Nutrition & Natural Medicine in Peru

I have never been to South America before but knew I wanted to stay for a solid period of time to understand the culture. I am a doctoral student wanting to augment my learning with experiences from other cultures regarding holistic health and indigenous medicine. This program provided me with all I was hoping: a well put together program that consisted of day long learning sessions for the first two weeks, then immersion into an internship tailored to me. Accommodations were amazing, I always felt safe and I was able to plan trips through the program director on the weekends. This program is well worth doing!

Upon my arrival to Peru to study nutrition & natural medicine in a summer abroad program, I was already expecting a life changing experience. From Cusco, to Macchu picchu, to urubamba; the largest town in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Aside from the beautiful mountainous scenery, ancient history, teachers, guides, and the amazing women I get to participate in this program with, I was deeply touched by the hard working people, innocent children, and abundant packs of stray animals that reside in this village. The simplicity they live by is truly remarkable and serves as a reminder to appreciate even the littlest things we have that make our lives so much more convenient. Although they lack most of the things we couldn’t go a day without, they are so rich in their culture and tradition, and community. Being able to learn the history, and share their culture has been such a priceless experience. I would do this program again and again. The teachers, hosts, guides, and classes were all amazing. I’ve learned to make so many healthy things and eat for health. I’ve learned so many natural remedies, and have continued my holistic journey outside of this experience in my everyday life in the US. Thank you linguistic horizons I hope I have the opportunity to save up and experience another trip of a lifetime like this one was to me!! I am truly blessed and spiritually fulfilled. I left a piece of me in Peru and brought a better, new improved, open minded version of myself back home.

Photos

This program has benefitted my outlook on medicine, nutrition, travel, and my environment in too many ways to count. I came to Peru with little knowledge of nutrition and herbalism, and absolutely no ability to speak Spanish. However, I was immediately welcomed and given the resources to take Spanish classes. I felt encouraged to fully immerse myself in the experience, and through many workshops by people who worked with many types of indigenous medicine, herbalism, and nutrition every day, I learned so much about myself, the earth, and a more wholesome and caring culture in addition to the subjects the workshops were officially about. I learned a great deal of Spanish in a short amount of time, leaving with a determination to continue studying the language, apply what I had learned, and live in a more wholesome and open way connected to my surroundings and community. I cannot thank Nichole enough for the careful planning and love that she clearly put into the program and for the warm and open way she welcomed me and the rest of the members of the program. I made connections that truly changed me and met people I will never forget. This is a beautiful, immersive way to learn and to experience Peru, and I would recommend the program to anyone with even the slightest interest in Peru, nutrition, alternative medicines, or the environment.

I was looking for a program that focused on herbalism and a natural, holistic look at life and medicine. I was also hoping to find something that would get me back into a spanish speaking country to practice my fading language skills and support my love of cultural exploration. Nicole's program (and it really is her grown-up brain child) did this for me and provided so much more than I had ever hoped. Nicole is an amazing person and has connected herself to an incredibly welcoming and insightful community. The cost of the program covers delicious cuisine for most of your meals, multiple excursions to incredible sights often featured in National Geographic, and an introduction and entrance into the culture on so many levels. You meet local artist communities, have contact with shamans who live several days worth of hiking up in the mountains, meet Max--our fabulous local tour guide and source of endless stories accessible to people of all spanish speaking levels--explore phenomenal nature and learn the secret local knowledge of how to barter at the markets and who sells the best fruit. Oh my Goodness the fruit. It's worth it if all you do is eat the fruit, but you do so much more as well. We hiked the mountains that create a backdrop to Urubamba and collected native medicinal plants for a local healer. We gave ceremonial thanks to Pacha Mama in return for letting us collect what we needed from her mountain and used what we gathered to heal people. I summated Machu Pichu and Huayna Pichu in the glorious jungle rain and sat in meditation in the temple of the moon half way down the back side of the mountain. We went to the Salt flats at Maras and spent days just sitting around loving life. We met with Vedic healers who taught us nutritional information and made the best snacks. Make the decision to go on the trip for yourself, because you will grow so much and learn about yourself and the world in ways you are not expecting.

The Nutrition and Natural Medicine in Peru is an experience of a lifetime!!! The journey throughout Cuzco, Valle Sagrado, Urubamba, Pisa and many other small towns were full of culture, history, excellent food, comfort, safety and camaraderie. I was blessed to be part of a jovial and wonderful group of students from all around the globe. They were all amazing students. Nicole did a superb job selecting all the lectures, cooking classes, herbals harvesting, Indigenous traditional ceremonies, all wonderfully organized. I absolutely loved my adventure with Nicole, her team and other participants in the Peru Program. Linguistic Horizons’ Program in Peru and its founder Nicole Berry was everything and more than I expected, and I’ll always be grateful for all the beautiful memories we shared together. Gisela Urieta

This study abroad program was a life changing experience! It was very safe, the people involved were very friendly, and the region was extraordinary! My only complaint is I felt like the natural medicine portion was very vague. I don't think I learned much about medicine while there, to tell the truth. I did however glean much on the way of life,the culture, the people, and their approaches to health. All in all it was extraordinary and I'd highly recommend!

