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James Plunkett  is an American business person who fell in love with a Peruvian woman and relocated to Lima 49 years ago.  He opened our lecture series with a talk on presidential politics from the early 1960s until the present.  Camilo Ballumbrosio is an Afro-Peruvian musician descended from slaves brought from West Africa centuries ago and sold to plantation owners along the southern coast.  He offered our first workshop on the theme of music, teaching the students how to play a cajon (rectangular drum) and dance the zapateo (tap dance).  Jenny Menacho’s family originated in the town of Caras in the Andean highlands.  She works for the newly formed Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion and described the government’s recent efforts to bring those living on the margins of society into the mainstream.

To learn more about poverty and social exclusion we traveled to Villa El Salvador, a city located in Lima’s Southern Cone.  We began our visit in a settlement that dates back 15 years, a neighborhood that lacks both water and sewage systems.  Using funds provided by a donor we purchased several tanks of water and followed behind the tanker trucks offering water to the residents of the neighborhood.  This gave us a safe and meaningful way to walk the streets of Chavin de Huantar and get a glimpse of what life is like there.  Afterward we gathered in the modest home of a woman named Justina where we listened to the story of her neighbor, Corpusa, and enjoyed a lunch of pachamanca (“earthen pot,” a way of preparing chicken, potatoes and yams using herbs from the highlands).

In the afternoon we traveled farther south to a rural town called Lurin.  Our hosts were the directors of INTAP (Institute for Technical Agropecuary Education).  The institute is dedicated to improving livestock breeding and animal development.  Students come from all over Peru as well as other parts of South America to learn how to raise cuy, rabbits, chickens, donkeys, cows and other farm animals.  The highlight of our time was a riding demonstration with the famed caballo de paso (Peruvian walking horse), known for its smooth gate and graceful motion.  We watched a rendition of the marinera, a traditional dance from the coast that incorporates a caballo, and afterward were given a chance to mount one of the horses.

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Machu Picchu

The Spanish never found Machu Picchu.  They must have ridden their horses along the river bottom far below, but no horse could have climbed the steep slope covered in thick vegetation that separated the valley floor from the citadel above.  It was only in 1911 that an American university professor, Hiram Bingham, stumbled upon the site.  He did not actually discover the place — it was already known to locals and an Andian family lived here, living off the crops they grew on the terraces constructed centuries before.  But Hiram Bingham was an archaeologist, a photographer and a communicator.  Within a year of his first visit to what is now one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, his photos and story appeared on the pages of National Geographic.  One hundred years later, Machu Picchu is the most-visited international tourist destination in South America.

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On Day Two of our journey we visited Maras, the Inca site where salt for preserving meat and seasoning food was produced.  Charki is the Quechua word for salted and dried llama or alpaca meat.  Charky is the likely origin of the English word “jerky.”  Amazingly, the salt-works still functions centuries later — hundreds of families from the nearby town collectively own and maintain the operation.  After exploring the area we boarded the bus for a short drive to Moray.  This archaeological site is unique on the planet, a set of 13 concentric terraces that were used to simulate growing conditions at different elevations and climate zones.  Inca agronomists experimented with different varieties of corn, potatoes, habas (broad beans) and other crops here, testing where they might grow best.  In the afternoon we traveled a bit further to the town of Chincheros, where women from a weaving cooperative served us a family-style lunch and demonstrated weaving techniques passed down through many generations.  Our hosts shear wool from their alpacas, spin it into yarn, color it with natural dyes and weave it into beautiful pieces of art.

Day three began in the “living museum” village of Ollantaytambo.  The students hiked to a set of colcas (storehouses) perched on a steep hillside far above the nearest house.  The next stop was the archaeological site that sits on the opposite hillside, a well-known fortress where Manco Inca defeated Francisco Pizarro’s brother, Hernando, in a rare victory for the Incas.  The Incas were experts at bringing water from sources high in the mountains to their population centers below — Manco Inca drove the Spanish cavalry away by flooding the plain below his fortress.  Today the site is remarkable for its fine stone work and commanding view of the valley.  Ollantaytambo is also the staging area for world-famous Machu Picchu.  One of the “Seven Wonders of the World,” Machu Picchu is not accessible by road — the only way to reach it is by taking the train that departs here several times a day.

