Imagine this scenario: You are a visitor in a city you have never been to, in a new country and continent thousands of miles away from home. As you emerge from a cozy alleyway lined with the stone foundations of a past civilization, you hear the sounds of music, see the vibrant colors of dancers parading through the street, and smell the scent of food that feels like an exploration at every turn. Throughout the night, the music of parade instruments fill the city as fireworks soar through the air, backdropped by serene mountains and a beautiful star-filled sky. This setting may seem like it could only come from a fantasy novel or fairytale, but this is everyday life in Cusco, Peru.
Just three days into the UA in Peru: History on Foot trip, our group has already discovered new things about ourselves and the world. For example, as students studying history, anthropology, and Latin American culture, it is so important to keep an open mind as we explore a city that has been a crossroads of culture for the past thousand years! In order to truly understand how Cusco is so important to people today, we must be willing to keep a free imagination and connect with the local inhabitants and their culture.
Another exciting part about this trip is also the diverse perspectives within our own group of students as well. Although all of us are interested in history, each of us has a secondary study path that invites a unique perspective into the history and lifeways of Cusco before and after the Spanish conquest of the Incas. From archaeology to nursing and engineering to biology, imagination is necessary to turn the history books and academic articles into a cultural understanding of Cusco and the Incas. From there, imagination helps us to use our fields to apply this same cultural understanding to the whole world! Although traveling abroad is not necessary to have an active imagination, sometimes you need a cultural shift to reawaken the magic of the much wider world.
As we just start to scratch the surface of Cusco culture for the next couple of days, I am very excited to learn more and try new things!