July 15, 07

Today we had an early start, as we went to casa De Materna in Calca to start weeding, planting, painting and cleaning the ins and outs of the house. I painted a butterfly on the wall of the house, but most ofmy time was spent pulling p weeds and picking up garbage. It was rether tiring work. With such a hearty bunch of volunteers we got a lot done, however, the health porject volunteers will be going there once again tomorrow and on Tuesday to continue our efforts to improve the transitional house and grounds.

In the afternoon, we took a gut-wrenching ride up the narrow roads of a mountain near Calca. Uor final destination were some ruins at the top of the mountain. Following our ride, the trek ahead was quite enduring, however after yeaterday´s climb, this one was much more relaxed, with rivers to cross and ruins to walk around and in. The view was absolutely breathtaking. And somehow, people manage to live up there in the mountains. They are able to irrigate, terrace - farm the land. I also saw my first lama up there - an altogether elegant, comical and cute animal . A small family with their livestock passed by us through the ruins, and we also passed two children transporting their flock of sheep - they looked at us with weary eyes as we passed them in the van.