One of the travelers from the Wilkes University group pauses to pet an alpaca. – Submitted photo
Students try on some colorful ethnic clothing in Cozco. – Submitted photo
Travelers with the Wilkes University group, including Isabella Sobejano of Laflin, were able to explore the ruins of Machu Picchu, one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. – Submitted photo
Wilkes University students gather for a photo opportunity at Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas, where they watched the sunrise during a trip to Peru earlier this year. – – Submitted photo
The students pose for a group shot in Lima, the capital of Peru. – – Submitted photoFor about 20 Wilkes University students a visit to Machu Picchu — “the lost city of the Incas” — and Rainbow Mountain were highlights of a recent trip to Peru.
But braving steep ascents, and descents, wasn’t exactly easy.
“The elevation of Rainbow Mountain is about 17,000 feet and the air is very thin,” said 19-year-old Derek Donaldson, a Spanish and pharmacy major from Millerstown who was one of several students who opted to ride a donkey to a spot close to the top of the colorful layers of sedimentary rock.
“I don’t know how far it was after that,” he said, “but it was, like, take 10 steps, stop and catch your breath, take 10 more steps.”
“Every time I took a few steps, I felt like my heart would pop out of my chest. You could feel it and hear it beating so fast,” said Josselyn Morataya, 21, a Spanish major from Wilkes-Barre who also has a minor in international studies. “There was a coldness, too, so when you took a breath it would burn a little inside your throat.”
When the travelers ventured to Machu Picchu, 7,970 feet above sea level, the students reached the vicinity of the 15th-century architectural wonder by bus in time to admire a gorgeous sunrise.
“It was a golden time of day, and pictures don’t do it justice,” said 20-year-old Bryce Snyer, a mechanical engineering major from Northumberland. “It was breath-taking.”
Then some of them decided to walk down.
“You’d think coming down would be easier,” Donaldson said, describing stairs that were “uneven and really rough. By the time you were a quarter of the way down, your legs were just shaking and rubbery if you stopped. It was better not to stop.”
“It was quite a feat, very hard to achieve,” Morataya said, adding “The view was so worth it.”
The high-altitude hiking, which the guidebooks describe as challenging no matter how good a hiker’s physical condition, was just part of the adventure.
Based in the city of Cuzco and accompanied by Wilkes University Professor Paola Bianco, members of the group studied Spanish with native professors, shadowed workers in various departments of the San Sebastian Clinic, practiced conversational Spanish and English with the locals, learned the history of the area and experienced Peruvian culture, food and indigenous music.
The students were primarily pharmacy doctorate and nursing majors as well as students of the Spanish language, said Bianco, who is now on sabbatical writing textbooks.
“It was perfect for practicing my Spanish,” Donaldson said, explaining how he rotated through different departments in the San Sebastian Clinic, watching health care providers in action. “They would explain what they were doing while they were doing it,” he said, adding some spoke English and some spoke Spanish. “Each day we had to readjust how to communicate.”
As mechanical engineering majors Snyder and Colin Dominick, 20, of Dalton, didn’t spend time at the health clinic but visited other spots with a “tandem” person who wanted to practice language skills, just as the Americans did.
“We’d speak in Spanish and they’d speak in English,” Snyder said, remembering how a “tandem” wanted to learn English words to describe sweaters in an alpaca wool store. “So we told her ‘soft’ and ‘comfortable’ and ‘warm,’ ” Snyder recalled.
All told the trip was a great experience, Dominick said, from sampling a Cuzco-brewed beer called Cusqueña to “all the hiking, and just getting immersed in the culture.”
