Pacca!

I've been meaning to blog about Pacca for a few weeks now... What is Pacca? Pacca is the school we teach at on Thursdays. Unlike the other three schools we teach at, Pacca is located outside of Cusco in a small town called Izcuchaca. It takes about 45 minutes to get there, using three modes of transportation. First we take a taxi from our house to the car stop- then at the car stop, we get in a small car with the driver and 2-4 other passengers, depending on how many people pile in the trunk. The car takes us to Izcuchaca, and from the town center we take a 5 minute mototaxi ride to the school. Mototaxis are small motorcycles with a couple elaborate additions, including a bench for up to three people and a cover which serves both functional and decorative purposes. Each one has its own flair- this is the Red Fury.


The journey to Pacca is absolutely gorgeous. We really get out in the country where unbroken views of plush mountains stimulate the eyes (unless I'm shoved in the middle of the car between Alex and a big Peruvian) and make the ride more of an adventure than a bore.

The school itself is an "alternancia". Because the school is way out in the country, it's up to five hours away from some of the girls' homes. Also, all of the girls' families make money from their agricultural activities, which, as part of the family, the girls are expected to contribute to. Therefore, the alternancia system was created to nurture this way of life (because otherwise the girls just wouldn't go to school). The girls come to school for 2 weeks and sleep, eat, learn, etc. Then they go home for 2 weeks and help out on the family farm. Because of this system, we see the younger group (9-12) of girls for 2 weeks, and then the older (13-16) group for 2 weeks.

Many students start at the school speaking mostly Quechua (an indigenous dialect here left from the Incans, but very common and recognized as one of two official languages in Peru ) and not necessarily a lot of Spanish, but they quickly learn since classes are conducted entirely in Spanish. In addition to teaching sports at Pacca, this is the only school where we also teach English. Because of the 2 week on 2 week off schedule, it's hard to get any English ingrained in their heads, but it's always an interesting part of the day and always brings me back to first learning Spanish.

Another highlight of Pacca Day is the lunch we get! All their food is cooked on site- and much of it is produced by the girls- so it's always got a very homecooking feel and we never quite know what we're going to get (though we can be 99% sure it will have potato). We eat lunch with the other profesoras who are hilarious and inevitably the conversation turns to something about men and love.

Though it's a long day (journey there, 3 separate English classes, lunch, sports class, journey back), it's definitely one of my favorite days of the week, and always a real taste of Peru!

The school- the bottom floor is mostly classrooms, and the top floor is where the girls sleep. Nice murals, huh?

A classroom... not quite GHS or GW...

The pasture in the back is "the field"- I caught it in a rare moment without cows or sheep roaming. The amount of animal poo on the field is also an issue.

Team building- make a pyramid! The girls found this hilarious, and difficult. It stood for approximately half a second.

Walking from the field back to the school

A view from the journey- check out that snow! And those clouds!