Final Thoughts

Even though everyday feels very long, it's amazing how fast the time goes by. I feel like we could take 100 trips to Peru and come back learning 100 things each trip. One thing that changed my thinking is that I always looked down on the Spanish for taking over this wonderful culture in the 15th century. However, our guide on the last day said "The best gift is the present". He thanks the Spanish as he told us that if it weren't for them, he wouldn't be who he is today. He calls himself a mestizo which is a mixture of Spanish and Indigenous blood. He is right, the British or the Portuguese could have come to Peru and based on what they did to the Indigenous population, the Inca and the Ayamara culture could have been completely wiped out. However, as we saw during the trip, this is not the case. The Inca and Ayamara culture have blended with the Spanish customs to make Peru the wonderful country that it is today.

Our main tour guide Efrain did a wonderful job of giving the students the foundation in the museums in Lima with what they would see over the rest of the country. The students have come back with wonderful practices and perspectives of the pre Colombian communities. A few of them didn't want to leave and others want to go back. A few students even said they did not know what to expect but after the trip, they are more thankful for what they have and won't always take what we have for granted.

This was a wonderful group of students to travel with and we hope that they continue to see the world. We had a wonderful discussion about traveling in the virtual world vs actually experiencing it first hand. Every student said they would not be able to touch the stones at Machu Picchu, climb Wayna Picchu, take a swim in Lake Titicaca, try on the clothes of those in the Floating Islands, or mediate in Sillustani if they had done this virtually in the classroom.

Chullpa Tombs of Sillustani.

July 2nd

Today, we prepared for our last day in Peru. We left Puno and traveled 35 minutes to the Chullpa Tombs of Sillustani. As much as we all loved Machu Picchu, for me, this was the most impacted place of the trip. 

Here we saw that the tombs in this area were only for nobles. However, based on the type of stone structure of the tombs, we understood that this predated the Incas and probably came from the Coya or the Tiahuanaco period which lived in the Lake Titicaca in the 9th century. The way this group set up the tombs was so that the sun during the summer and the winter solstice would shine directly into the tombs.  They believed that the living was only a part of the life cycle, however, the afterlife was just as important (if not even more).  Within the last few years, it was discovered that young children were found in burials in the fetal position. Since the Inca did not believe in human sacrifice, our guide Henry advised that this must have come before the Inca came to Lake Titicaca in the early 1500's. 

In addition, where the Inca had the symbols of the Condor, Puma and Snake, on the walls of the tombs were depictions of lizards. This was true because lizards can regenerate if they lose a part oft he body and the Coya believed that they continued on in the afterlife! 

After learning about the tombs, we had the chance to see the lake that the tombs looked over. Even though Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake, this smaller lake is actually 20 meters higher in elevation than Lake Titicaca. The students had a chance to reflect on their last 10 days in Peru by sitting quietly looking at the lake with the island in front of them. What's really neat is that there is only 1 house on that island (imagine the large candy bars they give out at Halloween).

We then made our way to the airport to take our return flight into Lima where we spent the afternoon at Miraflores. Here we had a chance to eat a chicken lunch and then the students had a chance to walk the mall, eat some ice cream and others went bowling! As always, it's bittersweet, but the trip was coming to an end. This evening, we said good-bye to our tour guide Efrain and to our new Washington friends!

Lake Titicaca

July 1

Today was an absolute brilliant day on the highest navigable lake in the world. The students had a chance to tour Lake Titicaca which is 12,500 ft above sea level. On our tour today, we visited the Uros Islands where are islands tha have no more than 6 houses on it and are made of reeds. Each month, the men have to continue to fix their island so that it does not sink. We also learned that each island can last for up to 25 years. After spending about an hour on the island, some of us went on a reed boat ride which was really neat on the way to a local elementary school.  In the school, we saw the kindergarden class reading a story that we had read in the past with our level 2 students. Some students even had the chance to get dressed in some of the clothes that the Ayamara wore!

