Peru | Groton School

Father's Day in Ollantaytambo- Day 9

6/18/2024

We started our day today with a religious service, a "misa", as they call it here, at our local church in the main plaza of Ollantaytambo. We discovered the differences between local services and services in the United States – while people here are equally, if not more, devout Catholics, there were vast differences in the music and decorations, with more innovation and nature.

Giving Back- Day 10

6/18/2024

We started off the day by working with our families. Each of our families are dedicated to different professions around town. Some of us helped sell things in their stores, while others helped collect crops in the fields, and others helped out with tasks within the home. Then, we ate lunch with our host families and had a bit of free time before meeting up at Tumy House to go over to the primary school.

Greetings from Perú

6/16/2024

Greetings from Peru! Today marks our first full week in the Sacred Valley. Our time here has been filled with lots of adventure, laughs, and Spanish speaking. Each day of the GEO a different pair of students are chosen to be leaders of the day. At the end of the day, those leaders have write a summary or our experiences. Below you can find summaries from this past week. Enjoy!

¡Adios Perú!

6/28/2019

For our last day in Peru students were free to explore the city of Cusco on their own. This beautiful city had much to offer in terms of food, shopping, history, and views.

In addition to the many sites displaying Incan architecture, this gigantic lava rock made for a great slide.

Cusco!

6/28/2019

The group got up early on Tuesday to bid one last farewell to our hosts before heading off to Cusco, exchanging warm embraces in the chilly winter mountain morning air.

Goodbye Ollantaytambo!

6/28/2019

For our last day in Ollantaytambo, students had a completely free day. Some relaxed, some did some shopping at local markets, and others ran to a natural pool in the mountains for a quick dip.

Pachamanca

6/24/2019

This morning mass was held in two churches in Ollantaytambo. The services focused on the importance of El Señor de Choquekillka, one of the town’s prominent religious symbols. Prayers contained a fascinating mixture of Spanish and Quechua, the language of the Incas. After church, we congregated for lunch in a garden near El Tambo. However, today we ate Pachamanca-style. For those of you unfamiliar with this traditional Andean form of cooking (for shame, parents), a stone oven was buried underground to cook potatoes, lima beans, chicken, pork, and cuy (guinea pig!). We ate with our hands and washed it all down with chicha morada, a drink made from fermented corn (not to be confused with regular chica, an alcoholic beverage). All of our homestay families were invited as well so that we could enjoy one of our last meals together.

Later that afternoon, we continued the INTENSE COMPETITION of soccer with some members of our host families. Surprisingly, Señor Viacava’s team continued to come out on top. Alex maintained his famous streak of falling down before scoring, while Pancho (the organizer of the homestay families) lived up to his nickname as the “brick wall” goalie. Both of Alex’s hermanitos joined in, and one managed to score a goal too.

In the evening, we had our regular meeting to recap the day and discuss its highlights. Tomorrow will be our last full day with our homestay families in Ollantaytambo – we’ll miss them as we head off to Cusco on Tuesday.

Stay españoly,

Yumin and Alex

¡¡Machu Picchu!!

6/23/2019

Hello all,

This is Max and Tai.

Today we spent the day exploring the almighty Machu Picchu. We had to wake up super early, some of us woke up at 5 AM, and met at the train station at 6:30. Our teachers didn’t show up until 6:45, but luckily the train did not leave until 7. After an hour and a half of early morning train ride, we got off in Machu Picchu Pueblo, a town at the base of the mountain. On the train we were served brownies before any of us had the chance to eat breakfast. Next, we took a bus to the top of the mountain on very windy roads and hiked the last 20 minutes to the top led by our fantastic guide Eddy.

Tareas, Talleres, y Cometas

6/22/2019

After a filling breakfast with our families, we went to work with them again. Some of us worked in the artisanal markets, while others worked hard baking bread and cooking food. In this photo, our fearless leader, Cornelia, is working her butt off at the market. At the same time, our other strikingly handsome leader, Jorjito, was sitting in another shop, reading his book.

