Summer Abroad 2026 - Peru

The main lesson I learned this summer is that identity is a very important thing. Identity is very important in small and big matters: from the high school Peruvian boys asking me “¿Messi o Ronaldo?” to tensions within a country based on heritage or class, identity is important. For example, we learned that Peru is different from the United States in that Peruvians do not have sharp and irreconcilable differences due to politics. However, some Peruvians experience the effects of a social hierarchy in which the coastal people (the Costeños who live in places like Lima) are considered superior to the Serrano people who live in the high-altitude regions. The Serrano people are associated with the Indigenous populations. It is fascinating to me how there are parallels to the United States. Due to structures of sin, many times the poor people live in a certain place (e.g., in the inner-city) and the rich people live in a different place (e.g., the suburbs).

Engaging with a different culture requires you to suspend some aspects of your identity. It means allowing another world to enter into you, rather than you injecting yourself into that world. I have been asked to live in a different culture to learn from a different perspective on the world. Peruvian culture is very different from American culture: most of life is go-with-the-flow, and changes of plan are expected. Suspending the attachment to your own way of thinking allows you to see the beautiful advantages to a new perspective. For example, through the go-with-the-flow attitude, I experienced a profound patience, acceptance, and welcoming from all the Peruvians I met, notwithstanding my many errors in Spanish.

I came to recognize that the people in Peru were extremely faith-filled and generous toward the people who represented God to them. For example, from the first day of arriving at Peru, many people called out to me as San Martin or Martincito. This is another case of Peru being different from the USA. Who is the most famous American? George Washington? Abraham Lincoln? Michael Jackson? Well, in Peru, the most famous people are Catholic saints: St. Rose of Lima and St. Martin de Porres! During the six weeks I was in Peru, I was their “profile picture” or avatar since I represented the most famous person of their country. As another example, a common theme in the homilies I heard in Peru was that to be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we ought not strive for high offices but rather seek to serve others. I am truly blessed by the service I experienced from the Peruvians. For example, upon seeing that my habit’s sleeves needed repair, the brothers found a seamstress who fixed it for free, asking only prayers as compensation!

Above, I brought up the story of the kids at the colegio asking me to take a side in the Messi or Ronaldo debate. They asked me to take a side in a bunch of other comparisons as well (as if the opinion of a random American mattered very much). “¿La U o Alianza?” “¿Peru es clave?” I found all these questions amusing because they offer an insight as to what it means to pertain to a particular group, whether it be pertaining to La U, the coolest Peruvian soccer team, or Peru, an awesome country. 

I experienced the same thing when I was rooting for Team USA, although I know nothing about the players on our team. And it was awesome to sit around for hours after lunchtime watching the games with the Peruvian student brothers. Yet they lamented that the tiny island of Curaçao (population: 158,000) had a World Cup soccer team while El Perú did not! 

Another cultural difference I experienced in Peru was the immense desire to include me in everything. Whereas in America there is an impulse to find the best person for the job, in Peru they simply threw us into reading at Mass, praying the Rosary live on Radio Santa Rosa, and even teaching classes in Spanish to high school students (with little time to prepare!).

Daily life with the friars included praying the Liturgy of the Hours with them, joining them for processions, and enjoying meals and community life together. I was amazed by their dedication to community life. It seemed like they spent the whole day together. They would have morning prayer and breakfast together. Then they would depart for school together. Immediately upon returning, they would pray daytime prayer and enjoy lunch. After lunch, we would watch the FIFA soccer games almost until it was time for vespers, Mass, dinner, and compline! The Peruvian student brothers spent so much time together that it reminded me of my novitiate! 

Overall, during this international experience with the Peruvian Dominicans, I received the great gift of pertaining and completely belonging to this worldwide institution that I joined two years ago: the Dominicans.