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!