After months of tireless work by association founder Leo Marin and her dedicated team, the first full IATEFL Peru conference ran smoothly over a warm winter’s weekend in Lima, with plenary speakers Paul Seligson, Andrew Sheehan, Penny Ur and myself.
We were hosted by the Colegio “La Reparacion” in central Lima for the first day, moving to a private college on the outskirts for the second day – a chance to experience different parts of the city.
The conference was a great success with a large turnout of teachers from all over the country. Some had travelled 12 hours or more by bus, overnight, just to attend. Their dedication to their profession, their appetite for new knowledge, new ideas and desire to share experience, was impressive to see.
Everyone is very grateful to Leo and the IATEFL committee for making this happen and look forward to IATEFL Peru 2013 which will be in Lima on July 13-14.
Lima itself is a delightful city – 2000 years of history along the beach. If you have chance to visit, make sure you go to the Huaca Puccllan, a 2000 year old pyramid and religious site, which long pre-dates the Incas. The original Lima people built this in around 200 AD and lived here peacefully worshipping the moon, sea and the shark until overpowered by the Wari – who specialised in human sacrifice. Photos of the site can be found here.
The only sacrifices now are of the sea bass and steaks in the attached restaurant, here, one of the gastronomic highlights of Lima, which is set in the ruins and where even in winter you can eat fine food in the historical site. I recommend the Tacama red wine – Peruvian wine has come a long way in recent years and now rivals Argentinian in some of the vineyards.