Cusco is the impenetrable and beautiful woman, and I am burrowing my way through alleys and cryptic streets to find my way to her heart. By the time I get to the airport for my return flight, I will be cradling it in my palms.Volunteer work, Spanish, cooking, and salsa lessons, a Machu Picchu visit, a city tour, and unabridged freedom. My schedule for the next two weeks has been laid out for me. Yesterday and today have been completely booked with activities—two visits to the orphanage I am working at (a change to my original plan to help out at an after school program because the children currently are on vacation), a spectacular welcoming dinner, and spending free time attempting to conquer the city. Ridiculously smart and hospitable, the orphans I am working with have already reshaped my outlook on life. They have nothing, accept for each other and the hope that one day they will break free of their predetermined capabilities—these capabilities not bestowing the opportunity for success, their situations being the instigator to live an existence of no substance. My job is to give perpetual hope and assurance to these children. After the first two days, I feel that my presence has given them the chance to continue dreaming and aspiring. Today, I told one of the orphans that hard work would get him to wherever he wanted to go, and that his situation meant nothing. “El mundo es tuyo,” I told him. Meaning, “the world is yours.”
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