My Name is Alex, I’m 19 years old and I stayed for two months at the reforestation project in the Peruvian jungle. I really enjoyed my time there with Pablo and all the people who came from all over the world to work and live together.
The best moments I had were with Pablo and the other volunteers cooking and eating together, seeing and learning about the animals and plants of the rainforest, developing the project site (like building new stuff for the lodge or making new paths through the jungle), taking a bath in the nearby river, and playing games with the kids in town.
Living at the project means living without hot water, electricity, or a phone service, but that’s why I had such a great time there. Every day you wake up because the sun shines in your face and not because of an alarm clock. I enjoyed the time without any type of electricity or the need to wake up punctually every day. However, if you need to you can get phone service or internet in the towns nearby.
I planted a tree in my time as a volunteer but most of the time I cut bamboo or weeded. At first sight it seems that I destroyed the jungle instead of taking part in reforestation! But that isn’t actually true. What I did was clearing away the so-called ‘secondary forest’ – invasive plants that originally didn’t live in the jungle – in order to create space for the original species to grow. So if you go to the project and you’re helping Pablo to cut plants, even if it feels strange, you are doing the right thing. For me it took a while to see that.
The basic tasks you have to do at the project are cooking, washing dishes, weeding, cleaning the lodge and your room, planting and harvesting fruits like bananas and pineapples, give workshops for the kids in town, and teaching English to the taxi drivers. To sum it up you have to do everything that’s necessary to live in the jungle on your own. A normal day for me was getting up between 6 and 7, having breakfast at 7, going to work from 8 to 11, lunch at 1, more work from 2/3 to 5, and dinner at 7. But there’s no absolute determined daily routine. Pablo doesn’t like to make rules, what means that you are free to do whatever you like whenever you like. For me this was one of the best things a project could teach me.
I can highly recommend this project because of its great atmosphere; the project leader Pablo, who has a great sense of humor and is really friendly and nice; the nature around you, especially the river; and living without any connection to the rest of the world.
