Magdalena Angulo, Jesus Casillas, Ileana Delgado LIMA

• Lima was our first stop in Peru, it was a quick visit because we arrive late at night, we stayed at a hotel called “Castellana” and in the morning we started the short tour in lima we visited several places such as: El parque de los enamorados (lovers park), Huaca Pucllana, Plaza de Armas. It is a big and beautiful city with a terrible traffic. I found very interesting that at 2 A.M. there are people playing chess, jogging, clubbing, and walking.

LIMA

Huaca Pucllana El Parque de los Enamorados

Catedral San Francisco

Plaza de Armas PIURA: OUR HOME

• After getting to know a bit of lima, we flight to Piura were we stayed the most time in Peru. There we met a Peruvian family who gave us home and food, we met other Peruvian students at UDEP. We also got to visit other local town such as Catacaos, and even a beach called Mancora which is the most visited by tourist in Peru. Overall we developed a strong friendship with UDEP students.

UDEP

• In this university we took the class of sustainable engineering but also some classes about the history, geography, and engineering in Peru. We visited some industries such as: Represa de Poechos, Refineria de PetroPeru, Ecoacuicola, Cana Brava. At this university we met students with the same objective as us, getting a degree, struggling day to day to achieve their goals; even though it was another country with different culture, students are the same. But most of the students we met in the class, were brilliant students, chosen by their GPA’s to take the class. We worked with students from different majors . It was a beautiful university with a lot of green areas. UDEP AND NATURE

• The thing that made UDEP unique, in my opinion, is that it was a really ecofriendly campus; it was a great area to have the sustainability class. You could see the wild animals interact among the student body and the wilderness was everywhere around campus. SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING

• This class was the reason for the study abroad in Peru, we learned the principles of green engineering, and the life cycle assessment. We learned how since the design of the product, we can choose the best materials that are friendly with the environment and will not harm the earth. The class gave us the tools to construct a prototype of a product friendly with the environment and constructed with recycled material. SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING COURSE

• 12 Principles of Green Engineering. • Sustainability. • Ces Edupack 2012. • Hannover Principles. • Project Presentation.

REPRESA DE POECHOS

This was the first place we visited, this visit was focused on civil engineers, the construction. We learned that this dam is very vital for the community around Piura since it provides with an irrigation system to all agricultural areas in Piura and Piura is know for their agriculture. PETRO PERU

• The second visit was a refinery located in Talara which was about 3 hours far from Piura. This visit was focused on industrial engineers. We got to see the process, and the monitoring of the process. CAÑA BRAVA

• This industry created ethanol and the most interesting fact learned in this visit was that they used the residuals of the cane to create their own energy needed by their process, and this was very relevant to the course we took of sustainable engineering, because it is one of the engineering principles. CATACAOS

• In Peru we made the Sunday our family day, were we got to know more about each of the members and treat them better. One of those sundays, they took us to Catacaos a town near Piura where you can find artisans. MANCORA

• Being in Peru and not visiting their beach is the same as not being, that’s why we planned a visit to the beach most visited by tourist, and we received help from the university of Piura with the transportation. It was a relaxing experience after an intensive course. CUSCO

• After Piura, our next flight was to Cusco, which is a little more than 4,000 meters over sea level. This gave some students some sickness but later on we all got used to it. It was funny seeing the flag from Cusco because in our country a flag with the rainbow colors is used to identify the homosexuals. In Cusco, the colors mean as a symbol of the off spring of the Inca's gods, the earth and water. Here in Cusco we got entries to museums, catacombs, and the beautiful ruins, which we were about to lose due to the fact that the guide left us behind. SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN CUSCO

• There is a lot to see and do here.

• Food in Cusco is different to the food in Lima and Piura.

• Cusco is a tourist spot. Great place to buy souvenirs. CUSCO WE GOT LOST..

• In our first day in Cusco, we got lost. During our first visit exiting a building we got distracted by the local sellers and the tour guide did not wait for us. We were lost in Cusco. Well actually our guide left us but that didn't prevented us from still visiting our next and last stop of the day: Sacsayhuaman. We all took a cab who was more than happy to take a group of young students. PISAC AND OLLANTAYTAMBO

• The next day, we went to some other ruins outside of Cusco and gratefully, with a lower altitude. The first one we saw was Pisac. These ruins were beautiful! They were located on top of a mountain which also gave us a gorgeous sight from the town of Pisac. After this site, we went to Ollayntaytambo which was equally beautiful and almighty as Pisac. ARCHAEOLOGICAL OLLANTAYTAMBO

Inca archaeological site.

The most amazing Inca constructions are found in Ollantaytambo. SOME MORE PICTURES

Scenery going to pisac.

Ollaytaytambo expressed well the perfection of the inca’s architecture FROM OLLAYTAYTAMBO TO AGUAS CALIENTES

• We stayed for a while at ollaytaytambo waiting for the train that would take us to our final destination: Aguas Calientes. Since it was dark already, there wasn’t much to see but that didn't’t prevent us to walk around aguas Calientes once we were there. AMAZING AGUASCALIENTES

Aguascalientes is also referred as Machu Pichu Town.

It is an amazing town that is the closest point to access Machu Pichu.

It serves as a terminal for the PeruRail. MACHU PICCHU

The final stop was Machu Picchu, one of the wonders of the world. Cusco and Machu Picchu were the most interesting and beautiful places of the trip, because it was interesting how the Incas constructed their homes, with rocks how they cut them and gave them shape, how they made a kind of Lego shape in order to insert a rock with another rock. And their precision was so perfect that not even a sheet of paper fits between the rocks. We were able to notice also the sustainability in their construction because they worked with the environment and used the big rocks as their base for construction. MACHU PICCHU

MACHU PICCHU II

---We were awake by 5 to see the dawn at machu picchu. We climed for an - > hour to have a greater view of the scenery.

--Llamas, llamas everywhere! Most of the ruins were build to mold to mother nature, not by destruction. -- MACHU PICCHU BACK TO EL PASO

• Finally we got back to El Paso, with a lot stories to tell to our family and friends, a lot of pictures to show but the most important, now we could tell U.S. about the Peruvian culture, such as their food, their tradition, and the music they like to listen. We got back to El Paso with great memories, with a knowledge of sustainable engineering, and ready for our next study abroad. TIPS…

• Don’t’ buy souvenirs during excursions. You could get lost. • Cusco is an excellent place to buy souvenirs. • Travel light. • If possible take salsa (valentina), Mexican candies, and tortillas to Peru. You will miss Mexican/ American food. • Bring confortable clothes and shoes; you'll get blisters after spending the day walking and hiking.