Daniel's Blog: 2014

This summer eighteen high school students and five young adults, including myself, spent a month living and traveling in Peru.

Our group was known as the 2014 American Youth Leadership Program (AYLP) Cohort. This experience was organized by World Savvy, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting global citizenship.

During our visit to three distinct regions of Peru (la costa = the coast, la selva = the jungle and las sierras = the mountains), we traveled to famous landmarks, various communities, as well as had two homestay experiences. Throughout the trip we learned about Peru's culture, geography and history, as well as the topics of food security and nutrition. It was awesome!

food security = when people have reasonable access to nutritious and affordable food

On June 24th the AYLP Cohort flew from the USA to Lima, Peru where we spent time bonding and visiting various locations in and around Lima.

We took a walking tour near the central plaza, la plaza de armas.

We also visited Gaston Acurio's culinary institute, Pachacutec, where young adults were learning how to cook and work in restaurants.

Que rico!

After three or so days it was time to leave la costa, and head northeast to the edge of the Amazon region, la selva, to the cities of Tarapoto and Lamas.

Tarapoto, the larger of the two cities is where we spent two days having workshops about food security, nutrition, spanish and visiting local markets.

We even played a game of baseball with a group of Peruvian students to celebrate the 4th of July.

Next we headed to the little city of Lamas.

This is where we spent the majority of time during our month in Peru - twelve days to be precise. We partnered up with a high school in Lamas, Colegio San Martin.

Our students stayed at the homes of Peruvian students while we three teachers and two coordinators, stayed with teachers or other adults connected to the high school. Adjusting to the home stays was difficult for many given the language barrier, new diet, and social dynamics, however our group was resilient and learned to live with these challenges.

I will never forget the arrival that San Martin put on for us on our first day in Lamas. They had us seated in front of the entire student body while they made speeches, performed dances, broke ceremonial bread and finally called us forth one by one to pair us with our host sibling. I felt like a dignitary in a foreign land being given a royal welcome. This is actually a photo from our departure ceremony which was similar, but this time we had to dance. Treasure!

my homestay - the home of Francisco Panduro, my host brother and high school teacher

la bodega = the little shop which is run out of the front room Francisco's house. A teacher's salary is not enough to live off of, so most teachers have a second job like taxi driving or maintaining a bodega.

We joined our Peruvian students/teachers most days at school, where we either sat in on their classes, held workshops about food security and nutrition in their library, or even taught english lessons to them.

When not at school we had cultural exchanges (structured socializing) with our hosts, visited nearby attractions and participated in normal Peruvian life.

US and Peruvian students engaged in an afternoon cultural exchange at the local ice cream shop, where students talked about their favorite foods, families, home cities and aspirations for the future

Francisco, Adrian, our taxi driver/tour guide, and me on a weekend trip to a local waterfall

I got to learn about the local lore of the region. Here's is the mythical Yacumama.

celebrating a local holiday - las pandijas. Imagine hundreds of people collision-dancing in the streets until dawn, followed by two weeks of neighborhoods celebrations

a weekend trip to Francisco's family farm where I learned how brown sugar bricks - chankaka - are made from sugar cane

boiling the sugar cane juice

pouring the hardened juice into molds

chankaka!

We also took educational field trips to places like this cacao farm outside of Lamas.

Ever wonder where chocolate comes from?

On this same field trip we visited a coffee & chocolate cooperative called Oro Verde where we were shown, by a professional coffee taster, how to test for the different qualities in a cup of coffee. Fascinating!

After twelve intimate days in Lamas it was time to leave and visit other areas of Peru. There were lots of tears at our departure, but unlike the tears of frustration and discomfort upon our arrival, these were tears of affection and friends having to part ways.

After a one-day layover in Lima we headed up to las sierras and the high city of Cusco.

Altitude sickness hit hard. Many of us lost our appetite or had to take extra naps during our first few days. Once this passed, however, there lots to do and see.

Cusco, besides once being the capital of the Incan Empire, is also probably the souvenir shopping capital of Peru.

We all bought our share of llama sweaters or beanies while visiting museums and other

local points of interest, like the cathedral.

One of my fondest memories while in Peru was made in a little agricultural community a few hours drive outside of Cusco in the Valle del Sur = Southern Valley, where we spent two days with host families.

This community was called Union Chahuay.

Los Serranos, mountain people, are often stereotyped by Peruvians as primitive and uncultured. Union Chahuay, having been neglected from government aid, used to be one of the most malnourished communities in Peru with 95% of people being malnourished.

Francisco, a community elder and leader, explained to us that with the help of an international NGO called Sierra Productiva, whose aim is to spread better farming techniques and technology, Union Chahuay has drastically diminished their malnutrition rates, is one of the healthiest communities in Peru, and sells its produce to five-star restaurants in Cusco.

simple improvements in irrigation

Francisco showing us how they preserve different types of corn.

a thriving garden

their cows (yes, we milked them)

which they use to make yogurt and cheese

Francisco's refrigerator. How healthy does that look?!?

A typical meal for us. When was the last time you had popcorn for breakfast?

If you didn't catch it from the previous pictures, Union Chahuay is a very rural community.

Amrita, Krystelle and Caitlyn on the deck of their adobe home

my simple, dirt floored bedroom

squat toilet - I got model how to use it for our students….no shit!

good morning

my host brother, Rasi

On our last night, the local women dressed us up in their traditional attire

And we danced under the street lights.

Living in such a rural setting was new for many us, particularly students from New York. People said things like, "I have never felt so far from home."

Like in Lamas, these people welcomed us into their community and cloaked us in love during out short time there.

After more than two weeks of home stays in Lamas and Union Chahuay, where we got an inside look into the lives of Peruvians, the we spent the rest of our trip being tourists.

We visited a quinoa research center,

where we learned about the incredible health and economic potential of quinoa and amaranth.

We visited the Incan terraced agricultural circles of Morah,

and the salt pools outside of Maras

where people still harvest salt.

And of course Machu Picchu….it really is as cool as the pictures.

And yes, there were llamas there.

There are more events that I would like to share upon our return to Lima, such as a visit to the US embassy and learning about Cultiva Lima, but I want to wrap this blog entry up...