Lima’s nickname is ‘The Grey City’ because the sky is always so grey. As the bus pulled out of Lima this morning I wondered how much of Peru would be like this. Only time would tell as we made our way to Paracas.
As I describe my adventures throughout Peru I will try to keep it brief. This means that I will not talk about every thing I did or every place I visited. For more pictures you can go here: https://scisned.com/travel/peru/
On our way to Paracas we stopped at this bakery and had freshly baked Peruvian bread. After breakfast we were given a horse dancing show and then we got to play a few rounds of cuy bingo for prizes. Once that was done it was back on the bus.
Cuy bingo!
We were getting close to Paracas but the sky was still grey. About ten minutes out we started to see blue skies and we saw the Sun! For the next two weeks, there would only be one day without the Sun (Machu Picchu day). Once in Paracas I would spend the next couple hours just wandering the small city and walking along the beach. That evening I would go on a sunset trek to the Paracas National Reserve. While there we would hike up the sand dunes along the coast for a couple hours and enjoy the beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Hiking was easy as these sand dunes were made of salt covered in sand.
This is not snowJust after descending the peak after sunset
The next morning I took a boat tour to the Ballestas Islands which are nicknamed ‘the Peruvian Galapagos’ because of their biodiversity. There were not nearly as many sea lions but there were a lot more birds. islands completely covered with them. There were also Humboldt penguins!
The seas were a little roughArch covered with birdsPenguins!
While floating through the sea stacks we saw a sea lion doing battle with something. After watching for several minutes we saw that the sea lion had successfully caught a large fish. Here you can see it dragging its meal up onto the rocks.
Later that morning I would head back to the Paracas National Reserve for a tour of some of the different features that can be found there. Once our tour was over we got on the bus and it was off to our next destination.
This rock formation is called the Cathedral. It no longer looks like a cathedral after collapsing during an earthquake many years ago.This red beach is caused by the weathering of the red granodiorite in the cliffs above it.
It is amazing how quickly our ten days in Peru for our International Field Experience went. There was so much packed within our time that I would have so much to process once I got home. I addition to those three school visits I just described, here is a little more of what went on during our last couple of days in Lima.
International Alumni Engagement: Building Networks and Understanding Through Teacher Collaboration
Some of the Peruvian Fulbright Alumni that we met during our time in Peru
One of the many goals of this Fulbright Teachers for Global Education program is to build networks between teachers in the United States and teachers in other countries. Towards the end of the program an Alumni engagement event was organized. Some of these teachers/administrators work at the schools that we visited. Others were either too far for us to go visit or the visits got cancelled. There were three main objectives for this alumni engagement session:
To debrief experiences and observations
To begin action planning
To discuss continued collaboration
One of the topics that was discussed were concerns that the Peruvians shared regarding their educational system. One of the significant concerns mentioned was the hidden discourse inherent in their society. While there is a lot of diversity in Peru (including international and indigenous communities) they are often not incorporated into the curriculum. Images transmit messages, even if it isn’t intended. Ignoring the contributions, histories, and existences of different groups can be damaging to students wellbeing as well as the societal stability. Students within the country are able to identify more international celebrities than Peruvian ones. One possible reason for this is that companies with money influence the writing of textbooks.
Physics teachers making connections
During our morning session there was time to continue to build our connections. I spoke with one teacher about some of the programming at her school which has embraced project-based learning. Students are leaders and have to produce something that will benefit the school or community in some way. They are currently working on learning about Peruvian inventors and they are taking an interdisciplinary approach. This aligns with many of my educational philosophies so we were excited to talk. Unfortunately there was not nearly enough time but we do want to see if we can find a way to partner our schools up for virtual collaboration. We’d like to choose a project that would benefit both of our communities. We shall see what happens!
Debrief of the International Field Experience
With just two days remaining we got together to debrief and discuss our thoughts on our time together. It felt like we had just been in the conference room at the hotel for an introduction to our field experience. Our objectives for this morning session were:
To reflect upon your travel experience
To synthesize and evaluate professional and personal impact
To practice and plan for telling the story of your travel experience
The first part of the session was to really think deep, reflect, and consider the impact it had on us. From there we were asked to consider what our next steps might be. To be honest, I’ve felt pretty discouraged with education after the last two years of uncertainty with covid and everything else. I left this program reinvigorated and excited. To work with so many innovative educators that continue to strive towards excellence really was what I needed.
The rest of the session was spent discussing Fulbright Alumni resources, grants, and opportunities. Now that I have finished my Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms programs I am eligible for numerous other programs and grants. These grants are specifically for incorporating global education into my classroom. There are virtual platforms that bring alumni together from all over the world to support each other and to work with. There are Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term Programs and one I was very interested in until I realized that I missed the application deadline. That program will have a teacher spending 6-8 weeks in Cusco working with schools to develop environmental education curriculums. This mirrors a lot of the work that I have done leading professional development within my school and community.
