There really could be no better time to study Spanish in Peru. As the month for festivals, June is set to be full of fun and activity, especially here in Cusco – the Incan capital. The traditional festivities revolve around this city, also known as the ´Navel of the Earth´.

Our AMAUTA Spanish School in Peru is located in the heart of this fascinating city, just minutes away from the Plaza de Armas and the centre of everything. At the school we participate actively in all the festivities, of which there are plenty

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I spent six weeks volunteering in Cusco at an organisation that works to contribute to improving the quality of life of children, teenagers and families living in extreme poverty, promoting the development of important life skills and encouraging them to realize their potential.

I volunteered there from March 28th until May 6th, and it was a wonderful six weeks. My volunteer coordinator from AMAUTA gave me two options as to how I would like to work – either in the mornings with children aged between 3 and 5 years, or in the afternoons with children ranging all the way from 5 to 17 years. I decided to work in the mornings, and was assigned to the class of 5 year olds, and my working hours were 9am-1pm.

The morning program is seen as more than just a kindergarten. It is referred to as an “Early Stimulation Program”, and the children are given structured lessons and homework. The range of abilities of the children in my class was enormous! While some of the children could read and write relatively proficiently for their ages, others were not even able to count to five. However all the children tried their best and the teacher would cater the work to suit all the differing needs of the children. During the period in which I volunteered the children learnt about body parts, figures and numbers. It was also great for me to develop the vocabulary I had learnt in my Spanish classes!

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The AMAUTA school offers activities on the evenings. It could be extra classes on different subjects, Spanish movies, salsa classes or you could learn to play the “kena” (peruvian flute) or the drums. In the same location as Amauta (which by the way means “profesor” in quechua, that you may also study here), the travel agency “Dos Manos” has its office. They arrange transfer and pick up from the airport (which is recommended, since there are many taxis hovering for new comers).

The first day I visited AMAUTA, their agency Dos Manos arranged a guided tour of the city. We familarised ourselves of the town, went by the solar temple, the market of San Pedro…well here are some pics of that.

My sweet Peruvian sisters also showed me around one day. They showed me their University and we went eating typical food.

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I wake up early. This week I will have morning classes. My shoes are still drying up on the window sill. The weather this time a year is “loco” here. They do not have seasons as in Sweden or in many other parts. As my Spanish teacher says, “here the birds always sings”. Not as the silent winter.

Cusco has two types of seasons, rain and sun period. And the moon is opposite than when seen from the skies of Europe. During the mornings, the clouds are still hovering above the distant mountains. My peruvian sister use to tell me that “when it rains in San Blas, it will start rain in Cusco city”, but I think it is very hard to foretell the weather here.

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AMAUTA Spanish School offers the unique opportunity to study in three different locations within Peru: in the beautiful City of Cusco, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas and in the rainforest reserve of Tambopata.  Each location is profoundly different, and highlights a unique aspect of Peruvian culture.

The AMAUTA School is the Sacred Valley is located in Yanahuara – a small rural village near to Urubamba. It’s a great chance to escape the city and know more about the traditional rural lifestyle in Peru. The Valley itself is lush and green, filled with many inca ruins and lined by stunning mountain peaks and glaciers reaching up to 6,000m. The school itself is spacious and pretty, with plenty of room to sleep, eat, study and relax around the gorgeous garden. I was placed in a group with classes in the afternoon from 4pm to 8pm, so I had all morning and early afternoon to enjoy the Sacred Valley. There is so much to see and do, one week is nowhere near enough; I could happily stay a month living this relaxed pace of life!

The location of the school in Yanahuara feels quite remote compared to Cusco – where the school is just a block from the bustling Plaza de Armas! Though you can find all your usual commodities in nearby Urubamba, 25 minutes on foot or 20 minutes by “moto-taxi”, in Yanahuara there is nothing: no internet, no restaurants, no bars – it is the perfect peaceful retreat from Cusco.

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The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano, la Copa América,is the highlight of Latin American football. The tournament is held one every 4 years, and this year it will take place in Argentina from July 1 to July 24. It is the continents longest standing championship, founded in 1916 by the South American Football confederation. Traditionally 12 teams battle it out for the cup – South America has just 10 country teams so 2 countries from outside the continent are invited to participate. For 2011 the two invited countries will be Mexico and Japan. The last championship was held in 2007 in Venezuela and was won by Brazil.

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The AMAUTA Volunteer Program provides the unique opportunity to live and work in Cusco, Peru. Spanish students and volunteers will experience first-hand its rich cultural diversity while cultivating a superior level of Spanish proficiency. Through the Volunteer Program, AMAUTA and the volunteers are able to make contributions to Peruvian society and to help bridge the gap between foreign visitors and native Cusqueños.

One of the ways volunteers support our projects, is through donations. Last month, two Dutch volunteers, who worked for 4 weeks in an after school project in Cusco, brought donations from their home country. Together with the AMAUTA Volunteer coordinator, we decided to use the money for two different projects in Cusco: an organization of blind people and a clinic of disabled children.

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Valentine’s Day is celebrated worldwide as a day of love and romance.  It originates in Roman times, when Emperor Claudius II banned marriage and a young priest called Valentine continued to marry couples in secret.  He was caught and put in prison, where he fell in love with a girl.  He wrote her a love letter before he died – this was the world’s first Valentine!
Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is celebrated all over the world on February 14th,  – also in Latin America!  And here ‘El Día de San Valentín’ is not just a celebration of romantic love, but also of love between friends, colleagues and family.  On this day, often called ‘El Dia del Amor y la Amistad’  (the Day of Love and Friendship), people exchange gifts and caring words with all the people that are important in their lives.

For instance in Peru they celebrate ‘El Día del Amor y de La Amistad’on February 14th, when they show their love and appreciation for lovers, friends and family alike with small gifts.  Similarly in Ecuador they integrate the celebration of friendship and family, as do they in Guatemala where the day is more commonly known as ‘El Día del Cariño’ (the Day of Affection).

In Mexico, Venezuela, Chile and Argentina Valentine’s Day revolves mostly around romantic love, and on February 14th you can see couples everywhere making the most of ‘El Día de los Enamorados’.  Mexicans are among the most romantic – they reserve this day to follow romantic pursuits such as winning a girls heart. The particularly wonderful way to do is the tradition of ‘Serenata’: sending a complete Mariachi band to the chosen girl!

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With approximately 350 spoken languages, South America is one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. Before the first Europeans arrived in Latin America, there even were an estimated 1,500 languages spoken.The mayor native tongues are Quechua, with 7 million speakers in Peru and Bolivia and Guaraní with 4 million speakers in Paraguay and the north of Argentina. For example: the name of the waterfalls Iguazu comes from the Guaraní word ‘y ûasú’, which means ‘big water’. And in Quechua, an Incan language, the city name Cusco means The Navel of the World.

Argentina has the world’s highest beef eating consumption rate in the world, at 65 kilogram per capita annually.The people from the United States eat 40 kilogram per year and those in Europe only 17 kilogram. Argentina is the third largest exporter of beef in the world after Australia and Brazil. The Pampas region,due to the humid and hot climate, is the most important and best-known cattle-producing area, as it has vast and open pastures. It’s a tradition in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil to eat beef on a grill (parilla).This form of barbequing is called asado, which is a preparing technique, as well as a social event.