Peruvian Cultural Influences

We started the day with Sunday mass at the Lima Cathedral. More than one student mumbled, "don't they have a 9:30 mass?" This meant another early morning...breakfast at 5:45 and departure at 6:15. Four students didn't wake up in time, which means 25 students did. It's all how you look at it, I guess. We rumbled out the hotel a bit late, but made it just in time for mass. Students were attentive and respectful. But as Dr. Imperial says, "there's a fine line between sleeping and behaving."

After an abrupt ending to mass, with Lily’s breakfast deciding to make an appearance outside the church (leaving it as a snack for the birds), we visited the National University of San Marcos where we enjoyed a full tour of the campus, which is celebrating its 475th anniversary this year - you thought Saint Mary's was old... Then we had the wonderful opportunity to immerse ourselves in an Afro-Peruvian dance/music lesson where we learned a simple drum beat and steps to go along with it. We learned that K'Mani has been holding out on us with her moves. Fun fact: The cajón is an instrument created by Afro-Peruvians from boxes they used to carry vegetables. In the 1960s flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía came to Perú, saw the instrument realized it could replace/combine with the palmas in Flamenco - that is how the cajón became an integral of flamenco music.

In the afternoon, we went to the Casa Hacienda Los Ficus, a horse breeding and event venue outside downtown Lima. The drive was filled with views of many shanty-towns, built precariously on the side of mountains, and some desert-like sand dunes. We learned about the precarious situation of many people in the highlands during the Shining Path (1980-1993), who came to Lima to escape terrorism and stayed. When we arrived at the Hacienda, we were transported to a colonial-style home and large yard area with 20 horse stables - an almost-shocking difference. We were immersed in the Peruvian culture of horse marinera, and learned about how to become a Chalán, which is a horse rider. Gaby said she literally willed this to happen in her dreams last night, and she smiled so hard her face hurt the rest of the day. Then we feasted on another sumptuous meal, eating, yet again, another plate full of potatos. So far, we have had potatoes in 5 of the last 7 meals, with many more to come.

Later, we visited the Pachacamac ruins, walked around various sites that are part of a pre-Incan town that very little is actually known about since there are no written records. We visited the east part of the village that was the last inhabited part of the site and contemplated making Mr. Sutphin a human sacrifice to bring good fortune to our trip, at the the same temples the chiefs used thousands of years ago. After we took a long hike up to the top of the largest pyramid, where we looked over the Pacific Ocean and the entire city. Reid and Jackson spotted the first llamas of the trip, which is auspicious and is said to bring good luck. 🦙🦙

A few other student highlights:

Natalie's ability to capture a moment in tik-tok is hard to match
Tobias shared his excellent taste in music - unmatched in Ms. Sachowitz's humble opinion (Orishas, Paulo Londra - check them out)

Today's blog post is brought to you by Sachowitz, Sutphin and student travelers Arely, Gaby, Aoife, & Lily. Check-in tomorrow for some more student voices.