground would explode with dozens of gold nuggets. Other times it would reveal nothing but the dry and fertile soil. “Recoger todos, no mas!” one of our hosts told me, meaning “pick everything, no more (left)”. The sun, altitude, work, and wool clothes, soon had us all “Nackered” (a scottish phrase for tired, as two of our interns informed us). Noticing this, our hosts led us back to the family home for lunch.

Lunch is an understatement, it was an extravagant feast of quinoa soup, a centurion army’s worth of small potatoes, a kilo of beets and carrots, plates of fresh mozzarella-like cheese, brightly colored quasi potato squash vegetables. We all ate to the best of our abilities. Tyler polished off two bowls of soup. They made our day by giving us the leftover potatoes for supper. Now stuffed, we toured their guinea pig castle, and lazily sat in the sun watching them weave and laughing at the antics of a two-year-old named Urpi, which means little dove in Quechuan. On our way out they wished us all to “become great professionals”. All of this and we still made it back to the hostel for a 4:30 run.

By now many of us are starting to acclimate pretty well to the 9,500 ft of Pisaq, although on day trips to higher elevations, being breathless or getting head rushes upon standing up are still commonplace. In light of our progress, Tyler decided we were ready for a long run on Saturday. We were all excited because weekly long runs are a staple part of most of our training at home. After sleeping in an extra hour, we broke off into groups and started the run at 8:00. There were various levels in pacing the long run, but regardless everyone pushed themselves a bit more than usual and worked up an appetite. After a late breakfast we were ready for our first weekend adventure.

We all piled into Hector’s luxurious tour van, and he delivered us safely to several Inca ruins sites near Cusco. We first visited Saqsayhuaman, which is the head of the puma shape in which the Incan city of Cusco was built. Saqsayhuaman is an engineering feat by today’s standards with its elaborate stone work and water reservoir and irrigation systems. The group enjoyed the historicity and beauty of all the sites we explored from the animal shapes in the stone walls, to the tunnels in the sides of the mountains. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped by an animal sanctuary which rescues animals from illegal trade. We got to interact with exotic animals such as the Andean Spectacled Bear, Macaws, Condors, Pumas, Vicuna, and many more. Some we actually got to pet and some said “hi” through glass or a fence. We wrapped up our weekend adventures and put a beautiful bow on top that I (Lindsay) like to call the Pisac ruins. We climbed stairs (Inca stairs) all the way up one of the mountains to the remnants of Inca buildings from which you can see the entire Sacred Valley in all its majesty. What a way to spend a Sunday.