Hualcan+School

Santa Úrsula de Hualcán
Hola a todos! Wecome to some new information on your friends in Peru! The class that you are exchanging information with are students in the high school of Santa Úrsula de Hualcán. There are approximately 18 students in the classroom (attendance is not very strict).The lives of the students in Hualcán are very different even from my other students in the larger town where I live. To get up into the village of Hualcan, I take a small mini van up a dirt road for about 8 kilometers or around 30 minutes. It is pretty much up, up, up the entire way. Up in Hualcán, the primary language spoken is Quechua, so Spanish is their second language. Traditional dress still exists and is practiced by many of the students. The students attend school wearing a uniform, but when they get ready to go down to town, the girls typically put on their pollera (traditional colorful skirt), blouse, and hat. The boys are more western in jeans and a button down.Their appearance changes so completely that I typically do not recognize them in the market or around Carhuaz.

School goes from 8AM until 1:30PM and then the kids head home for lunch. After lunch, typically all of the kids have to go out to their families’ chakra (small sustenance farm) and help by harvesting, planting, or taking the animals out to pasture. Most families own land and farm for their own consumption, and/or to sell in the provincial market place on Sundays and Wednesday. The typical crops include choclo (corn), trigo (wheat), alfalfa, quinoa, potatoes, and other small crops of vegetables. The typical farm animals in the area include sheep, pigs, chickens, cows, and some goats. Oh, of course they also raise and sell guinea pigs or cuy, for consumption on special occasions (I just ate one two days ago, tasty!). Guinea pigs sell for about $8 US dollars a pop… so it can be beneficial to raise and quickly sell in a time when cash flow is tough.

So, there you have it. A little bit of background information on the school and lives in the town of Hualcán! Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and I will direct them to my students.

    

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