Blog 11:
On our last few nights in Lima, we spent some time with UARM students. We explained to them what it is like to go to school in the United States and at a school like Marquette while they are practiced their English and we practiced our Spanish. It was really fun getting to meet college students from Peru and learn all about their experiences. The next morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn to head to the airport. After an hour flight we had arrived in Cusco, Peru. We were picked up and then driven about an hour outside of Cusco to a town of 5,000 people called Andahuaylillas. Being in this rural town between the mountains really feels like I went back in time. There is one main road and many small farms with animals and a lot of corn. We were warned about how the altitude can affect your health, but luckily I have had no problems with feeling sick; even at the airport there was free coca leaves that travelers could take to help them if they were feeling sick. In the last 24 hours, we have had a lot of coca tea and lemon candies. We were told to take it easy the first day so our bodies could adjust to the altitude change. After a wonderful meal of spiced chicken and rice with avocados, beets, carrots, and broccoli we got ready for the next day. This morning, we saw three different churches in the Andes Region. They were the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. Unfortunately, we were not able to take photos, but I have never seen anything like it before. As my month abroad comes to an end, I want to tell myself to keep on pushing through. It is bittersweet to be leaving but I am also looking forward to going home and starting the summer. There is so much that this world has to offer and there are so many stories that are left untold. I often remind myself that this is an opportunity of a lifetime and that each moment brings something new. I have learned so much and cannot wait to being back all of my knowledge and experiences. In the next few days before returning to Lima, I hope to learn more about the culture of the people who live in this region. I am looking forward to visiting a school because I am very curious to see what education looks like here. Will it fit my idea of what high-quality education is? Do all children need to go to school? Although we are only here for a short time, I am confident we will learn a lot about the culture and land. Tomorrow morning we will be participating in an Andean Ritual and I am so excited to have that opportunity. We will be doing a lot of traveling in the next week and I have a feeling this will be the best week yet. Blog 12: In our last two days in Andahuaylillas we were able to explore a lot of new places and even take part in an Andean Ritual in the town of Cuyuni. The day started with a 2 hour bus ride up a very large mountain, and I must say that the ride was quite nauseating! Once we made it to the top, we were welcomed by Andean men and women who were dressed in traditional ritual attire, The ceremony included music, offering of the coca leaf, piercing the ears of llamas, and fire ceremony. They told as all about their beliefs and that the ceremony is to give thanks to Pachamama, also known as Mother Earth. After a really wonderful ritual experience, we traveled to one of the men’s home to see his sustainable house. With some help from community groups, he was able to create a more sustainable house. The most impressive addition was the manure recycler device. The manure was pressed and dried to be used as fertilizer, the liquid that was pressed out was used to water the land and the gas that formed was used to ignite the kitchen stove. It was a very impressive system and it was clear that it had helped their family so much. Once we had a complete tour of his home, we went back to the ritual site for lunch. We were served a wonderful array of vegetables, chicken, soup and even alpaca stew! Everything was so tasty and I enjoyed trying new dishes. On Monday, we started the day by visiting another Fe Y Alegria school in Andahuaylillas. In my opinion, the town is a very small rural town with beautiful churches and cobblestone streets barely big enough for one car. We were able to see some classrooms and learn all about their bilingual education mission. The majority of the students in this area speak Spanish and then learn the native Peruvian language of Quechua. The director of education who talked to us told us that some students walk to school from two hours everyday. The school was sitting on the mountain side and had beautiful flowers and green space all around; the students really seemed to enjoy their school and they were all very friendly to us. I believe that schools should offer equal opportunities for all students no matter what backgrounds they come from. Education should be guided by equity and justice because every student deserves an education and an opportunity for success. If schools were built around these values than all students would be successful in some sort of education. I see it in the same way as setting cheese out for a mouse; the cheese can be offered but the mouse needs to get it to eat or the mouse can leave it. For example, schools should value and offer equity and justice and students can take the opportunity or not. I believe that if schools set up all students for success and offer a equitable education that most students would take the opportunity to succeed. Of course, this is easier said than done. I believe that the majority of schools do want their schools to be equitable and just but they may lack resources, money, teachers, etc. Schools would need to have more equal money per pupil, more equal resources, more equal teacher experience and much more. It is very hard to achieve these values in every school everywhere but it can start with the teachers and how they treat their students. Instilling confidence and knowledge into students can go a long way. Blog 13: On Tuesday we spent the majority of the day in a bus driving for hours all around the Sacred Valley. We had some pit stops along the way. One of the stops was a town called Pisaq, which is in the heart of the Sacred Valley; Pisaq is home to many Incan farming terraces and Incan ruins. It had a beautiful view from the top of a mountain down into one part of the Sacred Valley. After an hour or so, we took the bus down to the market. Here there were endless vendors all along cobblestone streets. Tourists could buy anything from llama scarves to snow globes and even pottery. After lunch we traveled a few more hours to a quaint town called Ollantaytambo. We stopped here to do some more hiking and site seeing of ruins. We walked all around the town, before heading on a train to Aguas Calientes, the town where Machu Picchu is. That evening we arrived in Aguas Calientes and checked-in at our hotel for the night. We were told to get a good night’s sleep because the next morning we would head to Machu Picchu. Wednesday we woke up at the crack of dawn from the cock-a-doodle-doing of roosters outside of our window. We packed up our stuff and headed to another bus to drive us up the mountain that Machu Picchu sits on top on. The bus ride was 20 minutes of pure car sickness; zigzagging all the way to the top of a mountain in a hot bus packed with tourists. Peru controls the amount of visitors entering Machu Picchu by only letting 3,000 people visit each day, and only 400 people are able to do the Inca trail each day. The Inca trail takes four days and three nights to hike. Machu Picchu was absolutely stunning. We were so lucky because we had wonderful weather without a cloud in the sky; the air was crisp but perfect temperature with the sun shining. We spent about two hours at Machu Picchu and then headed back on the bus to go down the mountain. We then jumped back on the 2 hour train, and then into another bus to take the 2 hour drive back to the city of Cusco, where we will be staying for the next three days until we return to Lima for our flight home! This week the blog prompt asks about the relationship between culture and power and their part in education. I do think that there is a perceived power that comes with certain cultures. There is often an dominant culture which I interpret to be the culture that holds more power. I think that power and culture are often not talked about explicitly, but there is an underlying power struggle between cultures. In society, there is always people fighting for power and culture can often be tied into it. Power can be seen as money, status, tradition, or anything else, and these are all things that can cause conflict between different groups of people. I believe that these are topics that should be talked about in school. Like many topics, there are better ways than other to talk about power in relation to culture. Both are important and both can be explained in a way for students to understand in an unbiased way. I imagine that it can be difficult to talk about these topics in an unbiased way, but teachers just need to be careful in how they present the material to students.
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