Week 7 2/22/10-2/26/10 Cusco, Peru Geoffrey Strom

We began our journey by

loading up the truck with
crutches, a wheelchair, and
two shovels. The crutches
and wheelchair were for a
young man in the small
mountain town of
Patabamba. The two
shovels were for digging the
wheels out of the mud
which is common on the
high Andean dirt road
toward Quenko. On the
highway outside of Cusco
we passed the prominent
roadside Incan ruins of
Saqsawaman and Puca
Pucara. After getting of the highway a few towns into the Inca’s Sacred Valley, the hard pack
single track road began. Up and up we went, the valley slowly opened like a mouth as the
towns below became smaller and smaller. Traversing various valleys we came upon expansive
fields of flowers, steep mountainside cultivations, herders and their sheep and a few kids who
needed a lift back to their house further down the road. They had woken up at five, before the
sun, to walk to their family’s fields to tend them and harvest grass to feed their cuyes. After
dropping them off in their community we climbed so more before dropping into a valley with a
tremendous view of the Vilcanota River and city of Coya below. The river was of muddy
contrast to the bright summer greens of the
skirts of the mountains which encompassed
it. Evidence of the previous month’s
flooding along the river could be seen as
brown stains in otherwise green and
healthy fields. All of these communities had
been affected by the torrential rain either
directed through crop damage or due to
the drop in tourism and coincidently sales
of their textiles. We eventually made it to
Patabamba, situated on an angular plateau
straddled by two forested ravines. Only
having passed a few of the reddish brown
adobe houses of the community did Tim
spot the intended recipient of the mobility
enhancing devices. Lidio was sitting on a
cinderblock in a muddy area between
houses as we approached
him. He explained to us that
his mother was at a weekly
community meeting and his
father was working. He
remembered the ASCEND
expedition that came
through a year before and
we wheeled his gift towards
him. He propped himself up
on two cane-like sticks to
softly land in his new
wheelchair donated by
ASCEND. Tim and I pushed
him up to the street so he
could enjoy his new
freedom. His smile was big
when we arrived but grew brighter and whiter as his wheels hit the dirt road. We walked with
him toward the meetinghouse as we needed to talk to his mother. She pardoned herself from
the meeting and became as jovial as her son upon seeing him waiting for her outside. We went
back to their house and chatted as Tim went off to buy Lidio a notebook for the upcoming
school year. We departed with their gratitude in our hearts and drove another ten minutes to
the community of Quenko where ASCEND has been constructing a school for this mountainous
community. We arrived and talked to the construction workers about what worked was left to
be completed. The finishing touches are all that remain and the schoolroom with be another
notch in the ASCEND’s belt. A notch to be proud of due to the precious aesthetic of the white
walls, red clay tilted roof and the exposed wooden eucalyptus beams inside the classroom. The
community has been put
forth an immense effort in
the construction and the
students in Quenko will
soon have a new
educational environment.