Charlie has entered his third country in South America, Peru. Before the trip started, this was one of the countries Charlie was most excited about visiting. It is a very popular country for tourists because of its beautiful landscape and history.

Charlie was not disappointed, he found Peru to be a beautiful country. The country is divided into three different types of land. The coast (costa) to the west of the country, the highlands (sierra) which is the area of the Andes mountain range and the jungle (selva), the incredible Amazon Rainforest to the east. Charlie learned that the rainforest is home to animal species found nowhere else on Earth and there are Indian tribes living in the rainforest that have probably never seen other people.

You may have heard of the Inca Trail or Macchu Picchu? The Incan civilization built the famous ancient city of Macchu Picchu which can still be visited today, but to reach it Charlie had to travel by foot.  It is sometimes called the “lost city” because the Spanish did not discover the city when they conquered the Inca in the 1500s.

Today the city is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World due to its spectacular location in the Andes Mountains. Charlie decided to do some reading online to learn about Machu Picchu. Whilst reading different websites he found that, why it was built is still unknown. However, Archeologists have several ideas but there are two theories which are most agreed upon. Firstly, it was a beautiful place for the ninth Inca king to visit and move to during the winter months. Cusco, the Incan king’s main city, was built on a higher mountain and would get extremely cold and wet in the winter. The other theory is; it was built as a scared religious site to worship their many gods and goddess.

Whilst riding through the desert, Charlie found some funny drawings in the sand these are called the Nazca Lines. They are best seen from the air, where you can see line drawings of animals, plants and other shapes. They were created thousands of years ago by the Nazca people and can still be clearly seen today.

He also found this funny lagoon in the middle of the desert, a perfect place for a refreshing drink.

On Charlie’s travels through the mountains, he saw these animals everywhere. They would often run out onto the road in front of our motorbike so Charlie was in charge of looking out for them. Do you know what they are called?

Llamas and alpacas. Can you spot the differences between llamas and alpacas?

1. Their ears: Alpacas ears are shorter than llama’s ears.
2. Their Size: Alpacas are smaller and lighter.
3. Their Faces: Llamas have a longer face.
4. Their hair: The alpaca has more hair, especially on their face. They are breed for their fleece while llamas are breed to guard sheep or alpaca herds.

Many people living in Peru are considered as very poor because they live in tiny houses without electricity or running water. They may not even have enough food to eat even though they work very hard. Charlie spent a day in a village with people who live just like this.

The children he met were very friendly and they wanted to show Charlie around their home. Here are the children that showed Charlie around their home and village.

This is the village they live in. It is high up in the mountains but there is no transport for getting around, so the children have never visited anywhere else. There is one shop inside someone’s living room and another living room is used as a school. There are 10 children in the school aged from 4 – 10 years old and they are all in the same class.

This is their home. It is made up of one room. This room is used for eating, sleeping and cooking in. They have no electricity or running water. There is a fire which is kept burning all day because they not only use it for heating but also to cook all their meals on. They prepared Charlie a tasty soup followed by a fish with rice, they had caught this fish especially for Charlie’s dinner. Their garden is where they play and where their toilet is. Does it look like your toilet at home? There is no bath or shower. To wash they collect a bucket of water from the nearby lake or collect rainwater.

Although these children live in poverty, they are very friendly and seem happy. To them, this way of living is completely normal. They have food, shelter and their family.

To learn more about Peru CLICK HERE