After several months of preparation, five petroleum engineer undergraduate students travelled to the Colombian Amazon this summer to take an elective PE course with Dr. Yucel Akkutlu. The week-long course was coordinated by Yoana Walschap in collaboration with the Colombian National University and took place in the city of Leticia, at the university campus in the rain forest. The course was co-taught by Dr. Dora Restrepo, an OU alum and professor at National University and was also attended by 20 Colombian engineers from Bogota and Medellin. Besides the course work, the students spent two days in Bogota and two days traveling along the Amazon River learning about the local culture, meeting indigenous people, watching the famous pink dolphins, swimming in the Amazon River, and savoring exotic dishes from Colombia, Brazil and Peru. Leticia is located in the Southern point of Colombia on the banks of the Amazon River and has the Brazilian town of Tabatinga to the south, and the Peruvian town of Santa Rosa across the river.  This faculty-led program serves as a model for future opportunities for our college students. 

Tarik Ouradi, wrote in his report “It was truly an amazing experience to explore the rainforest and its wildlife. We got to see many indigenous people. Fortunately they have been able to preserve their culture as few tourists can gain access to their settlements, as river journeys are the main form of transportation. We visited a beautiful town called Puerto Nariño that is environmentally friendly, with no sight of cars or motor-cycles, most people that lived there use recycled materials to build parts of their houses which I thought was very interesting.

I met a lot of great friends in Colombia, and I learned so much about the people and how very gracious, polite and helpful they are.  All the American students felt very safe at all times. It is no doubt one of the best experiences I had in my life and I’m hoping to visit again sometime in the future”.