Jueves, 24-Julio-2014
Monkey Bars
The original plan for monkey bars was not coming together so we needed to think through a new plan. Last night at dinner, I drew out an idea and all the girls talked through it. Once everyone got to Highland Coffee in the morning we double checked with Danel and the boys to get their input. As long as all of the supplies can be bought and cut without problems, we should be good...
We split up into three shopping groups so we could be more time efficient. We only have two actual Spanish speakers so one group would be on their own. Danel went with the metal pipe group, the driver went with the tire group and Aaron and I went to get the wood cut with a Spanish dictionary.
We went to the same wood shop from last night and after some rough translations, we figured out that the guy who helped us last night was busy with projects this morning and another person wouldn't be in for 2 hours. He directed us to a wood shop across the street who directed us to another wood shop behind the first one. No one was able to have some cut the wood until the afternoon.
Aaron and I decided to start walking down the street to find another shop when magically the bus driver appeared! He picked us up and we drove down the main street. He stopped in front of another couple of wood shops for us to try. The first shop we walked into was open for business!! Aaron and I were able to use our Spanglish to negotiate all the wood being cut and drilled for 200 soles. The man did all the work in under an hour too. What a miracle!!
Over the River and Through the Woods
We loaded up the bus with all of our wood, tires, metal pipes, and people and headed to Orito Bajo. It was a 2 hour ride to the village.
We followed the river north of La Merced...
Crossed over the river by raft again...
Drove through lowlying farmland...
And finally made it to Orito Bajo! It was just after 1pm so we had about 4.5 hours to get everything done before the sun went down.
Change of Plans
Surprise! The chief told us that they are moving the pre-school building to a new location and therefore would love for us to build the playground over by it. Good thing we brought materials to build two new structures but it means that we have to scratch the swings since we planned on repairing the existing structure.
We unloaded the bus and got to work. George, Dustin, and Morgan worked on the tire obstacle course while the rest of us worked on the monkey bars. We successful built the top portion nearby and relocated to the actual site of the playground since the structure was getting heavy.
Language Barrier
Fun things happen when there's a known language barrier. People are able to talk about you right in front if your face without you knowing. It happens on both sides so I guess we can't be too upset since we do it too. Just need to remember to stop before we get back to the US...
First funny things is we had a constant group of locals watching us from the shade. Since non of us are engineers, we were kinda fumbling over some stuff to start and so we kept hearing the locals laughing and saying "Estados Unidos". Guess we were their entertainment for the afternoon!
Secondly, our bus driver was less than impressed by our construction abilities. He would stand by the side and watch until he couldn't take it anymore. He would then walk over and take the tool from our hands and show us what to do. I'm sure it was super frustrating for him to watch but we definitely appreciated his knowledge since he showed us lots of shortcuts and Peruvians building ways.
Lastly I learned something exciting about all the Spanish talk. Apparently the bus driver and locals were commenting on my ability to hammer and build things. It was a very hot day and all I wanted was to get the structure built so with everyone's help holding the wood in place I would just swing away and hammer the nail in using just a few swings. Thanks for teaching me the construction ways Dad!
Time to Celebrate
The only thing left to do was cement the monkey bars into the ground and so it was time to test everything out. There were a group of kids who had gathered nearby and so we called them over.
The had a blast on the tire obstacle course!
And were awesome on the monkey bars!!
What a satisfying feeling knowing the kids can use and love the playground we left for them! Just watching them play made all the sweat and dirt more than worth it!!
Stargazing Safari
It's about a 30-45 minute drive on dirt roads to go from Orito Bajo to the river. Alex and George asked the driver if they could ride on top of the van in the luggage rack. He said yes as long as they promised not to sue of they fell. It was a cloudless cool night perfect for stargazing. I followed the guys climbing up the side of the van (while he was driving) and the three of us lay on the top and took in the view.
Naturally everyone wanted to get up there too so the driver ended up stopping so we could all climb on top and take in the view. It was a perfect end to the perfect day! We sat and stargazed for a long time before the driver started moving again.
He actually let us all stay up there while he drove the last 20 minutes to the river. We passed by orange and banana trees and managed to grab a couple fruits off the trees!! We peeled and ate two oranges sitting on top of the van. You just can't make these things up!
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