Amedeo´s Peruvian Perspective

Okay, so about two weeks ago my journey in Peru began. It all started at the Lima airport where I was happily welcomed by Jonah and Laura. Next came the rest of the group members on the trip who, as I type this I am still getting to know, but who have all gotten along amazingly like a big family. During our stay in Lima we did many extraordinary things but the one that stood out the most for me was the surreal experience visiting a barrio and witnessing the poverty that exists in Peru. After Lima, we started to head towards the Peruvian Amazon and the city of Iquitos. During the journey we had beautiful views of the country´s rich green land and saw different aspects of Peruvian life. After a 28 hour bus ride and a two day boat ride, we arrived in Iquitos. It is a very interesting city and I feel it should get more recognition then it does as far as places to see in Peru. Here we will be starting the best part of the trip. In one of the poorer neighbourhoods of the city called El Porvenir, we are painting a mural depicting the vast diversity of Peru on a school and are building a playground next to it. I cannot wait to see what our finished product will look like and hope that it brings the members of the El Porvenir community even closer. For the rest of the trip we will be spending a week in the Amazon jungle building a water tank, a community building, and a small port for a remote village of only 22 families. Afterwards we head off for Independant Travel Time to do anything our hearts desire, like visiting the Andean city of Cusco and Machu Picchu, thousands of feet above sea level. We finish it off in Huacachina where we will be sand boarding in the desert. It has only been two weeks since the trip started and I feel like I´ve learned so much already from both the country and the other members of OG. I feel like I´m getting a different perspective on life and I hope that the people of Peru know that they are helping me even more than I´m helping them.