Monday was marked as our day to learn about the Mestizo community.

Tuesday was marked as our day to learn about the Indigenous community.

Woke up Tuesday morning to hear there was an earthquake Monday night around 1am. I was awake, but didn't feel it.

Our opening thought was centered around the concept of "Ubuntu" - the essence of humanity. "The best of you is the best of me, the worst of you is the worst of me."

45% of the Peru population is indigenous.

We visited INDEPA in the morning. - the Institute for Development of indigenous, Amazonian, and Andean people. Our host was Gustavo Sambrano and this organization is housed under the "Ministry of Culture". According to this organization, there are 64 different cultures in Peru.

This organization is heavily involved in the UN - United Nations. Many nations are, but the US is not as heavily involved. The "right to be consulted" is the authorization that anything having cultural implications needs to be run by the people it is affecting. The US supported the declaration of "right to be consulted" but did not legalize implementation of "right to be consulted".

There are 16,000 indigenous people who are nomads. There is evidence that they exist but they have not been contacted yet in an effort to protect and serve them.

This organization has only been in existence in this way for 2 years, so it is still fairly new. They are focusing on public policy and are housed under the Vice Ministry of Culture.

According to them, there are 5 ways to identify a Peruvian ethnically. In order

• Language
• Geographic location
• Customes/behavior
• Self-identification
• Unique physical identifiers