Cleaning Day at Inti

On Saturday, we helped clean Inti from 8:30 to 1:30 pm. Jackie and I used about $75 of the donation money to by cleaning supplies (most of Inti's mops, brooms, and dust pans were broken or barely usable). The other teachers, a few of the parents, and even three of the children volunteered to help. Jackie and I were extremely impressed by the 3 children - Juliana (age 13), Mavel (age 9), and Aventura (age 14). They cleaned the entire time and never complained - although, we both decided that they probably had never used a spray bottle before, because they loved cleaning the windows or at least loved squirting the bottle. We decided to thank them by taking them to a restaurant for a late lunch at the Inka Hut.


The three had all decided that they wanted pollo (chicken). The kids were blown away by the prices - they kept saying "muy carro" (very expensive). Juliana (sitting next to Jackie) and Mavel (sitting next to me) are sisters. They live with their mother about an hour walk away from Inti in the mountains and their mother works all day selling empanadas for about 10 Soles a day (about $4). Considering these meals cost about 15 soles each ($6), it makes sense that they thought it was muy carro. The three are used to eating soup for meals as we had to show all three of them how to use a knife.

Well, we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with the children eating ice cream, talking and joking with them, and looking at the pictures from the birthday parties. When they grow up, Juliana wants to be a tour guide, Mavel a lawyer, and Aventura a chef. Aventura's well on her way as she helps cook the meals each morning at Inti.




With the birthday fiestas and getting to watch the Celtics beat the Pistons the night before and spending the day with these 3 amazing kids, this was the best 2 days that I've had in Peru so far.