Greetings from Patacancha!

Our students are mid-way through the construction of three greenhouses and are looking forward to completing a project that has connections to the nutrition and diet needs of the communities here in Patacancha. Learning about micro-climates and what it takes to ensure a variety of food for community health needs has been eye opening for the girls. In the middle of all of this, the girls are loving their homestay families. Today the girls all walked to school with the children from their families. It was an amazing sight to see them wind their way down the mountains with these young students--quite a different experience than hopping on 240 to school or going through the carpool line!

The girls are immersed in experience where they are utilizing their skills in Spanish, but they also had an opportunity to take part in a Quechua lesson. By the end of the lesson they had mastered some basic conversational tools that will enable them to deepen their connections with their families.

Tomorrow the girls will again work towards the completion of the greenhouses and in the afternoon they are all looking forward to a weaving lesson with the women from the Awamaki weaving cooperative. The girls are very excited to have a hands on opportunity to learn from-- and with --these amazing women.

We will write more when we return to Ollantaytambo on Sunday. We will regroup there before we head to Machu Picchu on Monday morning.

We have so much more to share and look forward to being able to put our updated on the blog on Sunday!

Until then, tupanchiscama (goodbye in Quechua!) :-)
The team from Hutchison and Adela and Savannah