Afterwards, we made our way on an hour boat ride to the Taquile Islands where there are about 2,000 people that live. Their work consists of argiculture and fishing. They have a dress that is similar to the Spanish bullfighters and the women have a head covering that was also brought by the Spanish but has the Moorish influence.  During our stay, we had a chance to eat fresh trout and the kids had about 20 minutes to swim in the water!!! This has been an amazing trip and it is incredible how we have one more night left in Peru.  Tomorrow we will see one more Incan site before heading to the airport back to Lima.

Cusco to Puno

June 30,

Today we left the city of Cusco. It has been a wondeful stay with breathtaking sites, food and shopping! On our way to Puno, we made a few stops along the way. Our first stop was to check out the 16th chapel of the Andes. This was a beatuful church dedicated to St. Peter.

Afterwards, we continued our tour on the busride stoping at Raqchi.  This site was built in the 1400s and as dedicated to the God of Wiracocha. They used this as a sanctuary as well as a place to store food as well. What is interesting is that this site is 40 km from Cusco. Some of the most important cities are 40 km from Cusco which is why the Inca considered this the center of the world!




Later on this afternoon, we traveled  to 14,000 ft above
sea level where we had a chance to stop and do a

little more shopping along the way. Here we could see snow capped mountains in front of us and we were actually higher in elevation than the highest elevation in Japan!


 During our trip, we had a chance to listen to our tour guide Miguel play beautiful Andean instruments. He told us that he music was inspired by us!!! Afterwards, we have such a musical group, the students had a chancet to practice some of these beautiful sounding instruments. Unfortunatly, as soon as we got to Puno, it was time to say good bye  to Miguel.  Tomorrow, we get to tour Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world!

Day 4 Trip to Machu Picchu

June 27, 2014

Today we caught an early train from Cusco on the Peru Rail which took us from Cusco to the town of Aguas Calientes where Machu Picchu is located. After about a 3 hour ride of marvelous views of the mountains (and some of them were snow caped) we arrived at the place we had been waiting for the whole trip.

As we entered Machu Picchu, we learned that Hiram Bingham was not the first to discover the empty citadel. There was a local who found it in 1904 and when Bingham arrived, he paid him off to leave! Machu Picchu is 8,000 feet in elevation and cannot be seen from the city below which is why the Inca decided to have this built on the mountain top. Originally it was supposed to be a vacation place for the Inca (king) and his family. It soon grew to a village where there was a city center and a place for agriculture. Along the walk today through Machu Picchu, we saw alpacas, the Temple of the Sun, and the Sun Gate which was a great 45 minute hike! We learned that the Inca's aren't marveled just for the architecture but also for their spirituality! 

 The main god is Inti which is the son of the sun  and we had a chance to walk up to the sun gate which is about 9,000 feet in elevation. The kids did a marvelous job and we had a chance to take in the wonderful views of Machu Picchu. 

The students now will look forward to their next excursion to Wayna Picchu!

Day 5 Wayna Picchu and Ollantaytambo

June 28

Today was probably the favorite day of the trip for most of the students. We woke up a bit earlier to get back on the bus to Machu Picchu and then make our way to Wayna Picchu. Wayna Picchu sits right behind Machu Picchu and is around 9,000 ft in in elevation. The Incas used this site to protect the citadel they had built as they could have a 360 degree look at everything around them.  It took us about an 1 or so to hike up the mountain and it took the kids breath a way from the view they had from the peak!

 One student said ¨ This is the best day of my life´´ . Another student responded to me after hearing an American tourist complain about how long we were taking with our pictures said ´´How could you be in a rush or angry up here? Just enjoy it¨

After our hike down, we said good bye to Machu Picchu and went back on the Peru Rail where we had some entertainment, dancing and modeling of the alpaca clothing that the train was selling. It was quite entertaining. We then got off at Ollaytantambo where we say a fortress built from the Incas to protect himself in the 1500s.  Ollantay was a general for the Incas but he fell in love with the Incas daughter. When asked to marry her, the Inca told Ollantay no and so, he began a feud with the Inca. The Inca never did attack him though!

What is always fascinating with those that lived in the Cusco area is that they were so incredibly advanced in technology. Because there is only 4 months of rain each year, they need to grow a large amount of food in a short time. They created a house that was built on the mountain which protected the food against the animals and they used their geography (shade and wind) to keep the food from getting spoiled!

