April 18th - Day 2 in Cusco

We started our morning with meeting the Julio Delgado’s Rotary Club President, Luis. Luis is also the host family for Susan. We then went to our first destination for the day, the Antonio Lorena Hospital. This hospital is special for several reasons: it is the oldest hospital in Cusco, they treat patients that are usually of lower poverty levels, and they have created a Childhood Leukemia Treatment Unit at this hospital. This Leukemia Treatment Unit attends to children from Cusco who suffers from leukemia and can’t afford the cost of the medical treatment. We had the opportunity to talk to the doctor in charge of this unit and visit with all of the patients that are currently there. Currently this unit can only handle 10 patients at a time. It was a very emotional experience for all of us. This is a project that is supported by all of the Rotary Clubs in Cusco.

We then went to a school called Kawsay. This is a very special school even compared to schools in the United States. Kawsay is a Quechua word for life. Quechua is a native south American language integral to the history and culture of Peru. Kawsay is a K-12 school that has approximately 750 students. At the Kawsay school they teach on the principle of multiple intelligences. Not only do they teach their students traditional subjects, but they also teach them concepts that go beyond your traditional textbooks. They also teach the students concepts that are integral to the Peruvian culture. Here are just a few of the subjects that the students learn about: how to speak Quechua, techniques in the fine arts and functional arts (weaving, paper making, knitting, etc.), agriculture (gardening and raising animals), making herbal products (shampoos, soaps, oils, etc.), and taking care of their environment. They include these concepts into every age of the school. It was a pretty amazing place to see and a place all of us would like to spend more time at.

Next we went to a restaurant that overlooked the city of Cusco and we ate a traditional Peruvian meal. We then returned home to our host families. Next all of the team members went with their families to the Plaza de Armas to partake in the Lord of the Earthquake blessing. In 1650, there was a terrible earthquake in Cusco and the people of Cusco prayed to Senor de los Temblores to make the earthquake stop. They people of Cusco believe that this is the reason the earthquake stopped. So every year on the Monday of Holy Week the people of Cusco gather in the main square around the cathedral to get a blessing from the same statue that the people in 1650 prayed to. This is something that we will most likely never experience anything similar to again. They report that on average there are approximately 80,000 people gathered in this square for the blessing, but from our experience there may have been more because there is really no way to count how many people were there.

We ended our evening with meeting with the Julio Degaldo Rotary club. It was a more informal meeting where we got to meet not only the Rotarians but also their families. We also got to see two children dance a traditional Peruvian dance for us.