Submitted Photo Rugby High School students pose with their advisors in the Peruvian Andes.

A group of more than 20 Rugby High students and recent grads left the comforts of small-town North Dakota for nine days in Peru late in June.

Rugby High English and math teachers Leah Johnson and Dan Seykora accompanied the students on the trip where they explored the ruins of Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains, visited the bustling city of Lima, and more.

Johnson said via email after the group returned home, “I know students didn’t really know what to expect in Peru. Students knew some things about Peruvian history (Incas) but very little about its current economic or cultural state. So, their first impressions may have been surprise at what they saw.”

Students Macen Heisler and Anna Johnson said they noticed major economic differences between Peru and the United States.

“It’s a much poorer country,” Heisler said of Peru.

Anna Johnson agreed.

“Peru’s poverty rate is very high,” she said. “It made all of us very thankful for the things we had.”

Their visit to Lima, population of 9.7 million, gave the group a taste of big city life, complete with plenty of traffic and what many referred to as “crazy drivers.”

The tour provided opportunities to learn about ancient pyramids with a guide, according to student Tucker Schoeneberg.

After the guided tours, “We were allowed to walk around the remains and the town plazas by ourselves and explore for a while,” he said.

The group left the coastal city of Lima for Cuzco, a city in the Andes with an elevation of 11,000 feet.

New foods, new experiences

“We did a lot of walking and had to walk in some high elevations sometimes, which is harder than you think. We had to do this walking on a stomach filled with food we were not used to,” Anna Johnson said.

“Some food was really good,” she added. “Other food we can go without having it again, like Guinea Pig and ceviche.”

Ceviche, a favorite in Peru, consists of raw seafood such as octopus or shrimp, marinated in lime juice to “cook” it chemically before adding onions, tomatoes, chiles and cucumbers.

“One of our favorite things from the trip was bargaining with market women,” Anna Johnson added. “We all took some years of Spanish so it was fun to bargain with them.”

Schoeneberg said, “Before we arrived in Peru, I knew a little Spanish, but not a lot. While we were there, I was able to use some words and phrases that I already knew and even learned some more to use before we left.

“As for economic differences, I think the main thing that we noticed was the cost of living being significantly lower,” he said. “When you’re buying things at markets and stores, you think you are paying a reasonable amount for something like a soda or a cup of coffee, but when you look at the cost in terms of the US dollar, it costs next to nothing.”

New friends

The students said they enjoyed the opportunity to meet a group of Peruvian teens for a game of volleyball when a scheduling mix-up left them with some spare time. In another town, they played a pick-up game of soccer. Students purchased the ball for the game for $20, and donated it to the group of young Peruvian boys who played against them after the game.

All agreed they enjoyed the chance to make new friends.

“I think I can speak for the whole group and say the best friend we made was our main tour guide Oswaldo,” Schoeneberg said. “We loved having him be our tour guide and had a lot of fun.

“We even convinced him to get Snapchat and now we have a group-chat with him in it,” he added.

Leah Johnson also spoke highly of the group’s guide for his “easygoing way with teenagers,” noting he was the parent of two of his own.

Offered every two years

Johnson said the trip is offered through Explorica, an educational travel company.

Rugby High School students participate in the program every other year to give them a chance to put money aside for the cost. Students and their families cover the costs of the trip on their own.

The COVID pandemic put the program on hold in recent years, but the company has worked with health regulations in its various destination countries to resume the tours.

“Since the trip is designed by an educational travel company, the experiences are mostly historical and cultural,” Johnson said.

“We visited numerous pre-Inca and Inca archeological sites where we learned about their ways of life and how that culture changed with Spanish influence in the 18th and 19th centuries,” she noted.

“We also experienced modern Peruvian culture through its food, shopping, travel in the country, and people,” she said.

“Some members of our group were also able to meet and communicate with individuals along the way. These connections are, of course, those that often have the most lasting impression,” she added.

“I hope to be able to offer the next Study Abroad opportunity in 2024 for the classes of ’24 and ’25,” Johnson added. “Plans for that will begin when school starts this fall.”