This evening, we at at the restaurant Don Antonio's and many of them took advantage of trying cuy (guinea pig) this evening. In addition to the music and food, there was dancing that represented all of the regions of Peru. Some of the kids were even invited to dance with the cast!

Tomorrow we are off to the Sacred Valley!

Day 3 Cusco

June 28, 2014

Today we took an early morning flight from Lima and arrived in Cusco, Peru with an elevation of 11,000 feet and a population of 400,000 people. After sometime to get acclimated to the new elevation, we had a chance to tour Cusco and see the Plaza de Armas in the center of town. 

We then had a chance to visit a numerous of Incan sites in the afternoon. We made our first stop at Sacsaywaman.  They say that this place was built for the lightening Gods. The rocks each way 100-120 tons and they say that it took about 75 years to build this fortress. Today they use it during the Inti Raymi festival held on June 24th.

Next on our trip was the Qenqo. This was a temple held for one of the Inca kings Pachamatec. Here everything is laid in a limestone formation and was used for mummification.  The Inca looked at death as a person giving birth into the past life when they die.

The students had a chance to eat dinner and enjoy a typical Incan dance/music. They loved it and even were dancing in their chairs. Today was a long day, and a chance to get used to the altitude. Tomorrow we venture into the highlight of our trip to see the citadel fortress of the Inca.

Lima Day 2

Today´s tour took us around the capital city of Lima.  On the bus ride, we had a chance to learn a little about Peru´s culture. Lima gained its independece from Spain on the 21st of July 1821 where the liberator José San Martín helped Peru and parts of Colombia, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina break away from Spanish rule.  Peru´s main exports are minerals (gold,sliver) and  fishing in addition to depending on tourism to help the country economically. It´s amazing how some places get their names. Our guide Efraín told us the story how when the Spanish came to Lima and asked where they were, (since the Spanish did not know), the native people to the area did not understand the Spanish language. After awhile, the person responded  Pirú which then came to be known as Perú later on.

We had a chance to visit the San Francisco Convenant. After tourning the church seeing where once the 130 choir sang, we passed the library which has more than 25,000 books which date back over 400 years. These books are written in Latin, Spanish, Portguese and Quechua with many themes covering religion, theology, medicine and Astrology. Afterwards, we went down to the basement where we saw the human bones of more than 22,000 people in the Catacombs. In order to be buried in the public cemetary, you had to have at least some Spanish blood in you and be Catholic. Aftewards we took a trip to the Santo Domingo covent  where the highlight of this beautifiul chucrch with Moorish arquetecture was the tomb of Santa Ana who was originally named Isabel and was the first Pervuian to become a Saint.

Agregar leyenda

Additionally, we had a chance to see the royal band play outside the presidential palace today, visit the Museo Rafael Larco Herrera which contains more than 40,000 ceramics which  tell the story of the Inca and Pre Incan times from times B.C.E up to the 15th century.

The kids had a tiring day yet they had a chance to see a lot, learn a lot, and have a chance to visit the local supermarket. They also had a lovely dinner at  the restaurant Huaca Pucllana which is set up next to an ararquelogical site which dates back to the year 700. There they ate a Rainbow flounder followd by the sweet dessert of suspiro de limeña.

Our time in Lima has come to an end, but we are ready to travel from 250 ft in elevation to almost 9500 ft in elevation when we fly to Cusco tomorrow.

June 23rd: Final Preparations

Recruiting of students: Check
Group meetings:          Check
E-Tickets                   Check
Group Shirts               Check



It's been over 450 days since we received our first student participant and 15 months later, we are less than 24 hours from landing in Lima, Peru. Over the next 10 days, the students will have a chance to experience the ancient civilization of the Inca as well as see some of the most spectacular structures that they left behind. In addition, we will be traveling at times 2x the altitude of Denver, Colorado and seeing the tree line disappear as we head in the direction of the highest navigable lake in the world. We hope you'll join us on our excursion via our Blog which will be posted daily.