Three Cups of Mate

In the summer of 2008, a tall idealistic American sat down with his frail and pensive Andean goddaughter in the rural community of Socma. Shrouded by the dramatic mountains of the Sacred Valley, he questioned her about her educational future. High school is not an option, she retorted. She would probably stay in Socma.
And so was born an idea that would inevitably snowball into the Sacred Valley Project. An initiative that would enable young women from rural villages to continue their studies. A venture that would likewise enable our growth as foreigners in a sacred land.
Today, in the town of Ollantaytambo, three gringos share one cramped room, two beds and a single lightbulb, working endlessly to get these young women into high school, and slowly driving each other crazy.
So, why write a blog? A blog to keep our sponsors, our friends and family in touch with the development of the project. A blog to provide a new level of transparency as to who we are and what exactly it is that we do throughout our days in Peru. And of course, a blog to enable an outlet for a more whimsical and sometimes sarcastic literary prose.

-Bianca