Border Closing Strands Professors, Students in Peru

Under lockdown in a hotel, members of a plant ecology course continue to work and study as they seek a way to return home.

Written byShawna Williams

| 3 min read

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a photo of Cusco, Peru, showing empty streets

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ABOVE: A photo taken from Brian Enquist’s hotel room shows the empty streets of Cusco.
BRIAN ENQUIST

Update (March 27): Members of the course who are US citizens or permanent residents left Peru yesterday on a charter flight arranged by the US State Department. Enquist says a few students from other countries are still in Cusco, and that instructors continue to try to make arrangements to get them out.

Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala have all closed their borders to foreigners in an effort to contain COVID-19, Buzzfeed News reports, halting both inbound and outbound trips and stranding hundreds of travelers in Latin America. Among them are a multinational group of 27 students and professors involved in a course on studying how plant traits are changing as a result of climate change and fire, which had been slated to run from March 9–22 near Manú National ...

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Meet the Author

Shawna Williams
Shawna was an editor at The Scientist from 2017 through 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Colorado College and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Previously, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, and in the communications offices of several academic research institutions. As news director, Shawna assigned and edited news, opinion, and in-depth feature articles for the website on all aspects of the life sciences. She is based in central Washington State, and is a member of the Northwest Science Writers Association and the National Association of Science Writers.
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