Peru, Tumbes

We are Hereiti GICQUEL and Clémence PEUTAT, P115-second year students at ISTOM.

For our first-year internship, entitled MTEDS, we traveled to Peru more precisely to Tumbes. We worked for the French association “Plante et Planète” in collaboration with the National University of Tumbes. The internship was divided into two parts: the first one at the University, and the second one in southern France near Albi.

To begin with, our master of internship Miguel PUESCAS, welcomed us at the airport with his wife Veronica PUESCAS. As we lived with them during the whole stay, we were completely immerged into the Peruvian life, experiencing local dishes, culture, history, etc. They took very care of us, and we will always be grateful for their harm welcoming.

Our missions were to meet and socialize with the University’s students and teachers, rural population, and different important people involved in mister PUESCAS’ project, to discuss about thematics such as water and dry forest management, and sustainable development. Adding to this, we have led an investigation about the project to improve the cooperation dedicated to the Palo Santo which is a Peruvian sacred tree mostly used for its medicinal virtues.

As part of the internship, we visited palo santo exploitation, others too where different types of cultures were grown such as cacao, banana, lemon, oranges, rice, etc. We spent most of the time at the University, attending some classes and in the plant nursery, learning more about what they are doing there and why. Unlike us, they have a lot of field work during their whole studies, even in the first years. It was a great opportunity for us to discover other ways to farm different types of plants and the whole process to commercialize them.

About Miguel’s project, it consists in the rehabilitation of the Palo Santo in the district of Casitas, south of Tumbes, collaborating with the rural women of Casitas. He possesses a parcel of 10 000 acres where he and his partners will grow about 5 different species, adding bees and other animals to respect the idea of eco-responsibility and sustainable development.

During the second part, we were with our second master of internship, FROSSARD Nathalie, basically to help her at home with her garden. We reconditioned and cleaned some parts depending on the work she gave us. We also learned more about her association and everything they do, their project, etc.

To conclude, we really enjoyed this internship. It has permitted us to learn more about another culture, meet new people, open our minds and ways of thinking, and discover another country.