Week 8

I’m writing this last entry from Monterey, California. The last week of the summer went by quickly and peacefully. I spent most of my time writing the best practices guide, that is the culmination of all the work and research I did this summer. The guide turned out really great. I learned so much not only about how to implement a successful greenhouse program, but how to implement a successful development program. It was an amazing experience to be able to talk with people working in the field (especially in Spanish!) and then be able to travel to the communities where they worked to see the programs in action years after they had started. Being in the field talking to the people who were engaged in the programs felt right, and reassured me that this is the career I want.

Team Peru and the Andean Alliance had one night out all together in Cusco. We all went out dancing together and it was a great way to have a fun time and enjoy the relief of having completed our projects.

I spent my last day in Peru mainly alone, walking through the streets of Cusco. I kept finding parades. The first a huge loud celebration of the Virgin of Copacabana that started outside the coffee shop I was in, and continued into the plaza de armas. The second right the army and police of Peru assembled in the Plaza where I witnessed the ceremony of raising the flag of Peru, and the huge rainbow flag of Cusco. I stood on the top of the steps in front of the main cathedral and listened to the crowd singing the Peruvian national anthem as the flags waved slightly, in the background the distant mountain of the Andes. The anthem ended and I flagged down a car to take me to the airport.

 Downtown Cusco Parade Team Peru

 Calca