Peru for kids – an amazing and quick video about life in Peru

Hello friends! Are you ready to learn about a new country? I hope you are, because today we're taking a look at how some people live in Peru. If you want to learn more about Peru, don't forget to download the activity pack in the description below. Now let's continue with the video! This is Carlos, a 10-year-old who lives in Lima, Peru. From Monday to Friday, he wakes up at 7 a.m. because school starts at 8 a.m. When Carlos sits at the table to have breakfast, he meets his family by saying buenos días, which means good morning in Spanish. Peruvians who live in cities always prefer to have a simple or on-the-go breakfast. Today, while his parents eat bread with cheese, ham, and avocado, Carlos eats a sweet tamale, very popular on Peru's coast. Carlos' dad, Emilio, owns a small textile manufacturing factory. His factory manufactures rugs, pillows, sweaters, ropes, coats, hats, and wall hangings. The material used for all of these is llama, vicuñas, and alpaca wool. The alpacas, llamas, and vicuñas are some of the native animals of the Andean mountains of Peru. They look like sheep, but they're actually part of the camel family, and they're much bigger. These animals are known for their soft wool. Peru is home to 80% of the world's alpaca population, and the national animal of Peru is the vicuña. The wool is harvested by shearing the animal's coat and spinning it into fibers. But don't worry, it doesn't hurt the animal one bit. Vicuña wool is considered one of the finest and rarest in the world. The llamas climb mountains, and people use them to put their backpacks when climbing the mountains. Sometimes llamas live at really high altitudes. Peruvians even have a national alpaca day, which takes place on the 1st of August. Hey, wait, that's my birthday! Emilio loves this holiday because it helps him promote his business. The event comprises of different activities, such as alpaca judging, alpaca parades, and wool spinning competitions. Now, Emilio has employees who hand-make some of the textiles he sells, like sweaters, hats, and rugs. Emilio's company also dyes some of their fabrics. They dye their wool and textile. You may be wondering why Peruvians need hats, since it's a hot country in South America. But Peru is actually very cold. That's why they sell a lot of these sweaters and hats. Carlos' school is not too far from his home, so he can get out there by walking. Since it's a little cold outside, Carlos wears a classic chullo, which is a colorful woven hat with two straps on the sides. After Carlos leaves for school, his mother, Elena, practices marinera, which is a traditional dance in Peru. Elena is a professional dancer, and she has a presentation in just a few days, where she will dance in front of hundreds of people wearing a colorful dress. Now, today in school, Carlos is learning about the Nazca lines, huge human and animal figures made in the desert between Palma and Nazca. There are more than 70 figures, and they are super old. Some people believe they were created by aliens. On his way back home, Carlos not only passes by the beautiful buildings of Lima, which combine modern and classic architecture, but he also passes by the famous Love Park, or Parque del Amor in Spanish. This beautiful park is located in the Malecón de Miraflores, and it's the perfect place to enjoy the view of the ocean and sunset. When Carlos gets home, his mother greets him with a fresh and delicious meal, ceviche, a dish prepared with corvina fish marinated in lime juice, onion, salt, and hot chili peppers, with chicha morada, a refreshing drink made from sweet purple corn. Carlos loves chicha morada, but his mom likes pisco sour more. Pisco sour is a drink for adults made from grapes mixed with lime juice, simple syrup eaters, ice, and a raw egg to give it a frothy consistency. Sometime later, Carlos goes out to play with his friends. Peruvian kids like to play all sorts of games, like with a spinning top or hide-and-seek. I know you're probably quite familiar with that one, but Carlos' favorite game is the elastic band game, or Juego de la Liga in Spanish. In this game, one kid has to jump between a big elastic band held by two other kids. These two kids hold the band with their ankles, and little by little, the difficulty increases, raising the band to the knees, waist, etc. After Carlos and his friends are done playing, he offers them some homenturron, which is a sweet snack made with honey and nuts. This dessert was originally created in Spain and Italy, but is super popular in Peru as well. Today, Carlos will go to bed early because tomorrow, he and his mother will go on a trip to visit the amazing Vinicunca Mountain, or Rainbow Mountain, in the Andes of Peru. The mountain is famous for its beautiful stripes of various colors. The main colors people notice on the mountain are cochineal red, terracotta yellow, pink, white, turquoise, brown, and orange. Colors are formed with the mineral deposits in the mountain. Red from iron oxide, green from chloride, and white from sandstone. Some of these minerals even mix together to give some other really unique colors. This is Brígida. She lives on the floating islands in Lake Titicaca. This lake is on the border with Bolivia, and is the highest navigable lake in the world. Brígida is a native of the Uro tribe. They are the ones who reside on the man-made floating islands. The Uro tribe even predates the Incan civilization. They have a unique way of living in which they still practice today. There are over 1,200 of them living on these islands, and they speak Aymara and Spanish. Brígida enjoys feeding the fishes every morning before going to school. She knows the perfect spot to see the fishes. The fishes always come to the same spot because they know she'll feed them there. There are over 50 different species of fish in Lake Titicaca, but the one native to the lake is the Titicaca orestias, flat-headed freshwater fish, which has greenish-yellow scales. There are two schools on the island, a traditional school and a Christian school. Brígida goes to the Christian school, and her mom tells her that when she gets older, she will have to leave the lake and head to the mainland to study. There are over 70 floating islands on Lake Titicaca. Brígida and her mom live on one of the larger islands. They house about 10 families, while the smaller ones house about three. The islands are made from dried tetora reeds that are woven together so that they're actually floating. These