Día Catorce: Last Work Day in Zurite!
Hola from Peru!
The whole group can't believe that its our last day working in Zurite! However, before we got to finish our projects at the high school (working on the greenhouse and painting the mural), we took the morning to visit a local cheesemaker.
Our cheesemaking experience started when we were first led into the back door of a small yellow house, where the cheese was made. A man with rubber boots and gloves then started teaching us how to turn milk into curds and whey. Then we took turns straining out the curds from the liquid whey, plopping them into the cheese moulds. Last, we flipped each mould and added salt. We all loved learning about the creation of the dairy products we eat every day in Zurite and had a lot of fun making cheese!
In the afternoon, we returned to the high school and continued working on our projects. Again, we split into two groups. The first group finished the lettering and detail work on the mural alongside some of the local high school students. We had a lot of fun working with the high school students and getting to know them throughout painting the mural, and we're really sad that this was our last day painting with them. Meanwhile, the other group created a mixture of sand and nutrient dense soil (that we collected on the mountain yesterday). We spent the rest of the afternoon putting the soil into little bags that saplings would be planted in and we're really proud of all our work on the greenhouse
.
We closed out the day with a bonfire at Doña Gladys' house, where we told stories, sang songs, and ate homemade pizza. The pizza was delicious and we all went back for seconds! It's been a really fun day in Peru and we're really enjoying these last few days in Zurite!
Buenas noches,
Aylou and Katelynne
Cheesemaking:
Finishing the Mural:
Working on the Greenhouse: