High Cloud Foundation - Because Dreams Come True

Hi guys, So sorry for not sending an update earlier! Life is lovely in general! We have been sick with a cold for almost 2 weeks, (headache, stomach ache, etc) but today we feel much better. Just to do a quick recap of the last news from our High Cloud children in Peru: First of all, we would like to say that Gabe, Isaac and Julissa have been doing a tremendous job this summer working with our kids in Lima. Last week, they took our High Cloud children (ages 3-5), teachers and two parents on a "Cultural Day Trip". The children visited several cultural museums in Lima, Peru including the Reserve Bank of Peru. This was a very big opportunity for them as they never get a chance to get out of school and visit the city. Thanks so much for helping us to provide them with these cultural/educational trips!

1. Chicken soup with some veggies
2. Honey with milk and a bit of aguardiente
3. A cup of sugarcane with lemon (you can buy sugar cane at Wholefoods or Trader Joe’s)
4. Kiwis and Oranges (full of vitamin C!)
5. Take Alive and Emergen C (to give you vitamins, minerals and boost your immunity!)
6. Get an onion, make some small cuts but keep it whole, leave it overnight in a covered bowl and the next day drink the juice – yum! Great way to clean your throat…and you get to brag about it forever. Make sure to get some gum afterwards!

All of the above have natural anti-inflammatory ingredients that help you in alleviating allergies, colds, etc. Now, we leave you with the quote of this week: "The trick is not to make the butterflies in your stomach go away, but to make them fly in formation." Also, guys something amazing happened last week! After we sent the video of PeasantMan, an amazing friend and Member of High Clouds Board of Advisors donated $500 to the High Cloud children! This is the reason why we continue with our educational programs.

Guys, we are getting really excited about IM Louisville! We willl be blogging about it next week when we fly to Kentucky! Cheers and Besos!

He's one of the original Ironman athletes.  He did the first Ironman, a 140.6 mile triathlon, with a handful of other men in 1978 in Hawaii and took third place.  His name is Dave Orlowski, and he's now joining up with High Cloud.


Orlowski at the Ironman in St. George, Utah on May 1, 2010.

    Orlowski met High Cloud's founders, Adriana and Matt Anderson, at the Ironman in Panama City Beach, Florida last November.  Their enthusiasm for the foundation's work won him over, and he decided to get involved.
     "I have a special passion for helping kids, and if I can do anything to help, I will," he said.
     After the initial Ironman in 1978, Orlowski did not race in one for 30 years, although he kept up with the event.  Then, in 2008, he decided to jump back into it for the 30th anniversary in Hawaii and to throw himself into other Ironman races around the world.
     "At that time, I became inspired to travel to the Ironmans around the world and see the countries, share in their history, and indulge in their cultures," he said.
    Orlowski says he sees himself not as a competitor but as a participant, and he's become an extremely active one.  He's finished ten Ironman races around the world since the anniversary in 2008.  The race locations have included South Africa, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.  He says he can't pick a favorite because each event has been unique.
     Orlowski says he wants to race an Ironman event for the children of High Cloud, but he has no specific plans yet.  We will be keeping you updated on his adventures with the foundation.

Hi all!

It has been an honor to have organized and shared with you our Inaugural PeasantMan Reaching the High Cloud training event!  The hard work has paid off! We would like to share with you an amazing photo video that captures the amazing time that we had together!

We also would like to share with you that we received some contributions and a lot of in-kind donations (shoes, supplies, etc) totaling nearly $6000 dollars for the High Cloud kids (3000 children in 9 countries including here in the US)! We will be taking most of the donations (shoes, clothes, medals, water bottles, school supplies, etc) to our High Cloud children and communities in Africa on our next philanthropic trip coming up in October. Come with us if you can!

Thank you so much! People like you are the main reason why High Cloud is able to shape the future of many children and communities here in the US and around the world while providing great events for our athletes around the area.

Our next High Cloud event is the High Cloud International Peace Half Marathon on September 11th (http://www.highcloud.org/20100911) This is the perfect run to warm up for Nation’s Tri the next day! High Cloud will be supporting Nations Tri as well.

Thank you again from the bottom of High Cloud’s heart and thank you for being part of the High Cloud Experience! We would have not been able to do it without you! Stay tune for more High Cloud adventures!

