Peru: Culture, Community & Leadership
Lima • Cusco • Sacred Valley • Machu Picchu | 9–11 Day Featured Program
Experience Peru Through Its Living Cultures
Journey from the Pacific coast to the Andes to experience Peru through its history, food, Indigenous traditions, communities, and extraordinary landscapes.
Students explore ancient civilizations alongside contemporary Peru, discovering how migration, inequality, spirituality, geography, and centuries of cultural exchange continue to shape life today. From preparing Peruvian food in Lima to learning alongside Quechua families in the Andes and standing among the extraordinary stonework of Machu Picchu, students are challenged to listen, participate, and see Peru through the perspectives of the people who call it home.
What Students Explore
ANCIENT & LIVING CULTURES | Explore Peru’s pre-Columbian and Inca civilizations while discovering how Indigenous traditions and knowledge endure today.
INDIGENOUS IDENTITY & WORLDVIEW | Learn about Quechua culture, Pachamama, reciprocity, spirituality, and relationships between people and the natural world.
COMMUNITY & LEADERSHIP | Work alongside local families on a community-identified project while exploring leadership through cooperation and collective responsibility.
FOOD, MIGRATION & IDENTITY | Discover how Peru’s extraordinary cuisine reflects geography, migration, inequality, innovation, and cultural exchange.
PEOPLE & PLACE | Consider how Peru’s coast, mountains, cities, agriculture, and sacred landscapes shape culture and everyday life.
9-11 Day Itinerary
This itinerary connects Peru’s extraordinary historical sites with the people, communities, and traditions that make Peru a living culture rather than simply an ancient one.
Your school can customize the program around history, Spanish language, Indigenous studies, leadership, service learning, environmental studies, food, or other academic themes.
Activities listed below are examples and subject to availability and confirmation.
A Program, Built to Be Customized
Day 1 | Welcome to Lima: A City of Contrasts
Arrive in Peru and begin exploring Miraflores and Barranco, two neighborhoods that introduce students to contemporary life in one of Latin America’s largest cities.
Visit Huaca Pucllana, a pre-Columbian ceremonial site surrounded by modern Lima, and begin considering how ancient history, migration, development, and preservation coexist within the city today.
Sample Experiences:
Miraflores • Barranco • Pacific coast • Huaca Pucllana • Program orientation • Welcome dinner
Day 2 | Peru Through Its Kitchen: Food, Migration & Identity
Explore a local market to discover ingredients from Peru’s diverse geographic regions and learn how Indigenous, European, African, and Asian influences have shaped Peruvian food culture.
Then prepare a Peruvian meal together while considering food as a window into geography, identity, migration, access, and innovation.
Sample Experiences:
Local market • Native ingredients • Peruvian cooking • Food & identity • Cultural exchange
Day 3 | Lima to the Andes: Entering the world of cusco
Fly from Lima into the Andes and experience the dramatic shift in landscape, altitude, architecture, and culture.
Begin exploring Cusco at a slower pace while learning how the former capital of the Inca Empire became a layered city where Inca foundations, Spanish colonial architecture, Indigenous traditions, and contemporary Peruvian life intersect.
Sample Experiences:
Flight to Cusco • Historic center • Inca & colonial history • Andean landscapes • Cultural orientation
Day 4 | Andean Worldview: Pachamama, Community & Reciprocity
Explore Cusco’s markets, streets, and cultural sites while learning about an Andean worldview centered on relationships among people, community, spirituality, and the natural environment.
Students are introduced to concepts such as Pachamama and reciprocity, creating context for the community experience ahead.
Sample Experiences:
Mercado de San Pedro • Student market challenge • Andean traditions • Pachamama • Cultural reflection
Day 5 | Learning alongside a Quechua Community: Service Through Reciprocity
Spend the day with Quechua families in an Andean community near Chinchero, learning about daily life, agriculture, traditional knowledge, and collective responsibility.
Work alongside community members on a community-identified farming, mudbrick building, or similar project. Rather than approaching service as outsiders arriving to “help,” students explore the Andean principle of reciprocity by listening, learning, participating, and contributing alongside local families.
Sample Experiences:
Quechua community • Community-identified project • Traditional agriculture • Mudbrick building • Cultural exchange • Reciprocity
Day 6 | The Sacred Valley: Landscape, Architecture & Indigenous Knowledge
Travel through the Sacred Valley and explore how geography shaped the development of Andean civilizations.
Examine agricultural practices, engineering, local communities, and the relationship between people and mountain environments while preparing for the journey to Machu Picchu.
Sample Experiences:
Sacred Valley • Andean agriculture • Indigenous knowledge • Local communities • Archaeological sites • Mountain landscapes
Day 7 | Journey to Machu Picchu: Following the Andes
Travel by train through the Sacred Valley toward Aguas Calientes, watching the landscape transform along the way.
Explore the town and surrounding environment while learning more about the Inca road system, engineering, and the extraordinary geography that shaped the region.
Sample Experiences:
Scenic train journey • Sacred Valley • Aguas Calientes • Inca history • Andean landscapes
Day 8 | Machu Picchu: Engineering, Resilience & A Living Legacy
Experience Machu Picchu with a knowledgeable local guide, exploring its architecture, engineering, sacred spaces, and relationship to the surrounding mountains.
After learning about Andean worldview, Indigenous knowledge, agriculture, and contemporary Quechua communities, students encounter Machu Picchu as more than an iconic destination. It becomes a culmination of the program’s exploration of people, place, culture, and resilience.
Sample Experiences:
Machu Picchu • Local guide • Inca engineering • Archaeology • Indigenous history • Cultural reflection
Day 9: Bringing the Experience together: What does it mean to travel responsibly?
Return to Cusco for a final exploration and reflection. Students consider how their understanding of Peru has changed throughout the program, revisiting questions of culture, inequality, reciprocity, community, leadership, and responsible travel.
Sample Experiences:
Cusco • Student reflection • Local exploration • Responsible travel • Farewell dinner
Days 10-11: Extend your experience: Go deeper into Peru
For longer programs, add experiences aligned with your school’s academic focus and student interests. Options might include additional time in the Sacred Valley, Spanish language and cultural exchange, environmental learning, arts and textiles, community engagement, or deeper exploration of Lima or Cusco.
Sample Experiences:
Spanish language • Textiles & arts • Environmental learning • Community engagement • Additional cultural exploration
Make this program your own
Start Here. Then Shape Around Your Course.
This itinerary is a starting point. Customize the program length, community experiences, academic themes, language learning, activities, and destinations to align with your students, course, group size, dates, budget, and learning goals.
Indigenous Culture & History
Quechua culture • Inca civilization • Archaeology • Indigenous identity • Colonial history
Community & Leadership
Reciprocity • Community-identified projects • Cultural exchange • Collective responsibility • Service learning
Food & Culture
Markets • Cooking • Native ingredients • Migration • Food systems • Cultural identity
Environment & Sustainability
Andean ecosystems • Agriculture • Geography • Indigenous knowledge • People & place
Spanish & Global Studies
Language • Contemporary Peru • Inequality • Migration • Cultural perspectives • Responsible travel
Could this work for your students?
Experience Peru’s extraordinary places while learning from the people, traditions, and communities that bring its history into the present. Use this itinerary as your starting point or tell us what you'd change. We'll work with you to align the experience with your students, academic objectives, preferred dates, group size, and budget.
Have a different academic focus in mind?