Peru

By Keily Ponce

“Everyone should be able to go back to their parents’ home country and experience and be curious about their cultures and their roots.”

Keily Ponce: Good morning or good afternoon. My name is Keily Ponce. I'll be interviewing Marco Ponce, age twenty-one, about life experiences that feel the most memorable and that you do on a yearly basis.

Keily Ponce: Hi, Marco. Today, we are sitting here to talk about some of your life experiences that you feel are the most memorable and that you do on a yearly basis. I'm going to ask you some few questions. Question one: what are some life experiences that you perform annually?

Marco Ponce: Hello. Um, well, by starting off, some life experience that I do annually is I go with my whole family to my parents' home country, which is the country of Peru.

Keily Ponce: Why do you go to Peru every year?

Marco Ponce: I go to Peru every year because my parents made it a tradition to, basically to fly out to the country of Peru to basically stay in touch with my roots and my family that I have over there, such as my aunties, uncles, grandma, um, and cousins.

Keily Ponce: When you are in Peru what are some activities you do while being there?

Marco Ponce: So when I first arrive in Peru, I arrive at the capital called Lima, and there, both my parents, my mom and my dad's side of the family, live in… the capital and I visit them for maybe about a week, get to experience both sides… and then from there I go to this small town where my parents grew up and their childhood was, which is a small town called Tingo María. And Tingo María is in the entrance of the jungle. It's high jungle, and to get to Tingo María it's a twelve-hour bus ride from the capital. So very long ride to get there.

Keily Ponce: Do these… do these annual trips help you keep connected to your parents' home country, culture?

Marco Ponce: Yes, every single time I go to Peru I think I experience something new, whether it's something that I found interesting for my parents or my family or even the culture, like a new food experience or anything else. And every single time, my… my relatives always give me advice on what I should do and… to become better and successful.

Keily Ponce: Over the years, what can you take away over these meaningful trips?

Marco Ponce: The most meaningful thing I would think, um… that I would take away from these trips is being able to go... I think everyone should be able to go back to their parents' home country and experience and be curious about their… cultures and their roots and where they come from, in order for them to preserve that culture and pass it on to future generations and be able to give that, um, give that meaningful culture and richness to future generations.

Keily Ponce: This story is relevant to me today because as an infant to a mature person, I, Keily Ponce, have been visiting my parents' family members that live in Peru with similar cultural perspective as Marco. Because of my parents' family members taking me on an exploration through many different cities, I have learned the aspect and the similarities and the difference of how people live within a unique culture.