All the best,

The PeasantMan Reaching the High Cloud Core Team 

High Cloud - Proud Organizer of the

Find more videos fro High Cloud events on our YouTube page:  http://www.youtube.com/user/highcloudfoundation

Hi All,

Wow, this summer is flying by! First a quick update on our High Cloud children from Peru. I am happy to report that two weeks ago we received $1600 from a generous contributor to re-build our High Cloud School in Lima! Cheers to that! We have sent $4600 dollars so far and the construction project is going superb! I will have some pictures for you guys soon!

Now, back to the Snapple/High Cloud adventures, this summer we have had so many activities going on that we can barely stay at home! I didn’t want to let the July chapter end before updating you on Vineman 70.3! Let me tell you that it was an amazing experience!

Swim aka “foggy swim along the beautiful redwood forest!”: This swim takes place  in the Russian River, the water temperature is actually warmer than the temperature outside. Some portions were so shallow that with my stroke I was touching the bottom! Really crazy, I thought that I was swimming in a little kiddy pool! Although the river has a current I think this is one of the safest swim of the entire IM 70.3 series. You can literally touch the ground during the whole swim. I saw tons of athletes walking while the rest of us would swim.  The course goes along the river and you swim underneath two bridges, going out against the current, my left leg was hurting a bit, not sure why, maybe because I was already tired from racing the Double MusselMan the weekend before.

Bike aka “Vino paradise!”: This course is simply spectacular! You literally go on an amazing cycle exploration and climb along hundreds and hundreds of vineyards and wineries.  Just beautiful! The first 18 miles were cold and foggy but afterwards the sun came out and it got really hot!

So, one little thing happen during this epic hilly ride: Around mile 35 I saw that my handlebars were a bit tilted to the left side so while riding I tried to straighten them out and while doing that the whole handlebar piece came off  and of course I almost wiped out holding the handlebars in my hands! So, I immediately reacted, unclipped and was able to stop.  I began thinking what I could do and given that I didn’t have anything to put the handlebars back on, I started to walk with my bike asking every single rider that would pass if they had a multi tool. After walking for about 10 minutes (really thinking that my race could be over if I couldn’t get the handlebars back on the bike), one athlete stopped and loaned me his multi tool. Thank you Jimmy! Thank you for stopping and helping me out! This is the true power of sportsmanship!

Once Laila (aka my bike) was fixed I was motorized again and continued enjoying the climbs of this wine country tour. When I finished the bike course I was thankful that the handle bars stayed on.  I was thinking about sharing this scary experience with you guys. Really, the lesson learned from this is that whenever you are flying your bike to race somewhere, make double sure that every single piece of your bike is really tight once the bike mechanic puts it back together.  Another lesson is that you really have the power within yourself to change how you react to adversity. My approached in this case was: Okay, I am going to keep on walking my bike until I get to the next aid station or I meet someone on the road who can help me out.  Never give in! The best way to handle change is through positive thinking and visualization. Definitely the power to change our reality lies within us!

Here are some pics of Laila getting shipped to California (Thanks Pro Bicycle shop!) and some pics of what I saw during this bike exploration at Vineman.

Now, lets talk about the run!

Run aka “Tour through La Crema winery”: This run had an exceptional challenge the whole way. You basically go up and down up and down running through beautiful vineyards and a very famous winery called “La Crema”. I was really enjoying this course and although it was really hot and my left foot was hurting (I have been having this pain since Musselman , ouch why are we triathletes sometimes chronically dealing w/injuries?)

In summary guys, this race is definitely a thumbs up! Although this race was way more challenging than the Double Musselman in NY (which we did the weekend before), I improved my 70.3 time even though I had to walk the bike for 10 minutes and spent 6 minutes in T2 trying to find my shoes. Is this an indicator that my Tri legs like this type of terrain? Or was the wine motivation that pushed me to be a bit faster? Maybe the wine made all the difference! :)

I would like to bring some more of our team members to this race next year! It is definitely worth it. Ah, during this event we met with Arturo, the race director of Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico.  He was very interested in having our team and age group athletes racing there. More to follow about this awesome opportunity.

