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Living and Teaching English in Peru - Habits, Customs & Curiosities

Peru is one of the most exciting destinations in South America.

What attracts many visitors is the country’s fascinating history with countless Inca artifacts and attractions, including the famous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

Due to a strong demand for qualified English language teachers, Peru is also an attractive destination for teaching EFL.

These guides cover many things that you might want to know before traveling to Peru, such as the best places to visit, including the Inca trails, how to master altitude sickness in the mountains and a guide on the local Quechua language.

When traveling to Peru, make sure that your passport is valid and that you have a valid visa (for some countries). When in Peru, you absolutely must see the ancient Nazca Lines, quench your thirst with a Pisco sour and climb Machu Picchu.

It is also recommended to get vaccinations against typhoid, malaria and yellow fever. The official language in Peru is Spanish and the local currency is called Peruvian nuevo sol. Don’t forget to take a selfie with alpacas and see the rare red beach at the Paracas National Reserve.

To get to the world-famous Machu Picchu ruins, you can choose to walk along the same trail the Incas originally used to reach the ancient village. The Lares Trek is another popular Inca trail that starts from the small town of Lares, leads through Lares Valley and ends in Ollantaytambo.

The trail takes anywhere from 2 to 7 days depending on which other means of transportation you’d like to use.

Quechua is the most widely spoken of all the indigenous American languages, with an estimated 8 to 10 million native speakers around the world. While we know very little about the origins of the language, it is known that the ancient Incas adopted Quechua and spread it throughout their kingdom.

Even though it’s often referred to as a single language, there are actually 3 major dialects: Ecuador Quechua (Ecuador and Peru), Central Quechua (northern Peru) and Southern Quechua (Peru, Bolivia and Argentina). Quechua words like ‘llama’ and ‘condor’ have made their way into the English language.