In the southern hemisphere, the winter solstice is fast approaching. In Cusco, Peru, this event is celebrated with a traditional festival called Inti Raymi (Quechua for Sun Festival). The purpose of the Inti Raymi is to bring the sun back after the longest night of the year and begin the Incan New Year. In order […]
Testimonial: Angela Nadia Graca
I’ve been an ECELA student for 3 weeks. They were 3 amazing weeks, I met a lot of nice people from all around the world. The teachers are very nice and they set up the classes in a very fun way. You learn a lot in class. The school also has a great selection of […]
Cultural Tidbit: Shining Path
You may or may not know about Shining Path before you go to study Spanish in Peru. While the group is not very active today, this organization and its violent past had a major role in shaping Peru’s political terrain. Shining Path became well known and grew in strength during the 1980s. This organization sought […]
Cultural Tidbit: Ballestas Islands
Sometimes called Peru’s little Galapagos, the rocky, barren looking Ballestas Islands are home to a rich variety of marine life. The most famous inhabitants are the sea lions. Colonies of these beasts bask on the sandy shores and put on a show by diving through the waves and coming quite near to the tour boats. […]
Vista De Viernes: Ayacucho Cathedral
One of the 33 churches in Ayacucho, which represent the 33 years of Jesus’ life.
Cultural Tidbit: Ayacucho
In Monday’s article about Coca Leaf, we mentioned the rich archeological sites found near Ayacucho, Peru. The most famous of these sites is Pikimachay Cave, source of the oldest evidence of human habitation in South America. Today, you can hike up a mountainside to visit the cave, but there’s not much left to see. The […]
Cultural Tidbit: Coca Leaf
Outside of Latin America, coca leaf is most often associated with cocaine. However, there are many other uses for the plant. Indigenous people began using coca thousands of years ago. The first instance can be traced back 5,000 years ago to coastal Ecuador. In pre-Columbian times, coca was so valuable that the Incans restricted its […]
Cultural Tidbit: Chumpi and the Waterfall
The lives of indigenous people and their struggles to protect their lands and rights can seem pretty abstract to outsiders. We may support their rights in theory, but what have we done to help? And do we truly understand the consequences of failing to protect these rights? Recently, a group of filmmakers collaborated with the […]
Vista de Viernes: Peruvian Funeral Mask
Cultural Tidbit: Nazca Lines
Long before the Incas began to build their empire, another culture was undertaking a tremendous building project in the desert of southern Peru. They were the Nazcas, and their project consisted of a vast and mysterious collection of geoglyphs, or drawings, laid out across a section of desert 190 square miles in area. These geoglyphs […]
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