Taste of Peru Cooking Class
On our last day, right before our farewell dinner, we went to Sirena Restobar which is a restaurant along the coast for a cooking class. Prior to that we went on a tour of a Peruvian market and got to learn about (and taste) some Peruvian fruit. The first dish we made was causa rellena which is a popular appetizer made of mashed potatoes, avocado, and chicken. It also contains some aji amarillo (yellow hot pepper) which made it even better.
Causa rellena
After we got to enjoy what we just made we were moving onto the main course, ceviche. I’m not a fan of ceviche but I went along with it anyways. For those note familiar with it, it is raw fish that it “cooked” in citrus juice. The acid replaces heat in the denaturation of it so it is safe to eat but it still isn’t really for me. When the head chef who was leading the course tried mine she was impressed and gave me two thumbs up though. At the end when asked whose was the best she pointed to me and to one other educator. Still not for me.
Ceviche. We were told to pour everything, including the juices onto the plate. I feel it would have looked better without them.
Once we ate our ceviche we moved on to the last thing we would make, pisco sour. This is a drink that Peru is well known for. When those were finished we moved on to our farewell dinner. At the dinner all of the participants were given certificates that were personalized for something that made them stand out.
Why was I named the most adventurous? You will have to wait and see. While my International Field Experience has now come to an end, I stayed in Peru an additional two weeks to do some traveling on my own. Stay tuned! The most exciting stuff is yet to come!
Throughout our time in the program there were three more school visits. Each school was different than the one that preceded it.
Institución Educativa N°6152 Stella Maris
As we walked through the front gate the students were interested in us but there wasn’t the excitement that we had seen at the prior schools. We walked through one of the courtyards and entered the secondary section of the school grounds. As we walked by an 8th grade math classroom the school administrator asked for four volunteers to go into the room and I was one of them. The other teachers would go into different rooms. Once we entered the room the teacher stepped aside and we were left in the front and center of the room with no introduction. After a brief awkward pause we started a brief question and answer session until we were picked back up.
Students learning to weld. I was dismayed by the fact that not everyone was wearing a welding hood.
Next up was a walk over to the primary section of the grounds. While there we entered a classroom (3rd grade?) and did a little group activity with them.
Some of the primary classrooms next to a courtyard where students can play.
For the last part of our visit we were brought into their English classroom and several of their students performed some folk dances for us. After some goodbyes we were on our way.
The buildings in the background house the secondary classrooms.
Institución Educativa N°5143 “Escuela de Talentos”
Our welcome to this school was completely different than the other schools we visited. Instead of seeing traditional dances, their orchestra performed for us in the main courtyard. This would set the tone for how different this school would be.
Once the students started to pack up their instruments and some introductions were made, we were brought into a math classroom. Every student had a brand new laptop and there was an interactive whiteboard in the front of the room. Of all the schools we visited, this one resembled schools in the United States the most. When we left the math room we were broken up into groups and brought into different rooms. My group was brought into a robotics lab where students were working on building remote control cars that would be programmed with an Arduino. Later in the year they would be building drones.
Some students had me help them with putting their car together
This school is a public school but students need to apply to get in. From what I understand, this school is also sponsored by an oil company and that explains why they have so much more in the way of resources than the other schools we saw. Prior to leaving the school some students gave brief presentations on some of the projects that they had worked on. Some students gave presentations on a tiny submersible that could be piloted remotely and was meant to collect garbage in the ocean. This was just a functional model but it was impressive. Another group gave a presentation on a disinfecting robot that they created.
This robot uses UV light to disinfect floors
One of the students gave a presentation on a voice assistant app he is creating for people who are visually impaired. The last group of students gave a presentation on their studies of electromagnetism, Faraday’s Law, and electromagnetic induction. The electrical grid is not very reliable and students want to look for ways that they can work towards improving it.
Students discussing the data they have collected regarding the wireless transmission of energy
Institución Educativa Dora Mayer
As we walked through the front gate there were students holding up a metal hoop covered in red, white, and blue balloons that they had us walk through. From there we were escorted to their auditorium for an assembly in our honor. We were seated on on side of the room, students on another, and some educators on a third. Students performed traditional dances, a student sang a song for us, and we were presented with certificates of appreciation.
The rest of our visit to this school was a whirlwind. We were broken up into small groups and went from classroom to classroom. In one classroom students performed a conversation in English that they had created. In another classroom we got to see some 1st graders learning to count using manipulatives like beer bottle and soda bottle caps. Another classroom gave us some arroz con leche and bracelets. In another classroom we joined the class in drawing our three favorite things in Peru. While this was all taking place other students were playing in the courtyard. In between rooms students would come up to us and ask for the occasional autograph or selfie.
