Classroom clipper, Vol. XVI, No. 3, February 1960

              FEBRUARY 1960
VOL. XVI, No. 3
Published by Pan American World Airways
LATIN AMERICA AT CLOSE
OR
WESTERN COLLEGE STUDENTS
by Mary Flagler, "60 Western College For Women
RANGE
Sign language and colorful national costumes were really nothing new to students from Western College for Women who toured Central and South America this summer. Instead, the classroom learning of books and lectures merely came to life against a native backdrop.
For the previous academic year Western College, through its international emphasis program, had concentrated on Latin America with a visiting lecturer from Chile and a variety of films, lectures, and other extracurricular programs. One of these programs was given by a professional South American dancer, who having had to leave his partner behind, put on a demonstration of native dances with Western’s Latin American students as his partners.
The Latin American Area Conference in April also had its special surprise — a group of El Salvadorian civil engineers visiting the campus for the weekend. It was here that sign language came in handy, particularly at the dinner table. The visitors attended the conference with us and were willing dancing teachers that evening, doing the “tango” and the “cha-cha-cha” a la El Salvador!
With this introduction, the South American Seminar took to the air on Pan American planes last July in quest of more information, understanding, and fun. Cold, wet days in Lima, Peru, the first major stop, did not lessen the enchantment of that city for many of us. We discovered the old, mysterious streets opening onto modern avenues lined with theatres and interesting ,shops, and not far away the Indians making their homes in shacks of tin, tar-paper, cardboard and boxes thrown together, or dried mud.
Some of the girls had the opportunity to see the favorite Peruvian sport — a bull fight. We all inspected everything from beautiful churches and colonial balconies to small stores displaying objects of gold and silver. And like most tourists in Lima, we bought things made of silver while one young guide candidly remarked, “The silver jewelry you see is mostly for the tourists. We Peruvians prefer gold!”
Cuzco is the lofty seat of the Inca Empire. Its steep, narrow streets and ancient churches
breath old age, while the mountains surrounding it remain timeless. Since the temperature drops thirty degrees every night there and the air is very thin, we had the novel experience of breathing hard for oxygen while being smothered by blankets to keep off the cold.
In one of the small, dirty villages on the way to the Inca fortress of Machu Picchu several of us, more adventurous than the others, tasted the native beverage, “chicha-hora,” drinking from a common bowl. Set high among the jagged peaks of the Andes the ruins of Machu Picchu are a tribute to primitive skill and sheer physical power. The historical riddles of the people who built it, when and how they built it, not to mention why it was suddenly deserted are, as we soon realized, yet to be solved.
In Santiago, Chile, the Western College Alumnae Association gave us a very warm welcome. Two former visiting professors from Chile were also on hand to greet some of their former students. Amid a number of banquets, receptions, and cocktail parties, Santiago was interpreted to our untiring group by equally energetic hosts. It was a thrill for all of us to meet Dr. James Mac-Lean who in 1928 started an annual exchange between Western College and university students of Chile in a fruitful effort to foster better understanding and friendship between the United States and Chile. As a result of this visit to Chile, two girls are now making plans to further their education there.
In Chile, as in every country we visited, we were privileged to attend lectures and discus-(Continued on page T-2)
FIRST HAND INFORMATION
In each country visited, the Western College group had authoritative guidance and counselling. Here Governor General Potter of the Canal Zone briefs the tour members on facts concerning the Panama Canal,