Peru

The first photo I have chosen to include is intended to set the scene; it shows the view of part of the city of Cusco from up in the arts district. The city is nestled in the Andes Mountains at a whopping 11,200 feet of elevation (3,400 meters) and is home to some approximately 500,000 people. There are a lot of nearby opportunities for sight-seeing, including Machu Picchu and various other hikes. The Andes make up the middle geographical region in the country, with the coastal region to the west and the Amazon Rainforest to the east. 

The Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Adaptation course included several field trips to learn from sites in and around Cusco. One of these, a trip to the Huatanay River, helped us to understand the political and economic realities faced there in regards to water quality. We watched as a pipe dumped a third of the city's wastewater directly into the stream untreated as birds, including this gull, searched for food in the brown water. We discussed the barriers to infrastructure improvement, such as how long those kinds of investments take while election cycles are much shorter. Additionally, the monetary resources available to undertake large projects like water treatment facilities are often more accessible in countries with a larger tax base. Walking along the river was also a tangible lesson, as I could feel my empty stomach roiling from the smell of the wastewater. Getting to take part in field trips like this one allowed us to connect our classroom learning to the world around us, which I found especially valuable in an environmental field. 

This sign along a major street in Cusco reads "The trees give us oxygen, don't destroy them." I saw many signs with the same or similar messages in parks and green spaces there, noting the importance of the environment. Some cultural ideas there about the environment differ from what is most common here. For example, Pachamama is a feminine presence, a kind of deity which represents the interconnectedness of everything on earth for Quechua people in Peru. In English Mother Nature is referred to as a kind of similar concept, but in Cusco Pachamama is taken a lot more seriously as an important spiritual figure. However, belief in the Pacha and Pachamama changes across the country, and it is most prominent in mountain regions and with the Andean peoples. While people care deeply about the environment, environmentally destructive practices, like both illegal and legal mining, cause a lot of pollution. These practices are driven by financial incentives and sometimes reflect government corruption.

While based in Cusco, we were able to go on several nearby hikes, including one to Lake Humantay, a pool of snowmelt known for its bright blue color. The snowpack pictured here is what feeds the blue pool below, but climate change has led to a loss of snowpack there and in much of the surrounding area due to climate change. As an Environmental and Sustainability Studies student, I've participated in multiple in-class discussions regarding the paradoxes inherent in eco-tourism, and that was very present on my mind during this excursion. While the entrance fees we paid presumably help to fund environmental protection programs, we had all flown to the country, a very carbon-intensive form of transportation, and driven further into the mountains to take part in an activity which is largely undertaken by foreigners and ultimately is inaccessible to many Peruvians. 

One of the new seven wonders of the ancient world, Machu Picchu was another beautiful site heavily targeted toward international tourists. This is located in the high jungle ecoregion of Peru, described as a kind of gate from the mountainous Andes to the lower-lying Peruvian rainforest. The Incan empire, which built Machu Picchu, was largely based in the mountainous region, while many different Indigenous groups of people have lived and continue to live in the rainforest. Today, the Indigenous Quechua people live in many mountainous regions in Peru.

Although the summer program which I took part in does not include a trip to the lower jungle area, I was able to make the journey there with some friends from my program, and the life there truly blew us away. I've included photos of a caiman lurking in the Madre De Dios River and a Fork-tailed Nightjar sitting on a bush along Lake Sandoval, but there were so many other critters that I wish I could include too.

Having been to both the highlands and the jungle regions of the country, at the end of my trip I was finally able to visit the coast before my flight back to Omaha. There, we toured the Ballestas Islands, where we saw crabs, dolphins, sea lions, a penguin, and so many other birds. Here, I swear this sea lion pup was posing for me, and we watched as the lonely penguin hopped from one rock to the next. 

By far the most fun landscape for me to photograph, these sand dunes sit slightly inland around the desert oasis of Huacachina. After having completed our classes, it was lovely to relax, go sandboarding and watch the sunset over this dreamlike scene. 

Throughout this trip, by far one of my favorite parts was getting to know the other students in my program. I made friends who I miss every day, and I'm so grateful that I got to share this experience with them. Although I didn't ever manage to take a photo with everyone in it, this picture (from our hike to rainbow mountain) I hope will suffice. Pictured here are Eric, Emma, Kayla, Bryce, and Erica, and the other members of the program were Julie, Ella, Carson, Dani, Elizabeth, Evelyn, and Marina.