Access to Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly scarce so posts are going to be even fewer and farther between. I’ll be completely off the grid for the next 72 hours.
We were originally scheduled to have our third school visit on this morning but it turns out it was a holiday, Día del Campesino, and public sector employees were off so school was not in session. This holiday was originally meant to celebrate the indigenous population and the farmers of Peru. Most people would not consider this much of a holiday from work as they would have to work extra to make up this missed time (for example, working an extra hour a day). With our morning plans cancelled, we learned more about the city of Lima itself.
Huaca Pucllana
Huaca Pucllana is a solid pyramid made of adobe in the district of Miraflores. The location of this pyramid really catches you off guard. You are driving through apartment buildings, stores, hotels, and restaurants and then right in the middle of that is a pyramid! The Lima culture likely built the first pyramid here with the Wari and Ychsma cultures expanding on it. From what we were told, the top is flat which was most likely acted as some sort of trading post. The adobe bricks are stacked vertically (bookshelf technique) which is not as effected by seismic activity. There are over 300 Huacas (holy sites) in Lima but none are this preserved. We just drove by it on our way through the city.
It was hard to get good pictures in Lima because there air is so hazy. This was also through the window of a bus.
Additional Landmarks in Lima
The Plaza San Martín was built in 1921 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Peru’s independence.
Statue at the Center of Plaza San Martín
Plaza Mayor is where in 1535 Francisco Pizarro laid foundation for the city of Lima. Pizarro and his men did a lot of really bad things to the Inca people prior to this happening. This spot was chosen because of its proximity to three rivers, the fact that it does not see extreme temperatures, and it is close to the ocean. The fountain in the center is from 1651 but most buildings are from the 20th century due to damage from earthquakes. Around this plaza you can find the presidential palace, city hall, and the former Archbishop’s palace which is now a museum. Fransisco Pizarro’s body can be found within this cathedral. For some reason I don’t have any pictures from this plaza so here is a picture of another church (Iglesia y Convento La Merced). This is the oldest church in Lima although it has required frequent renovations due to earthquakes.
Built in the baroque style
Our final morning stop was to the Catacombs of the Basilica of San Francisco. This is a Franciscan monastary which was founded in 1546 and like so many other buildings has faced earthquake damage over the centuries. The tiles on the wall were from the early 1600’s and came over from Seville, Spain. The wood used in its woodwork comes from cedar trees cut down in Central America. In the catacombs beneath the monastary are the remains of 25,000 people. It was a public cemetary and all demographics were buried here. Use of these catacombs ended in 1821 when Peru became an independent nation. Within the library there are over 25,000 books in different languages and different topics dating back to as far back as the 15th century. Due to humidity and sunlight many of these books are damaged beyond repair and cannot be removed from their shelves. The monastery does not allow photography within its walls so I have no pictures to share.
Festival of Folk Dances at Las Brisas del Titicaca
After yet another fulfilling meal, we were off for a cultural activity. We would get to see some traditional folk dances. The Brisas del Titicaca Cultural Association is a non-profit organization with 60 years dedicated to preserving, promoting and disseminating the various cultural expressions of Puno and Peru. Due to a morning that took longer than expected and a long lunch we missed half of the show.
This is just a sample of the folk dances we saw
Overall it was a pretty relaxing day. It was nice to see some of the historical parts of Lima.
This is the second of two parts on our third day in Peru. Eventually I will get caught up! I promise that the rest of the blog posts won’t be this long. There is just so much to say! It was an incredible experience.
One of three courses for our lunch. This dish had seafood prepared three different ways.
From our first school visit we immediately went to lunch and I definitely ate too much. This is a recurring theme and it is a result of large serving sizes, multiple courses, and all the food being so good. Once lunch was finished we were back on the bus and headed to a different part of the city. This school was located in the Comas district which is one of the poorest districts in Lima. Although significant progress has been made in building infrastructure it still has a long way to go to ensure that all residents have equal access to necessities. As we grew closer to the school the homes became much more dilapidated and the roads were no longer paved. I’ve wavered back and forth about sharing a picture of the neighborhoods surrounding the school but I decided against it. Instead here are pictures of the program for our school visit.
This part of Lima has a large population of people that moved to the city from the Andes and therefore many of the students speak Quechua in addition to Spanish. In some households, the parents/guardians only speak Quechua. When we walked through the main gate we found lines of students along both sides of the walkway. Many of the students were dressed in native attire. As each of us walked in a student took us by the arm and escorted us to the main courtyard. Once we entered the courtyard another student escorted us to a line of chairs at the far side. The rest of the students, and many family members, sat on the bleacher-style seating that surrounded the courtyard.
