In May 2012, 15 UAB students led by Professors Carlos Orihuela (Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures) and Pamela Murray (Department of History) arrived in Lima, Peru, for a crash course in the language, culture, and history of one of the most fascinating countries in the Western hemisphere.

Over the three weeks, students

• adapted to life with their Peruvian host families;
• learned new customs and the intricacies of navigating through Lima, a bustling city of eight million, by bus and taxi;
• improved their Spanish in daily lessons taught by instructors of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (the oldest university in the Americas);
• became acquainted with numerous local historic and archaeological sites of interest--including the winding catacombs of Lima's famous Franciscan Monastery and eye-opening Museum of the Inquisition;
• and, not least, sampled some of the delights of traditional Peruvian folk music and dance, "La Marinera."

A true highpoint of the program was the trip to Cuzco, ancient capital of the Incas, nestled high in the southern Andes at about 11,000 feet above sea level. From there, they toured the Sacred Valley and traveled by both train and bus to visit the magical "Lost City" of Machu Picchu.

Taken by Proffesor Murray, the photos in this slideshow give viewers a glimpse of the variety of places students visited and the odyssey they experienced. Visit flickr to see all of the photos.