Team Peru

A Day In Pampacorral

July 9, 2012

The day started at 5am, when I got up to catch the bus to Pampacorral. To say the ride was smooth would be a lie, as the roads as incredibly bumpy, but the beautiful scenery of green hills, alpacas and tall mountains full of snow made up for it! At one point the cage of chickens fell of the roof of the minibus, so we had to stop and collect them. I got a good laugh out of watching all the men running around trying to catch the escaped chickens!

Around 9am we finally arrived in Pampacorral where Eric and I teach photography to the students of the school. It seems to us like no such thing as a schedule exists, and the teachers are happy to let us borrow their students for an hour a few times a week. Sometimes we teach the oldest students (13-18), who took part in the same program with Eric last year, and sometimes we teach the younger kids too. It is a lot of fun, and I love collecting the cameras from the students to see the shots they have captured in the last few days. In addition to the classes we hope to be able to exhibit the best photos both here and at home.

Today was a special day at the school. Tomorrow is teacher’s day in Peru, and because they get the day off the celebration took place today. As Eric and I are teachers too, we got VIP seats to see all the dances, songs and poems the children performed. We were showered with flowers and confetti and were invited up to take part in the dance. Then it was time to play games, and the teachers were the participants! So we jumped in sacks, balanced balls on spoons while running and took part in the cracker-eating contest. I even won first prize in the spoon game; a bag of potatoes! When the show was over, we were invited to have lunch with the other professors. Guess what it was?!? A plate with a whole fried trout and seven potatoes! I was a little scared at first, but it turned out to be delicious and a good ending to an amazing day in Pampacorral.

Interested in knowing more about how the photo project started? Check out the photos from last summer on our website or read about the experience last summer here.

~Benedicte

Entry Filed under: BLOG,Team Peru Reports. Posted in  BLOG ,Team Peru Reports Tags: Andean Alliance for sustainable development, Andes, artistic expression, lens, Pampacorral, photo project, photography, photography project, Team Peru.