Students escorted our group as well as the distinguished guests into the courtyard.I’d like to think that the llama is the hero of this story.
Once we were all settled there were several speeches and introductions made. After all those were completed students from the school performed some of their native dances in front of everyone in attendance. There was some sort of ceremony with these four groups coming in from four different corners and I would find out several days later that these four groups represent the four quarters (Suyu) of the Incan empire: Chinchay Suyu (NW), Anti Suyu (NE), Conti Suyu (SW) and Colla Suyu (SE). I don’t have any clear pictures of any of the groups but I do have some videos of some of the other dances. Enjoy!
As soon as the dances were over everyone just got up and left. I figured that this was the end of our visit to this school. Walking through the courtyard was a gauntlet of excited students. Just like the previous school, many students wanted selfies with me. At one point I looked up and I could not see anybody from my group. Where did they go?
Was I Left Behind?
No, no I wasn’t. Apparently the school visit was far from over. As I walked around the wall I found another courtyard and this is where everyone went. Around this courtyard were tables set up for different disciplines and students stood around each one to present what they have been working on in school. It was hard to really hear what was going on because of all the excitement and the neverending stream of students looking for autographs/selfies. There was a table for la interculturidad (interculturality) which to be honest I wasn’t quite sure how it fit this theme. It was a collection of objects students had created.
At the conclusion of their presentation students walked to the table, picked up the objects, walked to a teacher, and presented it as a gift. I got a nice basket made out of recycled newspaper. They must have known that I have recently discovered my ability to construct baskets. Another teacher got a large garbage can made out of recycled paper while this other teacher got this elaborate box made for fathers day which consisted of family photos.
My newest basket! This looks like something we could do with our environmental club students.
The next table I visited was the science table. At this table students were talking about the Peruvian biodiversity. I was able to admire the incredible posters that students created and I was able to taste a delicious tea made out of a plant called muña. The science teacher at this table was so excited to meet me she kept inviting me over to the table for more pictures. We may look to see how we could create a partnership between our classes in the future.
A student drew these incredible pictures. So much talent!
The third table I will discuss was for mathematics. Once again, students demonstrated some impressive work. I was only able to catch a small part of it but students tried to model how to use a quipo, a system of knotted strings used to record numbers. After the presentation I spoke with the student that is holding the microphone in the picture below. He is 15 and has an interest in physics. When he found out that I teach physics he was very excited! At the age of 15 he has already started taking physics classes and has already taken calculus. We briefly spoke about the joys of integration.
Math!
Not too long after this the crowds of students started to disperse. There were a few more selfies/autographs and I spoke to the science teacher one last time. Our visit to the school was finally coming to an end, an hour or so after we were scheduled to leave.
The Visit Was Not Over
We were now brought into one of the classrooms for a dinner prepared by the teachers. The dinner would consist of traditional Andean foods as well as chicha, a traditional corn beverage. They claimed that it was not fermented but we could tell what fermentation smelled/tasted like. Over dinner we introduced ourselves to several of the teachers from the school and they introduced themselves to us.
Peru has always 3000 varieties of potato!
Next came the gift giving. This school was so generous with the gifts that we were provided and just like with the morning school I felt bad that they spent some of their limited resources on us. I was grateful for the hospitality and their generosity.
The last thing on our agenda was that two of our teachers gave brief presentations to the faculty that had attended dinner with us. Once those were completed we were able to say our goodbyes, take a few more group photos, and return to the bus. We were scheduled to leave around 5:00 p.m. but left closer t0 9:00 p.m. I’m glad we had the opportunity to visit this school. Its amazing just how much pride these students have for their school and just how late they would stay to meet us. It was definitely worth the late night and I do hope that I can build a partnership with this school in some capacity.
This is part one of two for my summary of our third day in Peru. We received permission from the administration of both schools to take pictures of the students.
It took me a while to get started on this post because I really did not know what to say. Our day was an emotional roller coaster and there really is no way to convey this information in a way that I feel comfortable with. Our day would begin at a school in one part of the city and we would end with a visit to a school in another part of the city.
