By Ankit Khosla ’16, Staff Writer

As we looked down, we saw a death-defying drop down the side of a mountain. The side of the mountain went down until it reached the bottom where a small river was flowing.

School was out, spring break was here, and twenty-one students and three chaperones were flying to Peru for the trip of a lifetime. The Middle School trip to Peru was lead by Señor Gomez and Señora Romer of the Foreign Langauge Department, as well as Mr. Vinikoor of the Humanities Department teacher. I also went on this trip along with nine other seventh graders, nine eighth graders, and two sixth graders.

After a long flight to Lima, and meeting our guide for the trip, named Arturo, the group enjoyed a full night’s rest in a hotel. We were very tired, but very excited for the rest of the trip.

We traveled to Cusco, the heart of the ancient Incan Empire, to continue on with our amazing trip. Our second guide, Valentine, led us on a walking tour to see the ancient architecture of Cusco. We learned about the three main animals in Peruvian culture, the puma, the snake, and the condor. We also learned that the boulders the Incas used to build their structures had many angles.

On the fourth day of our trip, we met students from a local school. The students were orphans and were living in a house for orphans called La Casa Azul (The Blue House). We went to Tambomachay with the students and played an enjoyable game of soccer with them. The group had a picnic lunch with the orphans and after the lunch, we gave the students gifts we had brought with us from America. They were very thankful. This showed us how lucky we were and also showed us the difference between a Newark Academy Middle School student and a student from Peru. After saying goodbyes we witnessed a ceremony to the Inca Mother Earth (Pacha Mama). The shaman (called a paco) performed ceremonies that thanked the Earth. Later that afternoon we saw the architectural ingenuity of the Incas through the magnificent, monumental stonework in Sacsayhuaman.

On the seventh day we woke up at four o’clock for an early train ride to Machu Picchu. It was a two-hour train ride. When we arrived at the main center, we had to take a small path to Mach Picchu. Once we saw the site for the first time many of us, including myself, were in shock at its beauty. We climbed a small hill that overlooked the mountain, where we could see the entire view of the city.

On the final day the group had many goodbyes to say. We had a late night flight back to America, and when we landed, we were greeted by our smiling parents and the decidedly wintery weather of spring.

At the end of the trip, Señor Gomez remarked on the behavior of the students and the importance of the trip: “The students behaved very appropriately and they were very interested. Machu Picchu was the most amazing site we saw, this is also why it is one of the New Wonders of the World. The most important piece of information that I learned on this trip was that in this world we have people who still farm by hand. The students and I experienced this firsthand, and some of the students even participated in trying to farm using the old Incan tools.” Adam Branovan ’16 and Ethan Levine ’16 both agreed with Señnor Gomez that Machu Picchu was the most interesting site of the entire trip. Adam exclaimed, “I was amazed at how the Incas created their civilization by using the ancient tools that we learned about.” Ethan said that “I learned many interesting facts about the culture of the Incas due to the immense knowledge of our two tour guides, Arturo and Valentine.”

Everyone that went on the trip agrees with our chaperones that the Middle School trip to Peru was a life-changing experience.