Peru: Indigenous Peoples and Globalization

Homestays

The program includes urban and rural homestays in order to expose students to different Peruvian lifestyles, perspectives, and identities. By sharing daily activities with their families, students are fully immersed within the local culture and have a unique opportunity to practice their Spanish and Quechua language skills.

Cusco
Students live with host families for six weeks in one of two neighborhoods along Cusco's Avenida Cultural. Students engage in daily activities with their homestay family which could include playing soccer in the neighborhood park, taking weekend trips, or joining in celebrations and religious holidays. Through daily conversations with host family members, students discuss their impressions and experiences of Cusco while exchanging cultural information and insights.

Colca Canyon
Students spend five days with a Quechua-speaking family in a rural community in Colca Canyon; specific locations include Yanque, Coporaque, Sibayo and Callalli. In Colca, students become immersed in the daily routine of the Andean countryside. Students may assist their families in the sowing of potatoes or the harvesting and grazing of cows or sheep. Students staying with Quechua families living above 3,800 meters may be invited to participate in the shaving of male (October-November) and female (March) alpacas.

For Colca families, the experience of hosting students has contributed to the empowerment of their communities. Families partnering with SIT Study Abroad from Sibayo town, for example, have created their own Communal Tourist Association. The Association has recently signed an agreement with the Municipality and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID) to restore their traditional stone houses with straw roofs. SIT has supported this initiative in addition to endorsing other local associations. In both March and November 2008, SIT organized workshops on Novo Andean cuisine, intended to generate interest and pride among local families in Andean cuisine. A chef from Cusco City traveled to Colca for the occasion.

Local residents are becoming increasingly involved in the tourism business while reshaping their own lives as Quechua and Andean farmers.

Other accommodations during the program include hostels, private homes, small hotels, and shelters in the Amazon.