These are a few pics of what I saw during the run:

After the race, we went to an amazing Winery called Rodney Strong, we did some awesome Wine tasting. walked through the huge vineyards and bought some of course VINO! (Chardoney, Camelot Sauvignon and Merlot). Then we went to Subway to get an awesome California style sub, went to an amazing bakery that we discovered in the middle of downtown San Francisco and we continued our celebration and High Cloud meetings with some friends and more VINO! Salute to you for reading this blog!

Now I leave you with the quote of the week: “Wine Opens The Seals of The Heart!” Horace

Stay tuned guys; next week I will tell you about our successful inaugural PeasantMan reaching the High Cloud Triathlon which was this past Sunday! The hard work has paid off and our children received sooo many contributions!!

This weekend I will be riding 108 miles on Sat then working on High Cloud ed. projects and our mission to Kenya.  On Sunday, I will be doing Culpepper Sprint! Send us a note if you will be at Culpeper! I would love to see you there!

Thanks for reading, thanks to our amazing sponsors for allowing to live our dreams, hugs and see you next week with more chronicles!

Posted by Isaac and Gabriel

With just under a month left in our trip to Peru we are excited to see the construction of a new school near completion. As of now, we have fully constructed two walls and part of a third, moved the current school to make room for the new one, and leveled off the ground which was a pretty huge task considering that we only had 2 wheelborrows and a handful of buckets to carry a hefty portion of dirt. We plan to finish the new school and organize the classroom in the next two weeks while the students are on a break to celebrate Peru´s independence.

The past few weeks we have also had the chance to celebrate this holiday with the students through various activities in the district of San Juan. We played a big futbol (soccer) game with students and mothers from other schools. Gabe and I played goal keeper and we did such a great job that after regular time we had a tie at 0 and were forced to go into a kick off. Gabe´s team won off a questionable call but we still had a fun day. We also celebrated with two parades; the first was a candle-lit walk through our community. Because it was late at night Gabe and I both ended with sleeping children in our arms. We know we are a part of this community because the parents don´t even offer anymore to take the children when they fall asleep :) For the second parade we traveled a half hour by bus and all of the children had on costumes. Comstumes ranged from soldiers to farmers.

As said before, the next few weeks will be dedicated to organizing the new school through the purchase of bookcases, tables and other things that will make learning a less daunting task for the children of San Juan de Lurigancho.

Thanks again for all of your help here in Lima.

Posted by Isaac and Gabriel

Posted by Isaac and Gabriel

Posted by Isaac and Gabriel

We have officially begun construction of the new school. Yesterday we bought the materials needed to start construction and this morning we carried concrete and fierras (metal rods) up before school so that work could begin. Also, we are beginning to take the students by fives to a dentist in Lima city. We were supposed to go on Saturday but the dentist rescheduled at the last minute... frustrating but we are getting free dental care so we can´t be too upset. The kids are excited to go which is very comical for Isaac and I. The students have never been to the dentist before and do not know quite yet that, although beneficial, the dentist can be a very painful process :).

Early Sunday morning at 5am Isaac, our contact Julissa and myself headed to Huapachima (another district of Peru) to pick up four thousand bricks. We actually only had to accompany the trucks and tell them where to go. Since the community we are working in does not have signs or addresses we needed to take a three hour trip to lead the trucks haha. The bricks were the only materials that were bought outside of the community. We did this because Julissa knew the owners of the company and we got a good deal on the bricks. Anyway, Sunday turned into a great day. We arrived at around 9am with the bricks but the trucks would not take the bricks up the hill because of steepness. We paid them additional twenty soles per thousand bricks to go higher and they took the deal. The trucks made it up the hill alright but one tipped at the top and an axl broke!!! Tensions rose between the truck drivers and the community and Isaac and I were freaking out. But in the end the axl was fixed at no cost to us or the community. The fun part of the day began with hauling the bricks up the rest of the way to the school. I knew I could carry about three thousand up myself but I feared for Isaacs much weaker frame haha (broma=joke). Actually, about sixty or more community members showed up and helped carry up the bricks. It was awesome!! Old women were carrying bricks with hand bags, little five year olds were carrying up bricks one at a time, men were putting them on their backs, pretty much every trick possible was used to carry a bunch of bricks up this mountain. The moms made breakfast for Isaac and myself and a special tea made from coco leaves that gives you energy. It was really hard work but so much fun.

