Study-Service Term

Villa Maria is an hour’s bus drive south of Miraflores, where we have our lectures, workshops and Spanish classes.  It’s often referred to as a pueblo joven, or young city, because it didn’t exist fifty years ago.  In fact, most of the populated areas in the “cones” that occupy Lima’s periphery were bare hillsides in 1950, when less than one million people lived here.  Today there are over 8 million inhabitants.

What is life like in a pueblo joven?  We organized a two-day visit to Villa Maria with our program assistant, Alicia, to find out.  Alicia settled here in 1979 — she, her husband and infant son “invaded” a vacant area with hundreds of other families in a desperate attempt to make a new life for themselves.  They first built a shack made of esteras (woven reed mats).  They soon replaced the mats with plywood.  Later, as they were able to save money, they replaced the plywood with cement blocks and a tin roof.  It took years until the local government granted them title to the property and, eventually, basic services like water, sewer and electric lines were installed.

We learned about all this by spending time in Alicia’s home and hearing her story.   Her sisters, Martha and Carmen, and daughters, Janeth and Sara, opened up their homes to us, providing meals and places to spend the night.  Her son-in-law, Glicerio, taught us how to prepare lomo saltado — he’s a chef at the Marriot Hotel in Miraflores.   Her husband, Oswaldo, hearing of our desire to see a younger version of a pueblo joven, organized a convoy of moto-taxis to take us to a four-year old settlement where their son, Richard, has worked to level a piece of the hillside and construct a home for his young family.  And Alicia’s grandchildren hosted us to games of soccer and volleyball after the temperature cooled off later in the afternoon.

The next day we met Senora Gregoria, an expert gardener, at a community gardening project to volunteer our services.  We learned how the vacant land under the power lines was transformed into growing space in a partnership between the municipal government, the electric company, a nonprofit organization and the families that live in this part of Villa Maria.  Then she explained our service project:  building two large “hot-beds”.  The idea was to install a plastic liner, laced with holes, a half meter below the surface to help retain water and fertilizer in this sandy soil.  We accepted the challenge, enjoying a few hours in the hot sun, getting some exercise and doing our small part to help the ten families that garden here grow healthy food for their children and generate a little income from selling the surplus.

We began our Lima study program at Catedral del Buen Pastor (Cathedral of the Good Shepherd), our venue for lectures, workshops and Spanish classes.  The host families helped each student find their way to Good Shepherd using public transportation, a small but significant feat given the complexity of Lima’s commercial bus system.

Our study coordinator, Celia, gave a presentation on Lima culture, comparing the customs in Peru’s capital with those in the Andes.  James Plunkett, an American who has lived here for over 40 years, described recent political events and gave his perspective on Peru’s rapidly-growing economy.   Dr. Eduardo Arroyo explained the racial/ethnic composition of Peru, highlighting the differences between the criollo culture prominent here along the coast and the cholo (Andean) culture that characterizes the highlands.  Pedro Farias used dance to illustrate the differences between the coastal, highland and rain forest cultures, giving us a chance to learn a few steps from traditional dances of each region.

To gain a better understanding of Peru’s capital city and an appreciation of the changes that have taken place since the Spanish colonial period, we boarded a bus for downtown Lima with our study coordinator, Celia.  The tour began at the Plaza de Armas, a large public space with a fountain in the center and impressive buildings on each side.  One of these, the Cathedral, has served as the center of Peru’s Roman Catholic church for over four centuries.  It is also the burial place of many notable Limenos, including the city’s founder, Francisco Pizarro.  The Cathedral features grand architecture and an interesting collection of religious relics.

From the Cathedral the students walked along a pedestrian mall, enjoying the sunshine and sights along the way.  The walk revealed a more recent side of Lima’s development, where North American brands like McDonalds are becoming increasingly popular.  After a tour of a beautiful colonial building where the country’s oldest university, San Marcos, got its start, the students dined on criollo cuisine (e.g. anticuchos, potato salad, baked chicken) at a favorite local restaurant, La Casona.  Then they returned to Good Shepherd for their afternoon language classes.

We returned from our 19-day adventure in the Andes and were warmly welcomed to Peru’s capital city by twenty-three eager host families.  Several of the families who live near the Lima airport met us there while the others gathered at Catedral Buen Pastor (Good Shepherd Cathedral) in Miraflores.  Our study coordinator, Celia, made the introductions and we enjoyed refreshments prepared by our program assistant, Alicia.  Then, one by one, the families departed with their newest members and ventured out into the warm evening air.

One of the seven wonders of the modern world.  UNESCO World Heritage site.  Best-preserved Inca city in South America.  Probably the most-visited tourist destination on the continent.

There are many ways to describe Machu Picchu (“old peak” in quechua).  For the Inca people, this was a sacred place, somewhere people came to offer gifts to Inti, the sun god, and Pachamama, mother earth.

The remote location kept Machu Picchu a secret for centuries.  In 1911 Yale professor Hiram Bingham “discovered” this archaeological marvel with the help of local farmers.  He returned a year later with a grant from National Geographic and a camera from George Eastman (founder of Eastman Kodak).  The Peruvian government provided labor to clear away the vegetation, revealing  a complex of walls and structures hidden since the Spanish conquest.  And the rest is history.

Today, some 10,000 visitors per day visit this breath-taking place, snapping photos and gazing in awe at what the Incas were able to build on this mountain, perched thousands of feet above the river valley below.

We had the rare privilege of visiting on a sunny day in the middle of the rainy season.  We toured the ancient city with our guide, Oswaldo, then hiked to the top of Huayna Picchu for a picture-perfect view of the ruins and the rain forest that surrounds it.

We said goodbye to the host families in San Jeronimo, Huacarpay and Lucre and prepared for the last leg of our adventure in the Andes — an exploration of the Sacred Valley.  We began in Pisac, touring the vast archaeological site high above the valley.  Then we hiked down, down, down to the main plaza in the center of town to check out the Sunday market.  It’s the rainy season and we were due for a good rain.  And hail too?  We got soaked on our way down the mountain!

The next day we awoke to sunshine and spent the whole day exploring Ollantaytambo.  We began on the seldom-visited “colca” side of the valley.  This is where the Incas stored surplus products such as dried potatoes, grains, cloth and items for trade.  Then we visited the home of a friend of our guide, Oswaldo, a house that has been inhabited for more than 500 years.  A variety of odd and interesting items were on display there.  Afterwards we climbed up to the top of the fortress to appreciate the fine stonework and take in the impressive view of the valley below.  And at day’s end we boarded a train … for Machu Picchu.