For the first few days in Lima we did not leave the more affluent, tourist portion of the city. This would be our first look at how other portions of the population live. About 1/3 of Peru’s population (~11 million people) live in Lima. The majority of these people moved here within the past several decades. Many came with little to no money and could not afford housing so they built structures on the hills surrounding the city. Over time more permanent structures were built but they do not have the infrastructure we see in Miraflores. At this part of the city we didn’t see apartment high rises and vegetation in the medians.
The school we visited is in the center at the bottom of this image
When we pulled up outside of the school, we were asked to wait outside and we would enter one at a time, as they called our name. As each of us walked into the school we would be welcomed by lines of students along the walkway. As we walked through the lines of cheering students we were given the first of our two gifts from the school. This was not the reception I anticipated and it felt undeserving. That being said, it was great to see how excited these students were that we were visiting their school.
View from the courtyard
Once we entered the main courtyard they had us stand on a walkway while a group of students were organized in front of us. There were some introductions, a greeting, the singing of the Peruvian National Anthem, and the playing of our National Anthem.
You can see the classrooms surrounding the courtyard
There were a few students that were holding up signs welcoming us to their school. Several students had created signs for specific teachers welcoming them to their school. Only a few teachers had posters created for them and I was honored to be one of them.
This poster was so well done! I was very impressed!
Once the introductions were over many of the students returned to class. Some students were in class while all this was going on. I’m not sure how it was determined who would be in class and who attended the introductions but I did feel bad for those in class. This campus is very open. It is right in the city and you can hear all the traffic and car horns outside the school walls. In addition, all the doors and windows are open so you can hear everything else going on at the school. As we toured a few classrooms it was very loud and it must be so hard for the students to focus and hear everything going on within the classroom. During our tour we visited their school library, an English-language class where the students sang us a song, and a 1st grade classroom. Those first graders had some of the neatest handwriting I had ever seen!
The school library. A lot of what is on those shelves are workbooks.The students often learn songs in their English-language class to help them learn the language. They sang for us.
The Lesson
The day before this visit I was informed that I would be teaching a lesson at this school and that it was a traditional classroom without any technology. The lesson I had planned revolved around the differences in climate between Lima and my area in New York State. I had prepared for the possibility that there would be no way to digitally present the material so I had a hard copy of my resources ready to go. The facilitators of our program made additional copies so that I would have enough to give every student a copy. The materials that I would share are: climographs for Lima and New York, maps of New York State (in both English and Spanish), a snowfall map of NYS, and maps of the global ocean currents (in both English and Spanish). I shared pages 2, 3, and 4 of the NYS Earth Science References Tables with a star to indicate where I lived. All data was converted to metric as that is the system of units that is best and the students would actually understand them.
What differences do you notice regarding the differences between the climates of Lima and New York?
As we left the meeting room to be split up to go to the classrooms we would be presenting in, we were swarmed by excited students. It was such a strange feeling and the attention was undeserved. We were treated like someone famous. Students were asking to take selfies with us and outstretched arms were handing us their school notebooks for our autograph. For the next twenty minutes this is all we did. I thought that this delay would prevent me from giving my presentation.
Eventually the crowd was dispersed and I was escorted to the computer lab by two students. As I entered the lab there was a semi-circle of chairs with about twenty students waiting for me. This computer lab had a few computers lining the wall but none of them worked. The whole school had one functioning computer. That would not interfere with our lesson though.
Comparing the climates of New York and Lima, Peru. I could not have asked for a friendlier, more receptive group of students!
I started off the lesson with a brief introduction to who I am and where I am from. Students were able to identify Roxbury in both New York State and the world by looking at the provided maps. To go along with my introduction I showed the students some gifts that I had for the school. One of the gifts was a picture book of New York State to see how diverse a state it is. The other gift was a jar of locally-sourced maple syrup. These two gifts would be given to the principal before I left. I wanted to give the students a gift from New York as well so I brought some maple candy in. They were a little hesitant to try it at first but as soon as the first student ate their piece and talked about how good it was, the rest followed. They were eager to have a second piece.
I wish I could have spent a lot more time with this group!