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Catalina Jimenez, an agronomist at the National University of San Antonio de Abad in Cusco, described the 21st century impacts of mining on the Peruvian landscape.  Mining is the main driver of the Peruvian economy, a source of dollars, euros, yen and countless other currencies in exchange for the gold, silver, copper, lead, tin and other minerals that are readily found in these mountains.  Unfortunately, virtually all of the minerals are shipped out of Peru as raw materials — there is very little manufacturing and the earnings from mining are used to purchase electronics and other consumer products that are made from the very materials that were exported.  Mining also causes air, water and soil contamination that destroys the environment and impacts human health.  And the social consequences can be devastating as well.  Miners typically relocate to hastily-constructed camps near the pits for 20-25 days at a time.  Without the presence of their spouses and families, they quickly spend much of the wages they earn on alcohol, prostitutes and illegal drugs.  This phenomenon has led to high incidences of alcoholism, drug addiction and sexually-transmitted diseases among both miners and the Andean people who live near them.  Professor Jimenez called for better programs to deal with these problems and invited the students to return to Peru some day in order to lend their expertise and help promote a more sustainable future.

Sacsayhuaman is an epic archaeological complex situated above the city of Cusco.  Once considered a “temple of fertility” (Sacsa Uma in Quechua), the name was changed after a bloody battle between Spanish solders and Inca warriors.  Sacsayhuaman means “satisfied falcon.”  Our guide, Oswaldo Palomino, described how birds from the surrounding area flocked here due to the presence of so many corpses on the battlefield.  Today the place is a marvel to behold — huge stones, tightly fitted together, form the shape of a lightning bolt.  After touring the main site the group was led past the Temple of the Moon to a grassy area where the students enjoyed a picnic lunch before beginning a 10-kilometer hike back to town.  Along the way they witnessed a ceremony performed by a curandero, or shaman, who offered his payment to Pachamama (mother earth), a practice that continues today.

The end of the week brought the conclusion of our program of lectures, workshops and Spanish classes in the Andes.  The students’ instructors and host families were invited to a clausura (farewell celebration) featuring thank you’s, a slide show, music, singing and refreshments.  The students returned home with their families and enjoyed their last weekend together before embarking on a five-day tour of the Sacred Valley.

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We made a four-day trip to a village called San Juan de Quihuares to see if we could catch a glimpse of the peasantry.  Our route took us across a 4,200 meter (13,780 feet) pass with breath-taking views of snow-capped peaks.  We stopped along the way for an Andean-style picnic of boiled potatoes, huacartay herb sauce, fresh cheese and corn on the cob.  When we arrived in the village we carried our bags a short distance to the San Juan de Quihuares Evangelical Mennonite Church, a small adobe building that provides a place of worship to a dozen families here.  The students were paired up and, one by one, host family members appeared at the church to escort the students back to their homes.  As the sun set behind the mountains we were amazed at the stars that emerged in the night sky — the Milky Way soon came into view and we marveled at how beautiful the heavens can be when there are no street lights to distract us.

The next day we met at the church for a service project — adobe-making.  The sanctuary is constructed of 4,500 adobe bricks, but more are needed to complete the smaller buildings and walls that surround it.  We got our hands and feet dirty as we prepared the soil, added water and ichu grass, blended the mixture with our bare feet, and pressed it into forms.  After a hard day’s work alongside our Andean hosts we gathered in a semi-circle and counted 230 adobe bricks; they will spend the next few weeks drying in the sun.

On the following day we joined the families from the church for a time of worship, rest and recreation.  The children began arriving early — 7:00 am — for Sunday school.  We played games, sang songs and told the story of the Tower of Babel from the book of Genesis.  We then gathered together with the rest of the congregation to share praise songs, hymns, prayers, another story and a message delivered in one, two or three languages: our native English, the villagers’ native Quechua, and the language we both consider our “second” one — Spanish — the tongue that brings us together.  For lunch we devoured steaming bowls of lamb stew, made from a young sheep that was butchered in our presence the day before.  Afterward we climbed the hill to the school playground and enjoyed games of soccer and volleyball.

On our final day in San Juan de Quihuares we gathered at the village’s alternative school.  Children from the surrounding countryside spend two-week periods living and studying at the school, then return home for the rest of each month to share what they have learned with their families.  The lessons are focused on what young people in this rural community find most relevant — improving their crops, tending their animals, hygiene, nutrition and health as well as the three R’s and other traditional subjects.  Prior to our visit we were asked by the school’s director to make a presentation, so the students came prepared with skits on the topic of domestic violence and non-violent conflict resolution.

