"PERUsing with Traci Stewart"

Elon volleyball's Traci Stewart is spending the winter term studying abroad in Peru. Read all about her Peruvian adventures as she shares them with Phoenix fans on our blog.


A day in the life of the Andes people. A beautiful life. A hardworking life. A simple life. The village of Patakancha welcomed us with open arms after driving almost an hour up the mountain to 14,000 feet and hiking the rest of the way. We brought bread for the children because it is like candy/a major treat for them. We helped out a local family with their land and we each planted a tree. Each tree had our name. They said they wanted us to come back when our trees were fully grown so we could experience the reward of planting something so beautiful. We then helped plow a potato field. They made it look so easy, we made it look so hard.

So fun story of the day: Megan and I really had to go to the bathroom at Patakancha and of course there were none around, so we had to go next to one of the potato fields out back. It was an experience to say the least. Most of all because due to going to the bathroom next to a field, we managed to get Peruvian poison ivy. It burned right away and felt like someone was scratching you. We had to rub the same plant where it had touched us before to help soothe the pain. We laughed it off, but it really hurt at the time :-)

We ate lunch in honor of Mother Earth at a local family's place, cooked from the ground over stones. We had lamb, potatoes and corn. It was delightful. We left the hotel at 7:30 a.m. and got back at 8:30 p.m. It was nice to put myself in other people's shoes for a day, who I respect and admire due to their hard work and dedication towards life and their family.

Tomorrow we will be going to a weaving workshop. We get to weave ourselves with the locals. If it's as much fun as sewing, as we say in the south, "It will be a good ole' time."

Traci

No Comment | Posted in » Peru , Stewart , volleyball