Well, that´s where we stand. All of the financial help from the states and the hard work and desire from the community is making for some pretty awesome things down here. Isaac and myself are unbelievably blessed to have this opportunity. We are taking lots and lots of pictures and we are trying to get them online now but are having difficulty with the computers. Thus, stand by for visuals.

Peace and love from Peru

Sorry for the late update, but it has been very busy down here in Lima as we are working towards the construction of a new school. As said before, things often move slower in Latin America, and finally last night we had a chance to meet with a majority of the fathers and mothers in the community along with a contractor to discuss the final preparations before starting construction. We have had a few different meetings with the community where we have talked for hours about who will do the work, when the work will be done, how much we are willing to pay, and how long it will take to finish once we start. It has been a little frustrating for Gabe and me because we want to make sure everyone is comfortable with what is being done in their community but we also understand that we only have a month and a half left in Peru and know that we are the driving force behind this project. But last night we answered many of these questions and have decided that the new school will be built out of brick. It will be bigger than the current school with the potential to add on another classroom in the future. We have also decided to build a permanent bathroom to replace the current outhouse. We will be paying a few workers to build the school with the fathers helping out when they have the time, mostly on weekends. It was very cool to finally see men from the community doing their share to help their children.

We spent the entire day in the community and were invited to eat lunch with a family. Some of the other mothers heard that we were eating with one of the families and decided to bring part of their own food for us to share (maybe a little competition?), and by the end of lunch we had eaten a mountain of very delicious Peruvian food. All in all it was a really great day. Gabe and I are feeling very welcomed in this community and we are becoming more attached to its people.

We have also managed to find some moments to do sight seeing here in Peru, and last week, we took a two day trip to a desert oasis where we sandboarded the dunes that towered around the city where we were staying. For me the highlight of this trip was meeting a group of foreign volunteers who are teaching in a very similar situation than the one in which we are working. We shared ideas, a hostel, and a buggie ride with this group where we flew over sand dunes in a jacked up go-cart. It was a great time to relax but it felt good to get back to our home in Lima.

Posted by Isaac and Gabriel

Isaac and I are falling in love with this Peruvian community. The first couple weeks were difficult but somehow this week I have found myself enjoying everything we have encountered. Our home life is going well. We have enough to eat and a warm bed, but our priority is our work in the school in San Juan de Lurigancho. The children can be very difficult to handle and the small aula or classroom can seem very crowded, but slowly we are seeing differences in both us and the children. We are struck with the kindness the children show. Each day we climb the long steep hill to our school and are greeted with shouts as the kids come into view. The kids race to our sides saying cargame which means carry me. It is customary in many LatinAmerican countries to greet with a kiss on the cheek and I cannot express to you how precious these greetings are from little two to five year old children. The parents of the children are equally kind and giving. Last Sunday we spent the day in the community playing soccer and eating fried chicken and camote. Everyone talked with us and treated us with open arms in a way that we have not experienced closer in the city. Today we had a cultural day in the community. All of the pronoei´s or kindergartens gathered in on this court and many dressed in their cultural garb. Food from the differnt provinces of Peru was there for testing and Isaac and I were stuffed by the end of the day.We taught about fifty kids how to play duck duck grayduck although I think maybe one kid actually understood the game haha. It was so much fun running with the kids and seeing the laughter on the audience and childrens faces during the game. We then walked back up the school with the children and their mothers and had another lunch at the school (the food at the event was not free and so none of the children or mothers ate except for Isaac and I, they insisted we eat and would not take money for the food). I am not sure I am getting across how much we are enjoying and loving the community we are working in. I don´t know how we are going to leave.

Our work is beginning to take form also. We, the community and us, realize that we really can´t do any projects that we want until we have a new school. Let me paint a picture of what the school is now. It is about 8 meters by 5 meters and holds about 25 kids and three adults daily. There are holes in the walls and ceiling. The walls are made of a much less sturdy form of plywood and I could easily punch through. The door is warped and does not close and the small building saggs. The community could live with the school if only it was a bit bigger. However, the school serves 365 families and a new school is really the only option. We met with construction companies today and have a meeting with the fathers of the community tomorrow morning. We are happily finding that a new school nearly three times the current size would really not cost much at all and so, although we need to do much more research, we are very excited. Also, tomorrow we are visiting museums to see what would be the best fit for the children. Well, please continue to pray for us that progress will continue and that the families and children of San Juan de Lurigancho will be blessed.