Peru Trip with Rustic Pathways: Amazon and Lunahuana

Over the summer I went on a 16 day trip to Peru with the Service Learning Program Rustic Pathways. The trip was split into two parts, 8 days in the Amazon Rainforest and 8 days in the mountains of Lunahuana. I can honestly say it was one of the funnest, most rewarding and all around best trips I've ever been on.

The first week we stayed in a jungle camp and were a group of 12 kids from different places around the world with one kid from England, one from Puerto Rico, one from the Dominican Republic and the rest from all over the United States. The group was really fun and the friendships I formed could validate the trip all on their own but there was so many more rewarding things that we did. We spent the first half of every day, from around 9 to 1, working with a man that the community had elected to help. He was building a new house for himself and we were there to help him tear down his old house, clear the surrounding area of bamboo and bushes with machetes and make a big sign to put on the river to landmark his home.

In the picture you can see the old house in the background and the new house that he was building in the foreground. Even though tearing down a house may not seem all that productive or difficult, it was actually really hard work because we had pull apart every piece of wood and not not break it in order for it to be used again on the new house. Except for the completely rotten wood, which broke almost immediately when touched. The machete-ing was also difficult but what made the whole process so rewarding was that we were working with the man and I could really see how much it meant to him that were helping him out. He was always laughing and joking around with us (even though he only spoke spanish we got by, which was extremely rewarding in itself) and it really just seemed like I was making a   difference in his life which felt great. Carving the sign was a mission as well, but it really was the best feeling in the world to be standing in front of it finished at the end of the trip.

While the community service aspect of week one was fun, the Amazon trip was also so much about a cultural, learning and adventure experience. We had only Peruvian food which was delicious, they eat this really amazing potato-like vegetable called yucca which we ate fried with almost every meal and all sorts of meat dishes. We took 2 walks through the rainforest where we learnt about different animals and plants, bust most excitingly we did a lot of adventure activities like a river rafting race (that took about 2 hours) on rafts we had built out of large logs and piranha fishing. We had down time everyday where we could go swimming or play football on the beach too. It was all around just a super fun experience because of the amazing people, the great service opportunity and the fun adventure.

Before we went back to Lima from the Amazon we spent one more day in the town of Puerto Maldonado and worked one day at an animal shelter where we put the netting on animal cages and helped make the food for the animals.

Going to Lunahuana, in the coastal mountains of Peru, was like entering a completely different world. We were now in this valley which had vegetation only along the river running through it, while the landscape of the mountains was a total desert. On the Lunahuana trip our main focus was working at a local elementary school. In the mornings we were with the kids for about 3 hours, playing with them and attempting to teach them. I'm saying this honestly because it was sometimes so difficult to get them to concentrate, but we did manage most of the time. I was really scared coming on the trip as a non spanish speaker that i wouldn't be able to have any impact on the kids but they were so eager to learn and so happy that i was there that it didn't even matter and we managed to communicate. I have to say that this was the most incredible experience of this entire trip, i could really feel that these kids loved what i was doing with them and even only being able to teach them the colors and the parts of the body in english was beyond amazing. They never made me feel like I wasn't getting through to them despite the language barrier.

During the afternoons we painted and cleaned out a room that the school wanted to turn into a multipurpose building. The room was a total mess and I really wish I had some before and after pictures because I feel it was really incredible what we could accomplish in only the 6 days that we were working there. We painted the entire room (i'd say about 15x5 meters) white, painted the windows (with this horrible black paint that wouldn't wash out of anything, even your skin) and sanded the furniture which would be put in the room. It was so rewarding because we could see how much we had accomplished while there.

Again Lunahuana wasn't all about service though! We had one day, Sunday Funday, where we white water rafted for 2 hours down the river, something I had never done before which was incredibly fun and exciting and then went on the longest zip line in South America (possibly the world, i don't remember exactly) in the evening was so exhilarating and amazing. The place we were flying over was like a moon landscape for parts of the zip-lines. We also visited some pre-incan ruins in the town of Lunahuana which was exciting and fun.

So, to wrap up this account, I have to reiterate that this trip truly was an incredible experience both due to its community service aspect and its just all around fun activities. I would love to travel with Rustic Pathways again, and maybe go somewhere else new in the world!