TEFL course and TEFL Jobs in Peru
The Spaniards’ first impressions of Peru, when they
sailed down its coast for the first time in 1528, were of
barren beaches and man-eating savages. It was not until
they began their now-legendary journey to the interior,
through ochre desert and lush river valleys, up and over
snowy passes, and into the sublime, magical realm of the
altiplano that they realized what they had stumbled upon:
a people every bit as advanced as the ancient Egyptians,
with the most intricate stone construction in the history
of the world and an abundance of what the Spaniards most
wanted: gold. In Cusco, the capital of the Inca empire,
the Spaniards found miniature gold figurines in the shape
of jungle insects, 4-inch-thick temple walls made of gold,
shields and vases and even hand plows - all made of
gold.
The TEFL course takes place in Cusco, which today is the
primary destination for nine out of ten travelers to Peru.
The school that offers the TEFL is a state-of-the-art facility
with modern technology and a complete library of resources
for TEFL teachers. Demand for English teachers in Cusco
is high.
In Cusco, you can wander the city’s cobblestone streets,
marvel at the Spanish colonial cathedral and monasteries
built atop massive Inca walls, eat alpaca steaks and fat
ears of sweet corn and stroll around the main squares in
the evenings. Nearby but reachable only by train -
or by multi-day trek along the world-famous Inca Trail -
is the other world of the Incas: Machu Picchu, the mountaintop
city on the edge of the Amazon jungle. The lowland Amazon
jungle is a 45-minute plane ride form Cusco.
Despite four centuries of Spanish domination, Cusco remains
in a tug-of-war between Spanish and Inca cultures. Though
the Spaniards destroyed the Inca buildings in an act of
domination, they had enough common sense to leave many of
the bulging, seamless stone walls as foundations. These
walls line many of Cusco’s narrow cobblestone alleys,
which thread among the many baroque churches and convents
the Spaniards built here. Part of Cusco’s power, and
a reason visitors linger here, is the uneasy cultural tension
evident in places like Coricancha and even hotel lobbies,
where seamless Inca walls are nestled incongruously among
arcades of Spanish arches.
Cusco is at 3,400 meters (11,150 feet), and most people
who arrive here feel some form of soroche, or altitude sickness,
which can range from a headache and the chills to more serious
ailments. The best plan is to visit the Sacred Valley, 2,000
feet lower than Cusco, early in a Cusco visit in order to
help the acclimatization process.
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