The Scared Valley itself is beautiful!!! Living remotely in Urubamba helped adjust the body with the altitude sickness and at night it was great to just disconnect from the day's pre-arranged activities to stargaze. Tania, our hostess, runs a very modern casita in the provincia. I've personally visited and stayed in other Peruvian provincias (i.e. Tarma) and her place is a game changer especially the healthy meals and HOT water. However, due to COVID the program had a lot of modifications and speaking Spanish was imperative to keep up. Unfortunately our guide was sick and we did not have a backup. I strongly recommend that the program have a backup local/translator in case of these situations. The Director was able to log on remotely to help translate the Andean medicine workshop and provide supplemental online resources to reinforce what we learned. Overall, it is a good program for cultural immersion to Andean medicine and nutrition. I learned unconventional holistic and spiritual practices. Personally, I would have preferred all the workshops be in person, but I understand that COVID was a factor. I also enjoyed all the sightseeing, hiking and shopping in the markets.

Nicole was super attentive and answered all my questions in detail as well as providing me with extra information that, although I did not ask for, was super helpful. She really cares for you and you feel it. The whole process of application to the program and follow-up before the trip was super professional and it left me very calm since I knew at all times what was happening and what I would need before traveling. Once in Peru, everything was very easy. I did not have to worry about anything. I could focus on enjoying the experience and learning from the wonderful people I met. The quality of the workshops was beyond I expected and I'm really grateful for that. I really recommend the program to anyone interested in holistic medicine and natural nutrition. Thank you SO MUCH from the bottom of my heart for everything!! I'm definitely coming back to Urubamba to visit :)

Photos

Peru is one of the most beautiful places I have been to, and being able to return to such a beautiful, culturally and nutritionally rich place, was already a treat! But the real treat, was how beautifully Nicole set up this program! From the living situation, to the beautiful people, to the fun weekend adventures, to the exploring and the nutrition education! Incredible experience!

Studying natural medicine and nutrition in Peru gave me a new outlook on Nutrition from studying it in the States. I enjoyed learning about superfoods and how they can help prevent and cure different health problems. Also, learning about natural cleanses and detoxes was interesting because most of them are very simple and can be done at home. I highly recommend this trip to anyone.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas is absolutely breathtaking. The nutrition and natural medicine program exceeded my expectations and I am truly grateful to have been a part of it. Nicole was a thoughtful, intelligent and helpful director. She created a program that expanded on my knowledge about nutrition and opened my eyes to natural medicine. My time there I learned about bodywork, the benefits of aromatherapy, Peruvian superfoods, herbal medicine, traditional Peruvian customs and so much more. This program is unique compared to nutrition programs I have looked at. The reason for this trip was for educational purposes, but the outside excursions (an overnight hike, visit to Machu Pachu, and the tour of Cusco) helped develop my love for the country. Overall, the program gives you a natural and holistic view of health. If you have a passion for both these things, I strongly recommend involving yourself in this program. It will be a memorable experience you will never forget.

My experience learning about nutrition and natural medicine in Peru was truly amazing. Through this program I had the opportunity to learn about aspects of natural medicine and holistic nutrition which I have never had the opportunity to learn in school. It was so awesome to get to experience the health culture of this country and learn about all of the amazing Peruvian super foods and herbs used! I have already benefited so much from the information I learned about essential oils, body work, natural and herbal medicine, tradition Peruvian cooking and super foods, and overall holistic health - and it has sparked a desire within me to continue to learn more about these topics! I also loved all of the opportunities we had to hike and enjoy the outdoors - which were many! Every day was filled with fun workshops, delicious food, and outdoor adventures :) Peru is such a beautiful and health conscious place, and I hope to go back again! I could not recommend this program enough!

My experience with this program truly exceeded my expectations. Nicole, the program director, was so beyond helpful from before the program even started until the very end. I was only there for 3 weeks and I learned so much useful information about plant-based medicine, Peruvian culture, and nutrition. Before going it was not my main goal to improve my Spanish, but after being immersed in the language I left Peru being more motivated than ever to eventually be fluent in Spanish. The opportunities that were presented to the students in the program are not things that you can find anywhere else, it was truly a once in a lifetime experience. The people that I have met through this program are some of the most amazing people I know and meeting them has truly changed my life for the better, if I could do it all over again I would not change a thing.