A trip to South America, by Naomi Franco

Travelling is, in my opinion, the best thing you can do to learn about life, about living. Being far away from home, in another place with a different culture, language, people, makes you try to ''unwind'' to the best way you can, and this, in my view, makes you grow as a person. It´s amazing to see how different styles of life people have, and sometimes, how difficult it is, to adapt yourself to it.

I'm talking about my own experience. Two years ago, I decided to travel  to South America for three months. I went with 2 of my best friends and visited Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay. We went in a lot of natural sites and ate things that I´ve never thought that I would eat! The experience that remained most in my memory is when I walked up 3.000 steps to get to the top of MachuPichu. It was the hardest and on the same time the most grateful feeling in my life! It´s crazy how beautiful and powerful  nature is. I´ve never seen so many mountains and such different shades of green.

I saw incredible beaches in Chile and in Uruguay, and in Bolivia the thing that impressed me most was the vivid and colorful landscape. We slept in very strange places and had a few uncomfortable situations, but that was part of the trip. Another thing that impressed me very much was the big economic contrast that exists in South America in general. You can see very rich people by your side and at the same time people sleeping in the streets. The middle class does not exist at all, and this is terrible.

Something that I'll never forget is how happy and simple people are. They need nothing to be blissful. You'll always gonna see a smile in their faces, and for me, that's the best lesson you can learn in life. My message for everybody is: please TRAVEL!