Our classrooms are cozy, natural lighted, surrounded by gardens. We have comfortable seating and all kinds of visual aids.
We offer a classroom big enough to hold comfortably the group.

We are equipped with overhead and slide projectors, video, DVD, TV, as well as film and digital photography.
We offer, coffee, and internet facilities.

Participative Activities
Joining day life of local communities involves a great deal of positive experiences.

Activities of peasants, farmers or shamans are very far from the routine that our students are used to. Meeting peoples of diverse cultures in their natural environment and in their daily routine is doubtless breathtaking. This is as we believe the most authentic form of approaching a new culture.

A group of students from different universities in Lima (most of them speak fluent English and have been in USA sometime) have invited us to share with them a typical lunch prepared by their selves.

Cieneguilla Day
A group of students from different universities in Lima (most of them speak fluent English and have been in USA sometime) have invited us to share with them a typical lunch prepared by their selves.

We will have the opportunity to help them cooking, and learn some Andean Cuisine.

They also prepared for us some activities, as trekking, sports, and adventure.

LIMA

School Interaction

Snack included

We choose a School from a typical mid class neighborhood in Lima, and invite them to join for the activities of the day.

We pick them up from their School, we visit their facilities, and then sharing same transportation we visit an amusement park (Parque de las Leyendas) that unlike any other park includes displays on the Peruvian Geography, tales, and also an area of Zoo.

What is special of this interaction is that school children learn from each other, exchange mails and ensure a further communication.

We share a pic nic, and leave the host children at their school on time for their transportation back home.

Craftsmen interaction:

This group of craftsmen in Lima is formed by members of families who migrated from the Andes in to the City in search of new opportunities after the violent years of Shining path.

Keeping the same social organization, family links and communal survival strategies, they had to use their skills and best abilities to face a huge market, and the competitivity became part of their learning.

After a time they succeeded and the production grew.
Share with them the testimony of their lives.

We’ll visit them either in their shops or alternatively in their workshops.

Local entrepreneurs

Villa Salvador was an empty land only 30 years ago. Thousands of poor peasants arrived from the Andes and started living in very modest huts.

Today this city is blooming with industry and the export business grows year after year.

We’ll visit the plants of a couple of chosen industries (Furniture and metal craftsmanship), and then we’ll have an Interaction with two different groups: Workers and also entrepreneurs to whom we will invite to lunch.

CUSCO

Introductory talk on the Andean culture. Conference and slides show

This is a very important activity, since the students will get the information that will allow them to have a frame of time and space of the Peruvian Culture, so they will learn the basics in History and Geography.

Other fields will be Wildlife, and the Inkas empire political organization.
Most teachers choose questions from this presentation for the after trip evaluation.

School interaction

We choose to invite a few students from a classroom about the same age than our young travelers. Some 10 ‘12 students are selected by their high scores in English and are encouraged to share experiences with the visitors.

We visit their school early in the morning and pick them up in the same transportation we will use for the tour.

We may need an extra Van to get all students. We move into an open field nearby the archaeological area of Saqsaywaman.
The Teachers, both from visitor and host school agree to start breaking ice games, they introduce each other, and interchange email addresses.
They may be willing to perform songs or dances, before a 30 minute soccer match. The teams are mixed visitors and hosts to avoid any advantage of the locals.

Before depart they share a snack and we send them back to school on time for the transportation back home, while the visitors continue on with their tour activities.

Ritual demonstration

Understanding the ancient Religion of the Andes, and also the form how Andean peoples relate themselves to the divinity and the Universe is our Goal for today.

A ritual specialist will gather with the students and explain the Cosmovision of the ancient and present cultures in the Andes. Then he will have on display a ritual table and will form an offering to mother earth.

Every one of the elements given to earth, as well as the way how the group making the offering behaves will give the students a feeling of closeness to the nature.
Natives understand that the only way to approach to God and the supernatural world is through nature, and then they honour the sun, the moon, mother earth.

Even tough we do not call a ritual to this demonstration; it plays a rol of a thanksgiving action to Mother Nature.

Most visitors remain very motivated to this approach to the spirituality since they understand it as a thanks giving ritual to creation.

Textiles are best example of art in the Andes. These women are heirs of the ancient weavers and keep their millennium old tradition

Weaving more than manufacturing the garments and dresses, is a form of expression of a complex inner world of Andean women. We can learn from them, not only the simplicity of their procedures, but also the complexity of their concepts. Every event in their lives is expressed. Weaving is a meditation but also involves action.

Gathering with these women, learning from them, and sharing their meals and their time, is a great learning experience.

Agricultural Demonstration

Farming procedures are always a matter of great interest.
However the farming in the Andes is most interesting, since the process remains very much alike it was in the old days.

Territory of slopes, hills and valleys, diverse eco systems, variety of weathers and climates have determined the most varied agriculture corresponding to a mega diverse country.

We´ll try the use of traditional tools, learn about the organization of working teams and witness the working display.
Afterwards we can alternatively have a lunch with local peasants (We share our pic nic lunch with whatever they have brought for the working day), and everyone of us will get a taste of each other’s food.

Awana Cancha (Alpaca farm and textiles)

On the way to Pisaq there is a very interesting site. A corner nearby the edge of a mountain that was formerly an agricultural field since the Inka´s time, has been recovered and restored to become a display on Andean camelids ( The owner have brought Llamas, Alpacas, Vicuñas and even a Guanaco of different breeds.

They have also replicated the environment of the high plateaus.
After getting a full explanation of the diversity of the fiber, natural colors and so forth.

In the same facilities they have welcomed members of several communities of natives. They come to put in display the textiles process and you can talk to them and learn their forms of life and work.
Next stage in this space will bring us to a display in the finest garments and will allow us the opportunity of shopping.

Cultural insights

Ginea pigs are either pets and groumet delicacy

Folk show & dance participation

Centro Qosqo is a 80 year old institution for the folklore, music and art in Cusco. The performers, all of them Cusco students have a daily show in a theatre, where they perform music and dances for tourists.
We attend to this, and arrange some dance lessons. In some past groups our students jumped on stage and shared the musical culture of Cusco.

A farewell dinner in a fine restaurant will be accompanied with a participation of our students.
Dressing is in the Andes considered an art, and therefore every garment is unique, in design, colors and occasion of use.
Our students have learned that, and are ready to represent the costumes they have choosed for the occasion.

By the end of the dinner, and after the folk show with local performers, they organize themselves to perform a talent show and a fashion display.
Every participant will show the dresses and go through a passageway with some dance and live music he or she will also explain the meaning of the diverse garments.