After a night of sleeping two to a bed on wooden bed frames covered in sheepskins, the Youth Corps members quickly get up to eat breakfast. Because there is no running water or electricity in the house in Los Baņos de

Wills holds a baby at breakfast in Quilcate.

Quilquate, the only thing Alexis, Wills and Jeremy do to get ready is brush their teeth on the front lawn, with bottled water.

The Youth Corps members quickly head to the village of Quilquate Alto, where they will spend the day visiting CARE projects. When they arrive, the are greeted with an invitation to breakfast in a villager's house.

While eating breakfast, Wills holds on his lap the 6-month-old-son of the woman who is preparing breakfast.

"Wills is a kid-magnet," Jeremy explains. "He has kids following him everywhere we go."

There are various CARE projects in this town -- which like most communities in this region -- suffers from extreme poverty. Today,

Cheese drying on racks in Quilcate.

the Youth Corps members will see how CARE is helping a small cheese manufacturing company to improve their infrastructure and cheese-making process, in hopes of making the cheese better and easier to sell.

The Youth Corps members first enter the room for drying the cheese that has already been made. The next room is where the cheese is made, and the Youth Corps members are invited to join in the process.

First, milk is filtered through cheesecloth into large milk cans. It is then poured into a large vat, which is heated by a gas flame. Jeremy offers his assistance helping the cheese-maker stir the milk, as Wills entertains some the villager's children, by teaching them to snap and to give secret handshakes. When he sees a pretty little five-year-old girl named Sandra watching, Wills can not resist including her in the fun.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asks in his best Spanish. When she says no, Wills asks her to be his girlfriend. This question is met with uproarious laughter by the rest of the children.

Alexis helps local farmers in Quilcate pick potatoes.

To relieve Jeremy Alexis takes over stirring until the job is done. This batch of cheese must now cook for one hour, so the Youth Corps members go outside to help the villagers pick potatoes in a field.

Wills is the first to dig through the mud and uncover the golden-yellow spuds. As Alexis and Jeremy join him, the villagers watch in amazement.

"They are not accustomed to having anyone help them with their work," explains Mario Bazan, the CARE Cajamarca staff member who has accompanied this group on their trip.

After working for awhile, Wills wanders off to play soccer with the local children. The children laugh gleefully as they play, which is amazing since they are usually shy around strangers. Seeing the fun, Jeremy decides to join them and soon begins to play a one-on-one game with Wills. This is met with more hearty laughter from many of the villagers, who are amused by their inexperience.

The Youth Corps group helps seperate potatoes.

Kids here look much younger than they are, due in part to malnourishment. Yet, the adults here often look much older than they are, also due in part to malnourishment and because of wrinkles caused by the harsh sun.

After the soccer match, Alexis, Jeremy and Wills return to the cheese, which is now ready to be poured into molds. The molds are pressed with large rocks to take out any excess water and ensure a perfectly round shape.

Jeremy, Alexis, Wills and Loren in Quilcate.

As the Youth Corps members prepare to leave Quilcate Alto to return to the village of Cajamarca for the night, some of the children give them hugs, some cry, and all ask them to return someday. And, as has happened in every village the Youth Corps has visited so far, the children follow their visitors down the road, waving good-bye.

"It is amazing how we are treated here," comments Alexis.

Continue to Day 5