Another big day tomorrow

Well, we're both feeling better. I woke up with both nostrils clear and Maysa's still semi-sleeping. Yesterday we added to Tuesday's purchases to the tune of 288kg rice, 100kg sugar, 50kg oatmeal, and 192 liters worth of evaporated milk. We hired Rafael, the same taxi driver that took us home from the plastics store, and make two trips to a place that sells in bulk. It was tricky, as we had to find the best prices, buy and transport all of the food to our host house in a limited time frame, as Rafael had to pick up two of his daughters from the hospital and take one to school. We managed to get all of this in two trips in his cab that's about the size of a Hyundai Accent, but a little smaller. Can you say spacious?

Just your typical Cusco cab ride

The lady who sold us the goods was a bit of a pushy businessperson, but Maysa found out why while I was taking the first car load to our house with Rafael. The lady said that it isn't uncommon for volunteers to buy a few bags of rice, then ask for a receipt saying that they bought much more, so they can get more money. Okay lady, that's great, but that's not us, so don't be a jerk. An additional obstacle was that the street is being repaved in front of the store, so Rafael had to park his cab about a block away. A boy from the store loaded bags on a dolly, while I hustled sacks of food to the cab and Rafael loaded them up. Maysa wanted to get pictures of this, but we didn't want to keep Rafael from his daughters, so we rushed and got it all finished just in him for him to pick up the girls.

Our friend Sr. Rafael

Once we had all of the stuff unloaded in our living room, we started making bags to distribute to the families in the pueblo. Using measuring cups, we tried to get about 5kg of rice, 2kg of sugar, and a kilo of oatmeal in each. After finishing about half of the rice with Maysa, I had to go to my project at the orphanage, and our housemate Sam, a volunteer from Brussels, Belgium, helped Maysa for 3 hours. They got all of the bags of rice, sugar and oatmeal made, and put them into larger bags that we can hand out to individual families. Maysa and Sam assembled 56 "care packages" yesterday. Awesome work. We still need to get some more oatmeal, and might grab some pasta to give to the families as well. We also are saving some of the stuff in bulk to donate to the school and leave in their pantry.

Food we bought on Wednesday

Crunching the numbers to see how much money we have left. Some for our projects, none to spend on us!

The first bags of rice

Getting some bags knocked out

Sam helping us get ready

"That's a lot of food!"

Sam and Maysa putting everything together in the big bags

All in an afternoon's work

Today, we're going to take the remaining money and buy an electric hair clipper and hair scissors so the teachers can cut the kids' hair at the school, instead of having to take them into Cusco. We're also going to buy a blender for the orphanage, so they can blend up fruit and make juice so the kids get more nutrients. We're also going to try and find a good deal on a photocopier to take to the school, so the teachers don't have to make the trek into Cusco to make copies of the schoolwork to give to the children. After we get done with purchases today, we're going to finish the 10 remaining bags that don't have oatmeal, and get the clothing we're taking ready as well. Then, we should be ready to be picked up by the Alcalde tomorrow morning at 7 to go and make our drop. We're very excited to see all of the work coming together, and will let you know how it goes. Ciao!