Taking our cue from our workshop presenter the previous week, Cirilo Aguilar from the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations, we ended our presentation by asking the children to write down an insult or discouraging remark that they have recently heard on small pieces of paper shaped like clouds.  We taped all the clouds on top of a large yellow sun and noted how they obscured its light.  Then we asked the children to write down a complement or encouraging remark on yellow pieces of paper shaped like the sun’s rays.  We replaced the clouds (insults) with the rays (complements) and, sure enough, not only did the construction-paper sun take on a different appearance, but the real sun, the one God created, suddenly emerged from behind the clouds and warmed us all.

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Next came a workshop on the topic of domestic violence by Cirilo Aguilar from the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations.  According to the statistics he presented, 41% of Peruvian women are victims of violence perpetrated by their spouses or partners.  The figure is 28% in the U.S.  Mr. Aguilar discussed the reasons why domestic violence is so prevalent, and the responses of the women who are victims.  He cited a culture of machismo as one of the primary factors and suggested ways to bring about change.  We followed his presentation with a lunch of lomo saltado (stir-fried beef with onions, tomatoes and french fries) and the students spent the rest of the day in their Spanish classes.

The next day we visited a well-known Catholic Church in the town of Andahuaylillas.  The ornate painting on both the walls and ceiling of this 17th century building are comparable to churches in Rome and other parts of Europe.  The church is often referred to as The Cistine Chapel of America.  Our guide, Abraham, explained the concept of syncretism, the blending of Catholicism with Andean religious customs and practices.  One fine example we noted is a painting of the Virgin Mary, depicted in the shape of a mountain with a halo shaped like the sun over her head.  To the Andean people, mountains (known as Apus) were protectors and the sun (known as Inti) was a god.  Placing these powerful symbols into Catholic iconography made the new religion from Europe easier to accept and led to a particularly Andean form of Catholicism in this part of the world.

On the following day we gathered near Huacarpay Lake for Goshen Tambo, a weekly break from our academic routine.  We listened to a story from the Old Testament about several prophets and then reflected on the role of the prophetic voice in today’s society.  Our setting was a complex of Wari ruins dating back to 900 years before Christ — it was profound to sit among ancient walls and buildings that were constructed at about the same time the words of the Old Testament prophets were uttered.  We followed our discussion with a hike to nearby Lucre, taking back roads and trails that have been used for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.  There we dined on trout raised in ponds fed by a mountain stream.

We returned to the classroom the following day for a lecture on climate change by Gladys Allende, a professor at San Antonio de Abad University, the second oldest university in Peru.  Professor Allende described both the reasons for a changing climate and the local impacts here in the Andes mountains.  The rainy season brings as much water as ever but has been shortened by several months, leading to flooding in the cities and erosion in the countryside.  Glaciers are melting and rivers are running lower during the dry season.  Agricultural productivity has fallen.  Insects from lower elevation areas are becoming common at higher elevations, leading to crop loss and the spread of diseases like dengue fever and malaria in areas where these were once unknown.  Efforts are being made to adapt to these changes but more help is needed.

Two musicians, Amaru Megia Suniga and Mauro Claros Chatas, brought a variety of native instruments to their workshop on Andean music.  These included the quena (flute),  zampona (pan flute) and bonbo (drum).  They played each of them for us, illustrating the changes that have occurred as Andean music evolved from wind instruments and a pentatonic (five-note) scale to a blending of winds and strings and a full seven-note scale.  Amaru and Mauro are talented musicians and born entertainers, and at some point we all got up to dance as they played a traditional Huayno.

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The students spent their first night at the Sol de Oro (Golden Sun) retreat center.  Some explored the neighborhood of adobe houses recently constructed on the dirt road above the center.  Others rested — life at 3,399 meters (11,152 feet) above sea level takes some getting used to.  The low pressure atmosphere in the Andes makes it difficult for the human body to get the oxygen it needs, but people normally acclimate within several days. Meanwhile, we finished our SST orientation with a discussion of life with an Andean host family and a description of the academic expectations for the semester.

The next day the students boarded two buses:  one headed down the valley toward the villages of Lucre and Huacarpay and the other up the valley toward the community of Winpillay.  The students unloaded their suitcases and backpacks at Huacarpay Evangelical Mennonite Church, Lucre Evangelical Mennonite Church and Winpillay Luthern Church.  And then, one by one, their host families arrived to pick them up and walk them the short distance to their homes.

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