Monday, July 02, 2007
College group also explores foreign culture, canoes down Amazon and climbs Machu Picchu.
By GINA VASSELLI
The Express-Times
Ryan Toth canoed down the Amazon, stood on top of Machu Picchu and got class credit for doing it.
The 23-year-old Phillipsburg man traveled to Peru this summer as part of his studies as a pharmacy student at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.
The study abroad program was organized through the Global Awareness Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the rainforest, according to its Web site.
Toth and 11 other pharmacy students from across the country returned June 25 from their three-week trip.
Shelli Holt-Macey, director of Wilkes University's Experiential Programs for the pharmacy school, said the students were selected by the institute's founder, Dr. Barbara Brodman.
The students flew June 1 into Lima, Peru.
"That was basically the last city I saw," Toth said. "The rest was more or less all jungle."
Toth said they visited the GAI's Center for Natural Medicine in Iquitos to learn about natural medicine and drug discovery.
While the group was in Iquitos, it was visited by a shaman who talked about the plants used by the different tribes.
Toth said after her speech, the shaman stayed at the center because of a national workers strike in Peru and demonstrations in Iquitos.
"I guess she was scared to go back," Toth said.
He said the strike was unexpected and surreal.
"That was weird. It happened like two days after we got there," Toth said.
The group left the center a few days later and traveled to Cusco, Peru. It arrived there in time to experience the winter solstice at Machu Picchu.
"It's so huge you just wonder how they could build it," Toth said. "They didn't use mortar and the stones fit so perfectly together you can't fit a credit card between them."
But his parents, Brenda and Dale, had other concerns about the Incan city.
"I knew he was going there but I didn't realize how steep it was. So when I saw those pictures it made me a little nervous," Brenda Toth said.
Ryan Toth said the group traveled down the Amazon in canoes for about three days, which was not always easy.
"One time we were rowing as hard as we could with the current and we weren't moving because of the wind coming against us," he said.
Along the river they met three different native tribes: The Bora, Huitoto and Yagua.
Ryan Toth said he became friends with a river guide from the Bora tribe named Wellington.
"He spoke a little English and I speak a little Spanish so we became friendly," he said.
Wellington hand-carved a mask for him and it became one of many tribal souvenirs Toth took home.
Holt-Macey said the program was a great success because "it's directly related to the study of pharmacy and understanding how other cultures work without a system like the U.S.," she said.
Ryan Toth said the trip "was not the kind of thing you can do as a tourist. We got to see places and people that barely anyone ever sees."
Gina Vasselli is a staff writer. She can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at gvasselli@express-times.com.
College group also explores foreign culture, canoes down Amazon and climbs Machu Picchu.
By GINA VASSELLI
The Express-Times
Ryan Toth canoed down the Amazon, stood on top of Machu Picchu and got class credit for doing it.The 23-year-old Phillipsburg man traveled to Peru this summer as part of his studies as a pharmacy student at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.
The study abroad program was organized through the Global Awareness Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the rainforest, according to its Web site.
Toth and 11 other pharmacy students from across the country returned June 25 from their three-week trip.
Shelli Holt-Macey, director of Wilkes University's Experiential Programs for the pharmacy school, said the students were selected by the institute's founder, Dr. Barbara Brodman.
The students flew June 1 into Lima, Peru.
"That was basically the last city I saw," Toth said. "The rest was more or less all jungle."
Toth said they visited the GAI's Center for Natural Medicine in Iquitos to learn about natural medicine and drug discovery.
While the group was in Iquitos, it was visited by a shaman who talked about the plants used by the different tribes.
Toth said after her speech, the shaman stayed at the center because of a national workers strike in Peru and demonstrations in Iquitos.
"I guess she was scared to go back," Toth said.
He said the strike was unexpected and surreal.
"That was weird. It happened like two days after we got there," Toth said.
The group left the center a few days later and traveled to Cusco, Peru. It arrived there in time to experience the winter solstice at Machu Picchu.
"It's so huge you just wonder how they could build it," Toth said. "They didn't use mortar and the stones fit so perfectly together you can't fit a credit card between them."
But his parents, Brenda and Dale, had other concerns about the Incan city.
"I knew he was going there but I didn't realize how steep it was. So when I saw those pictures it made me a little nervous," Brenda Toth said.
Ryan Toth said the group traveled down the Amazon in canoes for about three days, which was not always easy.
"One time we were rowing as hard as we could with the current and we weren't moving because of the wind coming against us," he said.
Along the river they met three different native tribes: The Bora, Huitoto and Yagua.
Ryan Toth said he became friends with a river guide from the Bora tribe named Wellington.
"He spoke a little English and I speak a little Spanish so we became friendly," he said.
Wellington hand-carved a mask for him and it became one of many tribal souvenirs Toth took home.
Holt-Macey said the program was a great success because "it's directly related to the study of pharmacy and understanding how other cultures work without a system like the U.S.," she said.
Ryan Toth said the trip "was not the kind of thing you can do as a tourist. We got to see places and people that barely anyone ever sees."
Gina Vasselli is a staff writer. She can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at gvasselli@express-times.com.
