An Afro-Peruvian dance where the partners light each others' behinds on fire. They have to shake their hips fast or else they will get burned!
Did you know that there is a large population of people from African descent in Peru?:Afro Peruvians are citizens of Peru, descended from African slaves who were brought to the New World with the arrival of the conquistadors towards the end of the slave trade. According to the Inter-American Dialogue Race Report, January 2003, about 5% of the population of Peru is of African descent, others like the author/investigator, José Carlos Luciano Huapaya in his book, Los Afroperuanos, claims 10% to 15% of the population.
The only reason I knew this was because when I started learning Spanish I fell in love with this CD: acoustic guitars as you have never heard them before along with African percussion. It may change your life. It changed mine.
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The Hottest Dance Ever Invented
Lesson Idea: Tourism in Peru
"There is only one place on earth that has it all.
Only one country has everything the planet has to offer: all the microclimates, all the regions, every type of animal, they are all here in Peru.
Like a giant catalogue Peru can show the best of its coastline, its highlands, and its jungle. Rivers, lakes, mountains, canyons, dances, customs, the food, drinks, rituals, cultures, historic ruins shrouded in magic. From pacific beaches up to the snow line, from the Sechura desert to the Andes, from flamingos to llamas, from Baracas to Lake Titicaca, from the Marinera dance to the Alcatraz, from dishes like "Ceviche" to "Aji de Gallina", from "Chicha de Jora" maize (corn)) beer to distilled Pisco, from Alga Rubina Carob Honey to the Ayauasca vine, from the lord of Cepan to Machu Picchu you can find everything, absolutely everything, in the same place.
Peru, a multicultural nation. Peru, the world's catalogue."
Lesson Idea:
Follow a format similar to this video to write a script that highlights the attractions in your country or city:
1. Climate and geography
2. Culture: art, music, dance, language, etc.
3. Food and drinks
4. Wildlife
5. Famous historical sites
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Wild South American Dance
I thought that flamingos only lived in Florida and the Caribbean. I wonder if Jeff saw any of these on his truck ride through the Andes. "It's a lonely life, but that's why flamingos come here. With the place all to themselves, they have the privacy to dance.
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This is how they choose their mates (partners; lovers). These are Chilean flamingos but wherever there are flamingos in the world, they do the same dance."
Adventure in the Andes
Jeff went through the Andes mountains in a truck. This guy did it in a wheelchair.
You may be wondering how three Canadian guys become lost and stranded (helpless, stuck) in the Andes mountains of northern Peru. Or you just may be wondering (thinking), “How the heck did the little guy in the wheelchair get up there?”
“We’re going to try to get to that town right there.”
“Well we are by ourselves...pretty tranquilo” (relaxed in Spanish).
“This is not a place I want to break my arm or leg.”
Meet my buddy Mitch, the little guy in the wheelchair. His condition is called osteogenesis imperfecta. Now without going into too much medical jargon(technical vocabulary), it’s basically a condition where he has extremely brittle (fragile, easily breakable, weak) bones that have kept him small all of his life.
“In the Andes, in the middle of nowhere.” This is Javier, Mitch’s younger brother. He has often been the collaborater (partner, colleague, helper) in many of Mitch’s pursuits and travels. Many of their travel ideas causes their parents back home in Canada to be apprehensive (nervous, afraid). Like the idea of traveling to their mother’s homeland of Peru in South America where we currently find ourselves lost and stranded on the side of this mountain.
“We’re 90 miles from the next town.”
“A ninety-mile walk from the next town.”
“It should be interesting because we are in the middle of nowhere.”
My name is Scott and I have no Latin American heritage (family, roots, history) that I know of but I have grown a great interest in the Spanish speaking continent to our south. I guess you could say Mitch’s desire to return to his roots rubbed off on me (I became interested too) while being friends with him back in Canada.
“Hola.”
After filming a political documentary drama in Venezuela, we decided to continue our trek (trip, journey) further into South America to explore their mother’s native land in hopes of meeting the family they have never had a chance to meet before. But now, with the sun beginning to set (starting to go down) and at an elevation of over 10,000 feet, we begin to wonder how we will make it through the night.
“How am I going to wheel around in this?”
“Oh, it’ll be fine.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get very far until you get a flat tire.”
Just when we thought our situation couldn’t get any worse, Mitch’s wheelchair breaks.
“Damn it, frickin’ (polite way to say f@#%ing) wheelchair!”
“Do you have a screwdriver or a knife or something?”
With the sun going down and the temperature dropping, I was beginning to wonder, maybe this ????? wasn’t the best decision after all.
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