Machu Picchu
It has been a busy yet amazing couple of days! Tuesday, we left beautiful Andahuaylillas and began our trek to Aguas Calientes. Our bus took us on a tour of the sacred valley where we saw Pisaq and got to explore their market before heading to Ollantaytambo. In Ollantataytambo we got a tour of an Incan religious site and that was where we boarded the train for Machu Picchu! We took a 2-hour train ride that went through the mountains and along the Amazon river. There were a lot of animals along the way as well as different farming communities. Once we arrived in Aguas Calientes, it was like tourist central. We got dinner at a local restaurant and walked around the large market that they had in town.
Wednesday morning was the day that we had been waiting for! We got up and headed to Machu Picchu. Our tour guide Alex gave us a wonderful tour of how Machu Picchu came to be and the restoration that has been done to it over the time. We got to see the farming terraces that are the focus of the “typical” Machu Picchu picture as well as the town that the Incans used to live in. We also got to see the path of the Incan trail and people getting ready to head up to Huayna Picchu Mountain for the day. Once we finished at Machu Picchu, we also got the opportunity to get a Machu Picchu stamp in our passports. It was an amazing experience to be able to see one of the seven wonders of the world!
After Machu Picchu, we returned to Cusco where we will spend the remainder of our trip. We have been exploring this wonderful town and today (Thursday) is Corpus Christi, which is a huge celebration in Cusco. There are thousands of people who have come to the center to celebrate and enjoy time together. I am looking forward to exploring the city some more and soaking in our last couple of days!
When thinking about culture and power in education, I feel as if there are more cultures that have more power. For example, in a classroom with a teacher who has a similar culture as some of his or her students, that culture tends to have more power. It is often what the teacher knows best that becomes the dominant culture in the classroom. Without even realizing it, we have a dominant culture that we are bringing into education, however, it depends on how we push that onto our students. For example, when we know our dominant culture, it is up to us to determine how much power that is going to have in our classroom.
Often, culture and power go hand in hand. When you have more power, you tend to have more access to resources to incorporate your culture into education. For example, if someone in power wants a specific culture in a classroom or a school, they will probably have a good chance to get what they want because of their power. As a future educator, I will be sure to remember that culture and power go hand in hand. That in my classroom, I should do my best to make sure that all the cultures are represented no matter what their status in the world.
Pictures from Machu Picchu:
