Students in the Wilderness and Adventure Therapy course embarked on a global education experience in Peru to hike and camp on the Inca trail during the week of Thanksgiving break.
For the second year in a row, students in Dr. Parks’s HSS 373 course — Wilderness and Adventure Therapy, embarked on a global education experience in Peru to hike and camp on the Inca trail during the week of Thanksgiving break.
Co-instructors Rodney Parks, who is university registrar, assistant to the provost, and an assistant professor, and Janelle Decato, assistant director of study abroad, decided to increase the challenge for this year’s class, incorporating an additional excursion across the fabled Pachacutec Pass. This 13-mile hike exceeds 15,000 feet in elevation, giving students a close up view of glaciers and the lofty mountains Sahuasiray and Pitusiray – the highest peaks in the Urubamba range.
In addition to these physical challenges, students were encouraged to engage with the local population. Cultural connections embedded in the course included an exhibition of traditional weaving techniques, an intimate demonstration of traditional healing practices by a local shaman, and one-on-one interviews with the local porters that camped and hiked with the group.
The Adventure Therapy course joins other travel embedded courses offered through the Global Education Center.