Oakwood Park Grammar School - Blog 3

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Wednesday 19th:
After a filling breakfast of eggs and bacon, we had an early start working on our projects.
The nursery painting was pushed forward as the colours on the walls were given their next coat of paint and the mountain mural was given its finishing touches. The team in the new offices continued to prep the walls for primer and painting and spent a long time ensuring that the rooms were clean and dust free, ready for the next step.

In the playground, the new picnic area the group had shovelled sand from the day before was flattened by both man and machine. The climbing frame was sanded and the team began to varnish the wood. The Wendy House got a second coat of paint and the surrounding area got its first lick of paint, too. After a break with a first lunch of shredded chicken sandwiches, we headed out to finish our work for the day.

For our 2nd lunch of the day, we ate a typical Arequepenian meal, "Rocoto Relleno"; potato cake pie and stuffed spicy peppers. It went down very well with the team. In the afternoon we visited a local mall to do a little snack topping-up and buy presents and souvenirs. We returned home to a dinner of fried rice and went to bed very full and content.

Thursday 20th:
Thursday was our fourth day in Arequipa and was spent working in the morning and visiting the local sights of Arequipa in the afternoon.

In the morning, the groups set off to do work on their projects; by lunch time, there had been lots of progress with the children's play area, nursery and new offices. As a result, many sections of the home have been transformed and it is very exciting to see that the hard work is paying off for such a good cause! It was extremely satisfying to see the first paint go on the walls of the new offices after the intense preparation of the past couple of days!

After our 1st lunch of the day, the group went on an interesting outing to a local monastery in Arequipa: Monastario de Santa Catalina. Built in 1570, it used to house over 200 nuns and 300 servants.

It is one of the most famous monasteries in South America due to its sheer size. The monastery contained some perfect opportunities for photographs with its vibrant colours and stunning flowers in the grounds.

After our trip in the monastery, the group was able to split up and (with a chaperone) explore the plaza near the monastery to have some more food; it was time for second lunch! Some of our adventurous team members even tried a local delicacy - guinea pig!

We then moved on to explore the markets. The stalls consisted of llama toys, bracelets and slogan shirts with 'Arequipa' on them. There were also some beautifully knitted alpaca wool jumpers and other clothing. It was a great chance to buy souvenirs and mementos of the trip so far. Some of the group even tried their hand at bartering - with very mixed results...