Day 5: First Day of Projects, Hummingbird Terraces, and Cave Paintings

Hi! This is Keira and Nuria writing to you from Zurite! Today most of us woke up nice and early and enjoyed breakfast with our homestay families---a lot of us had bread with cheese, jam, eggs, avocado, and choclo (Peruvian corn). After, we all met up at Don Tomas's house where we had a dance competition to decide which service activity each group would be doing (Team Shakira won). Once the winners were crowned we split up into our separate groups and headed to work. 

One group went to the reservoir where they used Jacob's GPS device to start tracking the water canals throughout the village. They planted trackers along the way to get the most data possible. The next group, walked up to the Tree Nursery where they worked on weeding the garden beds and pruning the pine trees. Once these trees are grown, they will be planted in the forest to help with the retention of water. Finally, the last group stayed at Don Tomas's house and prepared signs to hang up along the trail we are restoring. 

Mr. Chang and Hadley working hard at painting the signs

At 1pm, all the groups met up at Don Tomas's for lunch where we ate vegetable soup and a dish with rice, beef, and potatoes. We also tried a sweet celery tea. 

After lunch we headed to the start of the trail we are going to be restoring. The trail leads up to the cave paintings and the Hummingbird Terraces. To get to the beginning of the trail, we had a thrilling ride up the mountain---it was like an interactive roller coaster. 
Loaded into a cattle car

Once we arrived we started to march up the mountain, and it was a very steep climb. We started to collect walking sticks to assist our journey. 
Look at our sticks.

We stopped at a hut that a previous service group had built on the trail, and from there we visited the cave paintings. Johannes told us that the paintings were over 2,000 years ago and were made by pre-Incan people. There were designs symbolizing, the moon, 2 suns, a person, and various animals. 

The treacherous trail to the paintings

Then we began to snake around the mountain towards the Hummingbird Terraces. The Terraces are shaped like a  hummingbird because that is the only animal that can travel through all three realms - the celestial, the terrestrial, and the underworld - as well as through the future, present, and past. The hummingbird shape can be seen from two different angles and these terraces are very spiritual and sacred to the community. 

Hummingbird terrace from one POV

Katie, Nuria, Lana, Hadley, and Keira lying down feeling the energy of the Earth

Tyler reconnecting with nature

We were given the opportunity to walk around the terraces and lie down to take in the space. To conclude we participated in a PachaMama ceremony to reflect on our intentions and practice gratitude. As it started to get dark, we began hiking down the mountain, allowing us to see all the beautiful stars. Unfortunately we arrived too late and couldn't play Kiwi (a traditional game) with the school kids, so we will play tomorrow. Finally, everyone returned to their homestay to enjoy dinner and rest for the day to come. 

See you soon!

- Keira and Nuria





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