Student journal entries

Check out the student journal entries from Summer 2010 here!

Our itinerary for Summer 2010 is ready! We'll have access to phones and internet through June 7th and then again after the 24th. There might be email at Cocha Cashu but don't count on it..

Let's go to Peru!
2-Jun Transfer airport/hotel
Overnight H. Mami Panchita Lima
3-Jun Private bus Lima/Paracas/Pisco
Overnight H.Refugio del Pirata
4-Jun Boat Islas Ballestas
Bus Pisco/Lima
Overnight H. Backpakers Lima
5-Jun Transfer hotel/apto
Flight Lima/Cusco
Transfer apto/hotel
Overnight H. Familiar
6-Jun Free day in Cusco
Overnight H. Familiar
7-Jun Private bus Cusco/Wayquecha (ACCA)
Overnight Wayquecha /2 noche
9-Jun Private bus Wayquecha/San Pedro
Visit cock of the rock lek
Overnight Posada San Pedro /1 night
10-Jun Overnight Posada San Pedro /1 night
11-Jun Overnight Posada San Pedro /1 night
12-Jun Private bus San Pedro/Atalaya
Private boat Atalaya/Pantiacolla Lodge
Overnight Pantiacolla Lodge /2 nights
14-Jun Private boat PL/Pakitza
Overnight camping
15-Jun Private boat Pakitza/Cashu
Overnight camping Cashu/8 nights
Private boats Cashu 7d
23-Jun Private boat Cashu/Boca Manu
Overnight Yine Lodge
24-Jun Private boat Boca Manu/Atalaya
Bus Atalaya/Bosque Nublado
Overnight Posada San Pedro/1night
25-Jun Bus Cloud Forest/Cusco
Overnight H.Familiar
26-Jun Transfer hotel/trainstation Piscacucho
Backpacker train Cusco/Ag. Cal.
Overnight H. Machupicchu Ag. Cal.
27-Jun Backpacker train Ag. Cal./Cusco
Transfer trainstation Piscacucho/hotel
Overnight H.Familiar
28-Jun Transfer hotel/apto
Flight Cusco/Lima

Living and exploring history

Parks, reserves, zoos, playgrounds, plazas, backyards, gardens, fields, cities, highways--they are all cultural constructed spaces with natural features. Do they share a unified meaning? What sets them apart? Why do people make them? These places are our platform for jumping head first into Latin America's past.
On this program, we'll not only see and experience the best of biological splendor--at each site we'll consider how different societies have used and conserved these lands over time. In Paracas, we'll ask how it was that bird guano came to be Peru's economic gold mine in the late nineteenth century? As we ascend to the cloud forest, we'll ask why some plants--like coca leaves--acquire such cultural power. While journey deeper away from home, we'll consider why the rain forest tugs at our imaginations and inhabits our wildest dreams? It even pulls like a siren song on U.S. presidents! What does it mean to say some place is "wilderness," and why isn't there a Spanish word for it? As we wander through the modern ancient city of Cusco we'll ask why Inca architecture persists and who it now serves. As we travel to the Sacred Valley, we'll inquire why did the Incas build Machu Picchu and how it was that a Yale archeologist made it famous?

In all of our stops we'll look at the ways nature and culture echo in each other considering how conflict and coexistence among human groups shape nature's form and the way the landscape in turn shapes societies. Students will keep journals and respond to these sorts of questions and we'll engage experts in history and anthropology as well as primary documents in our quest to explain just how societies in Latin America have used and conserved nature.
It will be awesome.

Information Meeting January 26th 7:30 pm

We'll be having a short presentation on the Peru Summer Abroad program, including the Biodiversity Course (BIO369) and the History of Nature Conservation in Latin America course (HST 350), this coming Tuesday at 7:30 pm in room 126 Winston Hall.  Come find out all about it!