Tareas y Talleres pt. 2

6/21/2019

Today was our second day of working with our families. Some of us were hard at work while others of us were hardly working. Grace, for example, woke up at 3am to make bread while Luke just stood and held a hose for a little while. A few examples of various tasks that we did were selling items in the market, preparing meals, and working on our family’s farms.

The Trifecta

6/20/2019

We started off the morning with an hour-long bus ride along the river and train tracks coming into Ollantaytambo. Along the way we paused for a moment to look at a hotel called “Sky Lodge” which was literally in the face of the mountain with capsules for bedrooms hanging off the side of the cliff. Before our day took off, we also saw a dude on the zipline coming down from the lodge which was pretty dope.

Tareas y Talleres

6/19/2019

We began our second Tuesday in Peru by helping our families with various tasks inside the house and out. Some of us were graced with fairly light workloads; others, however, were not so lucky. Kevin, for example, spent approximately seven hours cutting the lawn with a pair of scissors (no joke). Meanwhile, Elena’s morning consisted of peeling 10,000 peas. Alex, Cornelia, and Ainsley attempted to convince grumpy old tourists (also known as certifiable curmudgeons) to buy products from their families’ stands in the artisanal market.

Basket Weaving and Community Workshops

6/18/2019

To begin the day, we went to Pancho’s house, the man who organized our homestays, and learned how to make baskets out of thin branches found in the high Andes. These are called canastas in Spanish and require a lot more skill to make than we initially thought. Pancho has been making these baskets for his whole life because his father taught him when he was very young. We started with a bundle of branches and weaved our way to a basket under the close instruction of Pancho and his wife Balbina.

Sunday Rituals: Iglesia & Fútbol

6/17/2019

We began the day with breakfast as usual then accompanied our families to Sunday Mass. The chapel was beautiful and it was packed like sardines.

Overnight Hike Day 2

6/16/2019

Today, after a not so restful night in the tents, we got up to eat breakfast outside. With mountains surrounding us, it was a fantastic view while eating. A couple people got up early to watch the sunrise and exercise. For breakfast we had pancakes, fruit salad, honey, crackers, tea and coffee. What a great start to the day!

Overnight Hike Day 1

6/15/2019

On Friday the day started for the group at 8:30 when we left Ollantaytambo for an overnight camping hike, but a couple of us woke up extra early to play soccer with some locals. The two of us (Max and Elena), Grace, and Alex met at a small fenced in soccer field at six in the morning and scrimmaged with a bunch of Peruvians for an hour. Elena made friends with many of the old guys.

Ollantaytambo Ruins, Pottery Class, and the GEO Project

6/14/2019

On Thursday we visited the Incan ruins of Ollantaytambo. The ruins were originally a temple for worshiping the sun, and there are many stones that align perfectly with the solstices and equinoxes. From the top of the ruins, we could see the whole town of Ollantaytambo as well as some smoke from a nearby forest fire. To get to the top, we had to stop three times as the climb was very steep and tiring. We were then told about a festival that is held in Ollantaytambo where many people run up and down the steps of the temple many times. We also climbed to the house of a priest which was located along a path with a cliff on one side. After our climb, we all went home and had lunch with our families. A common lunch with our families consists of rice and chicken, or arroz con pollo.

Our First Day in Ollantaytambo

6/13/2019

The Groton Peru Gang woke up after a restful night to this spectacular view. We spent the majority of our time looking up at the ruins and granaries that lined the mountain side before breakfast. After a delicious breakfast of fresh bread, scrambled eggs, and papaya juice, we set out into the town on a scavenger hunt. We walked all around Ollantaytambo taking pictures in front of places like the town hall, police station, market, and ruins.

Arrival in the Sacred Valley

6/11/2019

¡Hemos llegado al Valle Sagrado!

The Peru GEO has arrived in the Sacred Valley! Although yesterday’s journey was long (27 hours from start to finish!), it was packed with beautiful views, delicious food, Spanish language practice, and an introduction to our guides and hosts for the rest of our trip.

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