As we talked about the climate we talked about how Lima is a desert but New York is very wet. All measurements were converted to the metric system so they would be able to understand it easily. They were shocked to hear temperatures could range from about +40°C to -40°C (the extremes are not typical but more associated with our record highs/lows) and that we get about 1.250 meters of precipitation a year. I mentioned that we could see between 7-12cm of rain a day (or sometimes an hour) in extreme events. They were amazed to hear about a snowstorm that dropped 76cm of snow in about 10 years a few years ago. There were gasps as I went around the room showing pictures from this snowstorm on my phone. We ended this portion of the presentation by talking about the reasons that lead to some of the climate differences. Seasons are reversed in the different hemispheres. While it is Winter here, it is Summer in New York. The climate in the coastal regions of Peru is heavily influenced by the Humboldt ocean current which brings cold, dry air to the region. In New York State we are affected by the Gulf Stream which brings warmer, humid air. Lima’s latitude is also much lower leading to more intense solar radiation. The students talked about their experiences with the weather. They discussed how it is cold this time of year and that the sky is always grey. I mentioned how even though it is our Summer, the nighttime temperatures are similar.
The Humboldt Current brings cool, dry air from the Antarctic.The Gulf Stream brings warmer, moist air from the tropics.
The rest of our time was spent with students asking me questions. Some questions were related to the presentation while others were about me and the United States. The questions included:
What is your favorite season? Fall because of the changing of the leaves. I talked to my students about how the leaves change from green to red, yellow, and orange. To show them what this looked like, I pointed to a picture in the book of New York State.
Do teachers make enough money in the U.S. to live? I mentioned that it depends on where you live. Where I live it is enough to live on but there are places where teachers have to work a second job.
How old I was. This is a question that is more culturally acceptable in Peru than in the U.S. Since I am in their culture I told them.
What I thought about their school. The reception was so warm and people were so friendly. I was impressed with how proud everyone was with their school. Students were curious, respectful, and polite. I tried to explain this the best way I could and I don’t remember my exact words.
If Spanish was easy for me to learn.
My favorite type of music.
My favorite Peruvian food. All of it. It is all so delicious!
What was the first thing to excite me after waking up that morning. I told the students that the first thing to excite me was this moment. For over two years I had been looking forward to meeting and working with students in Peru and it had finally been a reality. Due to Covid I didn’t think it would ever happen. This answer was completely honest and I saw the joy on the faces of my students.
The students were in awe at this picture of my car buried in snow
Unfortunately our time together was short and by this time I was pulled from the room as it was time to get going. On our way out they provided us with two more gifts: a book written by the principal and a key ring. They also provided us with juice, water, and a snack for our bus ride to lunch.
I really wish I could have spent much more time learning from and working with these students. The reception was so warm, the students were so eager, and it was such an incredible experience.
On the second day I have already started to fall behind but there is a very good reason for that which you will have to wait to find out what that is! We started the day with a lesson on the Peruvian Education System. Like the previous day, we went through a tremendous amount of information in a short period of time. We did get to enjoy another delicious mid-morning snack. I want to make it clear that since I got here three days ago I have yet to be hungry once. So much food.
In Peru there are three levels to regular public education. Educación Inicial includes Pre-K (ages 0-2) and K (3-5). For Pre-K the hours are flexible and depend on the type of program. In kindergarten students are required to have five hours of instruction per day for a total of 25 hours per week and 900 hours per year. Educación primaria includes elementary students and they are required to have six hours of instruction per day for a total of 30 hours a week and at least 1100 hours a year. Educación secondaria includes the last five years of school and students receive seven hours of instruction per day, 35 hours a week, and at least 1200 hours a year. Courses include: math, communication, art, personal social development, physical education, religious education, science, and technology. In the table below you will see a breakdown of how students spend each week.
In many ways education in Peru is similar to that of the United States. Education is compulsory for all students ages 6 to 16/17. Students go to school most of the year but get some time off during their summer. Their school year runs from March to December. In 2010 they rolled out their new learning standards which contain seven cross-cutting concepts. These concepts are:
Rights-based approach – promotes the recognition of rights and duties of the student and promotes other democratic values such as liberty, responsibility, and collaboration
Inclusive and diversity aware approach – teaches students to value all people equally and to avoid discrimination, exclusion, and inequality of opportunities.
Intercultural approach – promotes the interchange of ideas and experiences emerging from diverse cultural perspectives
Gender equality approach: recognizes the need for equality of opportunity between males and females
Environmental approach – seeks to educate students to take care of the environment
Common good approach – promotes the development of socio-emotional skills such as empathy, solidarity, justice and equity
Pursuit of excellence approach – incentivizes students to give their best effort to achieve their goals and contribute to their community
Peru is working towards improving their educational system and some issues and trends that are relevant to the present-day dialogue include expanding coverage in early childhood education, bilingual intercultural education, special basic education, high-performance schools, alternative basic education, evaluation/assessment, curriculum, and professional development related to instructional technology. One of the big questions we have had for educations in Peru is about special education in their schools. It has been difficult to get a straight answer and the answers we do get often try to deflect. From what we have gathered, students are not tested to determine if they have any learning needs and there really is not the support staff in schools to provide the accommodations these students would need.
