By Soumya, an Instructor
Hello friends and families of our lovely A&A dragoncitxs!
It has been a few days since we’ve shared an update, and much has happened since then. Thank you for your patience! We’re writing this from the sunny, warm coastal town of Mejía, where we’ve pivoted mid-orientation to avoid the torrential downpour and resulting road closures in the Arequipa area. We are in the rainy season; however, we have been told that this level of precipitation is pretty unprecedented and here at the coast, we have fortunately been isolated from the fallout.
We had originally planned to spend our whole orientation period at a beautiful and rustic farmstay called Tukuy Pacha, located about an hour outside of Arequipa. Despite the rain, for the day we spent there, students were in high spirits, albeit cold and a bit wet. After not even a full day there, our I-team decided to look for another space in Arequipa where we could carry out the rest of orientation. Orientation is an important foundation for the program, and we wanted to do it in a setting where we could be supported in successfully carrying out our activities. Despite our short stay there, students bonded over their love/hate relationship with the farm dog, Pulgas, a delectable multi-course breakfast, enjoying the view of the 170-year old tree grounding the property, and peeking glances at the cows, goats, and alpaca in the barnyard. We were very grateful for the flexibility of the group as we transitioned back to Arequipa and landed back in the historic city center at an Airbnb.
For the next few days, our days looked pretty similar. We would start our mornings with a stretch circle, followed by a daily check-in. Then we would walk a few blocks to the mercado where we would drink fresh fruit smoothies and explore sandwiches and empanada options for breakfast. Students got introduced to fruits such as lúcuma, carambola, chirimoya, etc. In the mornings and afternoons, the I-team facilitated various orientation activities where students learned about health & safety, explored experiences and concepts of diversity & identity within the group, got to know each other better through exercises, and got a deep-dive into the itinerary. Throughout the days, we’d play games, did workouts, played the guitar, and ate lots of snacks. On our final day of orientation, we let students loose in groups throughout the city on scavenger hunts and enjoyed hearing their stories from their adventures (especially Lucia’s) before closing our time out at a nice dinner at a Thai-Peruvian restaurant.
After many days cooped under roofs because of the rain, the entire group eagerly anticipated some time at the coast! Our first day at the coast, we spent a whole afternoon at the beach, allowing the group to just relax, swim, and play. We braved the chilly waters of the Pacific Ocean, played a lot of volleyball and some of us explored on walks and along the rocks where we watched a man collecting mollusks he’d later sell to restaurants. In the next days, we also went on a long hike around the areas surrounding the town, accompanied by Lucho, our Program Director, who generously shared his knowledge and analysis of the area and answered our many, many questions. (We have some great question-askers in our group!) Some themes we explored were the socioeconomic disparity in this vacation town, access to water, land regulation, Peruvian corruption and politics, the US involvement in South America, and the history of the Sendero Luminoso. Students were left asking many new questions and very grateful to be able to understand their surroundings and the context of this town better. (As I write this, Larkin shares that something she’s “enjoyed about being here is that it’s been both enlightening but also relaxing, as it hasn’t been too go-go-go!”)
Currently, students are out in small groups conducting mini-ethnographic projects looking at different parts of the beach, different neighborhoods, and of course the people who live, recreate, and work in all of these areas. We can’t wait to see what they’ve observed.
Tomorrow we’ll be saying goodbye to the warm and sunny coast and transitioning back to the Andes as we head to Cusco. Stay tuned!