In July 2016, Openendedsocialstudies.org founder Thomas Kenning utilized a generous grant from Fund for Teachers to travel through Peru and Bolivia.  This fellowship was a unique, self-directed opportunity to study the Inca and other indigenous cultures, as well as the syncretic colonial experience.

Below are the Adventure Blog entries documenting that expedition from July 2016.  Educational in their own right, his blog posts offer plenty of history, culture, and photos woven into a first person narrative, which attempts to present honestly and conversationally one traveler’s experience while conducting research abroad.

Consider reading these dispatches at face value, for enjoyment.  Use them to plot a geographic course through Peru and Bolivia, or to plan a hypothetical student trip, or as a starting point to inspire an individual research project from questions that arise naturally while reading.  

Happy travels and happy reading.

• July 2, 2016: Lima, Peru – The Path of the Conquistador
• July 3, 2016: Lima, Peru – Lima, History, Class, and Style
• July 4, 2016: Cusco, Peru – Love and Altitude
• July 5, 2016: Cusco, Peru – Saqsaywaman, Sicky Woman, and Destroying Religions You Don’t Understand
• July 6-9, 2016: Lares Valley, Peru – The Long Hard Road to Machu Picchu
• July 10, 2016: Sacred Valley, Peru – They Built Up with Their Two Hands
• July 11, 2016: Iquitos, Peru – Live from Deep in the Amazon
• July 12-14, 2016: Amazon Rainforest, Peru – Life on the River
• July 15, 2016: Lake Titicaca, Peru – The Lake at the Top of the World
• July 16-17, 2016: Lake Titicaca, Peru – At Home with Faustina
• July 18, 2016: Puno, Peru – A Morning with the Shoeshines, An Evening with the Dead
• July 19, 2016: La Paz, Bolivia – La Paz and the Homesick Heartworn Blues
• July 20, 2016: La Paz, Bolivia – Losing it in La Paz
• July 21, 2016: Uyuni, Bolivia – The Uyuni Salt Flats
• July 22, 2016: Potosi, Bolivia – An Authentic Bus Ride in Bolivia
• July 23, 2016: Potosi, Bolivia – An Offering for Tio
• July 24, 2016: La Paz, Bolivia – Cable Cars, Folk Masks, and Fighting Cholitas
• July 25, 2016: La Paz, Bolivia – It’s a Long Way Down… THE DEATH ROAD!
• July 26, 2016: Tiwanaku, Aliens in Ancient Bolivia, and the Ruins of an Old World
• July 27, 2016: New Horizons in South America and Beyond

THIS UNIT WAS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH A GENEROUS GRANT FROM FUND FOR TEACHERS.