Our lunch was absolutely amazing. Seriously. The food in Peru is delicious. If you like food, visit this country and prepare to never look at food the same way! After our appetizer and main dish we were very full and we thought we would not have to deal with dessert. Then on our way out we were handed take out bags each with a giant slice of flan. So much food.
The beef was soooo tender and everything else tasted great
After lunch we went to the US embassy in Peru. We were warned many times that photographing the embassy is a serious offense and could get us arrested and deported. This was so unfortunate because there were mountains behind the embassy and we couldn’t get any pictures of them! I tried to get some pictures from the bus but between glare and movement they didn’t turn out well. Pictures in Peru are tough to take because of the smog as well. There is a lot of moisture in the air due to the proximity to the ocean and there is fairly significant air pollution.
We had to go through two separate security checkpoints at the embassy. They took any electronics items we had and we could not even go to the restroom without an escort. While there we met with an official from the Public Affairs Office, a member of American Citizen Services, and several administrators from area schools. We were all given this earpiece which made us feel like secret agents. The earpiece was for listening to translations between Spanish and English. Any time someone spoke, the translator translated it into the opposite language. This was very impressive to see. The translator could listen to one language while translating to the other. The administrators spoke about education in Peru and we spoke about what we hoped to get out of the Fulbright program. The embassy prepared a table full of food for us but unfortunately there are no pictures. So much food.
The real excitement begins tomorrow.
Lima is the second driest capital city of any country
After two years of waiting I am finally in Peru for my International Field Experience! As I mentioned previously, I will not be spending my time in one school working with a teacher and a class but I’ll be doing a series of day trips. This also means that we will all be able to stay together for the duration of our field experience so I don’t mind too much. There are two themes for the day: learning about Peru and food.
The Pacific Ocean from my hotel room
Introduction to Peru: History and Culture
Our crash course on Peru brought us through its history from the subjugation of the Incas by the Spanish to modern day in about 90 minutes. Here is a brief summary of some the information that was discussed:
Peru’s capital, Lima, was founded by Francisco Pizarro in 1535 after the Incas were defeated.
There was an indigenous uprising in 1780 which was led by Túpac Amaru II.
Peru proclaimed its independence on July 28th, 1821.
On October 3rd, 1968 the military forced the resignation of the president.
Constitutional rule was reestablished in 1979 when Peru signed a new constitution.
There are three regions: the arid coast, the mountainous Andean region, and the Amazonian jungle.
There was a mass migration to the cities in the 20th century.
There is a sizable Japanese-Peruvian and Chinese-Peruvian population.
In recent times the government has invested heavily in health and welfare infrastructure.
Agriculture, fishing, and forestry drive their economy
Peru is a very mineral rich country: gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, zinc, bismuth, phosphate, and manganese. The minerals in the ground belong to the state though which causes a lot of backlash.
There is a mixture of pre-Hispanic and mestizo lore abound in myths, songs, dances, and superstitions.
Peru is divided into 25 regions. Those 25 regions are broken up into 196 provinces which are then broken up into 1,869 districts.
An Introduction to Peruvian Social Reality
In the afternoon we visited the Fulbright Commission for a presentation on Peruvian Social Reality
During this presentation we learned about the social concerns that are relevant in Peru. While Peru celebrates its diversity, discrimination is still prevalent within its society. Like so many other societies, privilege tends to depend upon ones “whiteness”. People will attempt to hide their cultural backgrounds in order to fit in. There is so much to unpack here I will not be attempting to get into it much further at this time. It does show the importance of global education and opening the mind of our students though.
The Food
I know this is what you have all been waiting for. Like always, I started the day with breakfast. Then during our morning session we were provided a plate of food around 11am and I figured that lunch was early. Then at noon we went to the real lunch. Lunch started out with some tortilla chips and then we were given this dish with pork and pears. I thought that was a very good lunch. Then out came a plate with chicken and some potato/cheese casserole. For dinner there were several courses at this beautiful museum. There was also a plate of pastries dropped off in our rooms during the day. The best/worst part of this is that everything was so delicious! So much for getting in shape for our October relay…
