We were busy this weekend helping Inti get ready for their opening of a new location in Santiago, but the most exciting news of the weekend is that we found one more jar of Ragu sauce, so we can have pasta again. It seems that Mega (the supermercado) buys one jar per location. We've scouted out 2 Megas at this point, so after we ration out this jar, we'll need to find a new supermarket.
On Saturday, we went to the market in Molino to help buy furniture for the new Inti location. Molino is one of the biggest markets in Cusco and has just about everything from pirated CDs to toys to household goods to fast food restaurants. About a month ago, we were able to get 3 keys copied for about $1.50. Not a bad deal - the only problem was not one of the keys worked. Anyways, its basically an outdoor Walmart. Here's a picture of the furniture section. The train tracks run through it, so when a train comes through the the market moves 6 feet to the left.
With the donation money, we were able to buy 2 bookshelves, 6 small tables and benches, and a long table with shelves, which will be the kitchen counter. I thought I had lost weight here, but when I was carrying the shelves, I ended up breaking the glass with my estomago (stomache). Once the Santiago location is set up, we will be sure to send pictures. After taking all of the furniture to Inti, Jackie and I returned to Molino to buy board games for the kids.
On Sunday, we got up early to help out for the parade in Santiago. Santiago is the largest neighborhood in Cusco and apparently this weekend was their turn for a fiesta. Ten children from Inti would be dancing in the parade. Well, most of the parades in Cusco remind me of the South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade. A bunch of bands, music, random floats, and random people that your not sure whether or not they are part of the parade or just joined in. This one was pretty similar. Here's the weedwacker brigade finishing up.
The children worked hard and were extremely excited. Here is Alabado - he is extremely excited about his first parade.
It turns out that this was the shortest parade that I've ever witnessed (maybe a 1/2 a block with about a 1/2 mile of people in the parade. Anyways, the children were so excited that when we got to the Judge's table, they danced encore after encore even though nobody asked for one. Finally, Jackie and I had to round the children up and get them to keep moving. The announcer saying "Gracias, Inti Runakunaq Wasin, por bailar" for the 10th time did not seem to clue the children in that it was time to move on. Here's some other pictures from the day.
After the parade, we celebrated their success with ham sandwiches, chocolate, and soda (gaseoso - what they call it in Peru and I believe is a far better name).
No comments:
Post a Comment