Day 6 Reservoir Work and Clearing the Forest

Hi! This is William and Aakarsh writing from Peru! Today most of us settled into our daily morning routine. For us, that meant a shower before our 7am breakfast, and after packing our bags we headed to Don Tomas’s compound at 8am. 



Today was a long work day not only for us but the community as a whole. Each year, the sediment from the canals during the rainy season causes tons of dirt to accumulate in the reservoir, and today’s job was to remove all of the excess. With the help of many local community members and a CAT tractor, we were able to remove almost all of the dirt using various different techniques such as buckets, wheelbarrows, and directly shoveling it out. 





After that came a very special lunch, where Don Tomas, Doña Gladys, and other family members directly brought lunch up the mountain for us to be able to save time on such a busy day. Everyone enjoyed the flavorful chicken and fresh vegetables that they so kindly brought us, and this was our favorite meal yet. 


Once lunch was over, we split into two groups to clear the trail that leads to the ancient Incan “Humming Bird Terraces.” To do so, used machetes to remove plants that were in the way of the path as well as rakes to clear the excess debris, especially branches, that was left on the trail. We made a lot of progress while also having a great time together, and the entire path was noticeably easier to follow on our way down.





Tonight’s dinner with our homestay families was a little earlier to make time for a local game of Kiwi on the street. The rules are quite confusing, but the main object of the game for the offensive team is to rebuild a pyramid of empty milk cans, while the defense tries to prevent them from doing so. It was an extremely gratifying experience after a hard day of work, and the chaotic fun with local people allowed us to bond even more. 




We can’t believe it has already been a whole week here in Peru, and we are looking forward to more days that include a balance of hard work and the fun games that we play together! 

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