Category Archives: 2012 Peru Immersion

I set out looking for friendship and adventure, and have found
that and so much more. First of all, I have found a country that I
already cannot wait to come back to, and a culture with many elements
I hope to adopt. I have never met a warmer or more caring people, who
willingly bring me into their home and care for me when I’m sick, and
patiently find alternative ways to explain things to me.
With all my preconceptions and expectations, I was truly
unprepared for how spontaneous, lively and happy the people are here.
I have watched so much life unfold on the streets, as children sell to
tourists, dogs scrounge for scraps, and women wash clothing in the
water constantly running through the open water ways in the streets.
Here, as opposed to the United States, life happens outside, and thus
a tight knit community exists.
On our first day in Peru we sleepily wandered to a square with
restaurants, where, upon our arrival, we were bombarded by several
restaurant owners attempting to give us the best bargain and gain
eighteen new customers. After much haggling between the leaders and
the various restaurant owners, the leaders decided on a restaurant and
we all sat down.
Halfway through our meal two musicians appeared and started
playing traditional Andean music for us, standing in the doorway of
the restaurant. It was a magical experience to hear music that I’ve
only ever heard before on a CD being played live, and in the very
region it originated from. The musicians seemed genuinely happy to
play for us, and we, in turn, were more than happy to listen to them
and buy CD’s and give tips.
On our third day we headed to the floating islands of Puno,
via bicycle taxis which took us to the dock where we got on a boat.
The bicycle taxis were by far my favorite experience thus far despite
their uber touristy nature. It was fantastic to go whizzing down the
streets as hip hop beats flouted past, coming from the bicycle taxi in
front of us.
The fact that surprised me most about the floating islands was
how genuinely happy the people were to show us around; despite tourism
being their main income, they made us feel unique, and not just
another group of tourists passing through. They welcomed us to explore
the island, and even dressed us up in their clothing and invited us to
see the interior of their houses. The families on the islands all
depend on each other to keep up their living space, adding new layers
of reeds every three weeks to keep the islands from disintegrating.
The next day we arrived in Cusco and were assigned a scavenger
hunt in order to aid in our exploration of the city. We broke into
three groups and began to tackle our forty two tasks. This involved
locating miscellaneous  items and documenting them all with a camera,
which was at times quite difficult. We had to ask several people to be
in pictures with us, and for one particular challenge, to dance with
us. Everyone was so friendly and willing to assist us, whether it
meant being in a picture with us or giving us yet another set of
directions on how to find a Chinese restaurant (one of the items on
the scavenger hunt list). There was only one instance when people were
unwilling to let me take a picture; the boys playing soccer insisted I
pay them one sole to take a picture, and when I refused, as per the
scavenger hunt guidelines, they chased me down the sidewalk chanting
“un sole! Un sole!”. It was a close call.
Lastly, Wednesday we went on a very intense bike ride which
turned out to be an alternate route to the original plan because
protestors were blocking a bridge we needed to go over. They were
protesting to call attention to teachers low pay, and eventually riot
police were called in. This only angered the protestors more, and the
police threw tear gas into the street, which the protestors responded
to by throwing rocks. We eventually turned around and drove the other
direction since we still could not get through. After a change of
plans we continued on, winding our way up a mountain road to the start
of our bike ride. The view was breathtaking, as was the experience of
passing another vehicle on the very narrow dirt road.
After an exciting bike ride with intensely beautiful scenery
we arrived in Salineras and saw the mountains covered in what looked
like hundreds of hot tubs. They were actually very shallow pools of
water used for distilling salt, which is then shipped away and used
for cooking and other purposes. All in all I have enjoyed my time here
immensely, and can’t wait to return, friends and family accompanying
me.

- Livia, Peru Discovery student 2012

Livia on the Peru bike tour.

Chevere! Peru Discovery 2012.

On behalf of the Peru Immersion Program, I would like to take this opportunity to relay the syllabus and lesson plans we have followed for the first few days of our program.

Vocabulary:

YOLO – A common pop culture acronym for “You Only Live Once”

YOLO’in – a verb referencing YOLO (see above), used in situations in which the expression “Hey you only live once!” would be appropriate

Ex. – “That was some mad yoloin’” (in reference to Walking Tree’s Peru Immersion group ordering Alpaca meat for dinner our first night in Puno)

* * *

Lesson #1 – Often times while traveling the most disastrous of situations become your favorite stories to tell.

Applied example #1: Jonathan (known as Johnny or John John to distinguish from group leader Papa John) and his incredible feat making the group flight to Lima despite being delayed hours. I (Mama Teri), went ahead to the gate with the rest of the group while Papa John and John John wondered whether or not they would have to spend the next 24 hours in Miami ordering movies and eating pizza in a hotel room. The two Jonathan’s approached the gate in a victorious slow motion swagger (like the scene in Armageddon) and were met with cheers and fist pumps. Crisis #1 averted.

Applied Example #2: Our supposedly 6 hour bus route from Puno to Cusco was delayed and additional 6.5 hours by a teacher “Huelga” or strike in the industrial town of Juliaca. How did our group handle the situation? By playing roadside hacky sack, drinking Inca Cola (Peru’s soft drink which smells like bubble gum), playing endless and ruthlessly competitive card games, and visiting the local mall to buy snacks and sample Peru’s version of Chinese food. Crisis not quite averted but a great story to tell later nonetheless.

* * *

No, But Seriously

Joking aside this first part of our trip has been wonderful, despite the aforementioned hiccups. We arrived in Lima, after our long travel day, and after nap time headed straight to the city center where we ate lunch in an outdoor café and soon became local celebrities (swarmed by a group of school age students for pictures and filmed interviews).

The next day it was on to Puno, the jump off point for the high altitude Lake Titikaka (Titi for puma, kaka for stone), which we explored extensively via boat the following day. We visited the floating Islands of the Uros people, and hiked to a picturesque open air lunch on the island of Taquile. We enjoyed our first taste of quinoa soup, ate trout fresh from the lake and enjoyed the views of the snow capped Bolivian mountains in the distance.

After Puno it was off to Cusco. We braved a 12.5 hour bus ride (/sit), and for the first time were able to sleep in this morning in our quaint hostel, complete with sky-lit courtyard. We are all eager and excited to meet our host families this afternoon in our homestay village Ollantaytambo and to begin our service project tomorrow!

Until next time, over and out,

Mama Teri