plants can grow everywhere on the lake. An island can last up to 30 years. Brígida's mom, Aiko, and the rest of the people on the island always maintain the floating islands they are in. They add new layers of reed daily because the ones at the bottom rot from the water. Brígida's house, just like the others, is made from the same tetora reeds, not just the houses that are made from the reeds, but their boats as well. Brígida's mom also makes some handcrafted items to sell to tourists, who often visit the floating islands. The tetora reeds are also used as medicine. When someone feels ill, they drink tetora reeds tea, and if any part of their body hurts, they will wrap these reeds around the wounded area. The tetora reeds are even eaten as food. Imagine! You may be thinking, since they live on the lake, the only food they eat is fish and tetora reeds. Well, that's actually not the case. Brígida's favorite dish is roasted duck and potatoes with quinoa salad. The Uros people hunt birds that reside on the lake, like ducks, flamingos, and seagulls. They also graze cattle on their island, and they even have birds that lay eggs for them. Aiko often leaves the island to go to Puno. She sometimes goes in a motorboat, which are very common on the island. She goes to Puno to sell tetora reeds in exchange for food items like quinoa and potatoes. She sometimes uses the money she makes from selling handcrafted items to tourists to buy the food. And Peru is the largest producer of quinoa in the world. They produce half of the entire world's supply of quinoa. Some of the floating islands have shared solar panels to run appliances such as TVs and radios. Brígida's home doesn't have a television or radio, but she sometimes goes to her neighbor's house to watch the TV. The main island is home to an Uro-run FM radio station, which plays music for several hours a day. Okay, now this is Alejandro. He lives in Cusco with his family, a city in southeastern Peru. The city is the closest one to Machu Picchu, which was the capital city of the Incan Empire many years ago. Like half the population of Peru, Alejandro and his family are descendants of the Incan people, who once ruled a vast empire in the Andes Mountains of South America. The language spoken by the Incan people is Quechua, and Quechua is still spoken by many of the indigenous people of Peru. It's one of the official languages of Peru. Fernando, Alejandro's dad, speaks Quechua fluently, along with Spanish at home. He sometimes communicates with his family only in Quechua. Alejandro has always been curious about his forefathers, the Incas, and where they originated. His dad told him that there are various myths about the Incan people, and one of those myths is that a man from a village called Pakaritampu sent his four sons and four daughters to establish a village elsewhere, and in the 1100s, they established a village and settled in Cusco, with his son Manco Capac becoming the leader. Another popular myth that the origin of the Incas that Fernando told his son is that the sun god Inti sent his son Manco Capac and his daughter Mama Oclo to emerge from the depths of the Lake Titicaca to look for a place to build an empire, and they did it in Cusco. Alejandro loves spending his days in the center of the city, which is next to the magnificent Cusco Cathedral. This cathedral is one of the most iconic churches in Peru, and took almost a hundred years to build it. The architecture is gothic-styled, but has some incorporated Incan symbols in it. Alejandro's dad is a tour guide. He often takes tourists up the Andes Mountains to see some of the Incan ruins that are scattered around every corner. One very popular tourist destination that he takes tourists to regularly is Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is a city of the Incan Empire. It is often called the Lost City because it was lost to the world until it was rediscovered in 1911. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The name Machu Picchu means Old Peak in Quechua, the language of the Incas. It sits 8,000 feet above sea level atop a mountain in the Andes Mountain Range in southern Peru. Machu Picchu was built around the year 1450 by the Incan Empire. The Incas built a stone road from Cusco to Machu Picchu, which Fernando takes his tourists through. He leads them through the hiking trail all the way to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is about 50 miles from Cusco. Now, mangoes grow everywhere in Peru. They're Alejandro's favorite fruit. Peru is the third largest exporter of mangoes in the world. Peruvian mangoes are very juicy and rich in vitamin C. Alejandro's favorite dessert is Peruvian flan. It's a delicious caramel custard delight. It's a creamy, luxurious taste and it's very easy to prepare. Alejandro loves it so much that he learned to prepare it himself. He uses simple ingredients like condensed milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla essence, and lemon zest. Yum! Alejandro's dad loves to drink tea. His favorite tea is coca tea, which is made from coca leaves. Coca leaves are very popular and can be found everywhere in Peru. It's a greenish-yellow in color and has a mildly bitter flavor, similar to green tea, with a more organic sweetness. Coca tea is often used to help with altitude sickness because Cusco and Machu Picchu and lots of cities in Peru are so high in the sky. This is Abigail. She operates a lodge in the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon rainforest covers a huge area of South America. About 60% of the rainforest is in Brazil, but the rest is shared among eight countries. Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela, and French Guiana. The Peruvian Amazon is one of the most biologically diverse regions on Earth and covers over 60% of the country. The lodge Abigail operates is a treehouse lodge which is located inside the jungle. It's 67 feet above the ground. A lot of the tourists enjoy staying at her lodge because they get to see a lot of animals from the treetops. Can you name any of these animals? Some tourists even took a boat from the tour. This gives them the chance to see various animals like the Amazonian pink dolphin, piranhas, sloths, toucans, turtles, taricaya, howler monkeys are so loud, Peruvian night monkeys, lots of different species of frogs, and tons and tons and tons of insects. And those are just a few things about Peru and how some Peruvian people live. Thank you so much for watching and don't forget to subscribe if you want to see more. Adios!