For the first time I got to go into an actual science lab although no students were currently in it. There were long lab tables covered in porcelain tiles with science supplies lining some of the walls. One of the things that I found interesting was that they had preserved specimens of some human organs like a brain and they had preserved human fetuses at different ages. After a quick walkthrough I got to enter the physics classroom. The physics teacher was sitting at his desk just relaxing and was super laid back like pretty much every other physics teacher I know. We spoke very briefly but then I had to move on. Of all the school visits, this one was by far the most fun. The students and faculty really didn’t want us to leave but we didn’t either. It probably took us at least 45 minutes to head out due to the constant requests for group pictures and selfies. Unfortunately we had to leave as our day was completely packed full.
About one week into our program we were given a day off. There were so many options for things to do! Some people were just going to relax at the hotel. Others were going to walk through Lima to do some shopping. There were some that went to a art museum. So what did a few of us decide to do? To go for a boat tour of the Palomino Islands.
Joints in these layers of sedimentary rocks.
That sounds completely harmless but on this tour we would be jumping into the ice cold Pacific Ocean (61°F)! During their Winter! To swim with sea lions!
The Humboldt (Peru) current brings up cold water from the Antarctic. We would be jumping into this.
Off we went on our day off. The seas were very rough, the air was foggy, but spirits were high. On our way to Palomino Island we passed other islands where we saw things like Peru’s version of Alcatraz (no longer in operation), pelicans, cormorants, Humboldt penguins, other birds, and of course sea lions! It is estimated that there are between 5,000 and 8,000 sea lions on this island. As you approach the island, all you can hear and smell are sea lions. Unfortunately due to rough seas and poor visibility my pictures did not come out too well. I will try to upload some when I can pull some off of my camera after I get home.
As we approached the island it was time to put on our partial wet suits and jump into the water. I stood on the side of the boat with my 360 camera in hand and without hesitating jumped right into the frigid water. At times it was hard to focus on the sea lions as most of my energy was spent fighting the waves crashing over my head and the currents. The 15 minutes in the water felt like an eternity. When it was time to get back on the boat I tried to use my frozen arms to pull myself up onto a boat that was moving quite significantly into the waves. I did make it back on the boat (spoiler) and once we returned to the hotel it took the rest of the day to warm back up. It was worth it though.
This video was taken with my 360 camera and it works best when viewed on a cell phone or tablet as you can pan the video. When I get home I’m going to try to upload it again to see if I can get it to be less grainy.
These images came from manipulation of my 360 video.
To better appreciate the Peruvian culture, we were exposed to Peru in both the present as well as the past. Since school was not in session on a Saturday we took a trip to Pachacamac, an important sacred site just outside the city limits of present day Lima.
Only a few images will be added here for brevity. To see more images from Pachacamac, look on my Peru trip page sometime late July or early August.
One of many pyramids with ramps at this complex. This one has been excavated more than most.
Throughout the centuries there were four different groups that lived here: the Lima, the Wari, the Ychma, and the Incas. This complex covers approximately 1,100 acres and consists of buildings made of mud bricks. As each subsequent culture conquered the previous, they built upon this area and by looking at the types of bricks used archeologists can determine which culture built what.
Notice the different style bricks that make up the different layers.
My history of this area is incomplete but I will share what notes I have. The Lima culture worshipped sea animals as well as the Moon. Then sometime ~ 600 CE the Wari conquered the Lima. Sometime around 1100 CE the Wari culture was conquered by the Ychma. Around 1450 CE the Incas conquered the Ychma and not too long after (1533) the Spanish arrived and thus ended the rein of the Incas.
The city of Lima goes right up to the borders of the Pachacamac grounds. Who knows what was lost when the land around this complex was developed?
Pachacamac was the god thought to have created the Earth. This god most likely has had different names throughout history but this is what the Incas called him. The Spanish were thought to have destroyed an 8-foot wood-carved Pachacamac idol but one was found in 1938 that looks exactly as it was described by the Spanish. It was found in a room protected by a door covered in shells.
The door that protected the idol. My picture of the idol isn’t very clear so I am uploading this instead.
The Incas performed human sacrifices atop one of the pyramids found here. This site was called the Sun Temple and was situated at the top of the hill, overlooking the ocean. Young women were raised in a nearby building thats purpose was pretty much only to house the women to prepare them for either sacrifice or servitude. The most attractive young women were selected for sacrifice which was a big honor.
This is where the Incas conducted their sacrifices at Pachacamac.
This complex was also used a burial ground for anyone that died. Bodies were wrapped in textiles based on social class. They were put in the ground in the fetal position with a burial mask. Estimates are that 80,000 people were buried here. Thirty-thousand people were buried in front of the Painted Temple (Wari). A few were taken to study and the rest were returned to the ground. This is just one of many reasons why cremation or composting is my preferred burial method!
Some of the burial masks found at PachacamacNot sure the significance but I thought it was cute!
For lunch we went to this placed called Dpaso which was right down the road. The lunch was buffet style (I had to try almost everything) with live folk dancing that would take place every 15 minutes or so. This was similar to the other dances we had seen (other than this dance called the Alcatraz). Following that, we did go outside for something new. Horse dancing!
Horse dancing!For dinner I had lomo saltado de alpaca over a quinoa risotto.
