the more we get away from the villages, the more human presence becomes rare. These men and women are really poor, live in tiny huts, made of mud, clay and straw, they live on potatoes and corn and the little that can give the land in these prohibitive altitudes (4500mt)

"Tia" (aunt) Sibilla in his incredibly small hut in the village of St Martin de Porras, 4500 mt above the sea level, in Peru. Divide her poor lunch with her beloved dogs.

"Choclo" was the ancient name of the Peruvian Corn, with extra large, bulbous kernels, bigger than North American sweet corn. Peru has around 35 corn native varieties, the most used is the white Choclo. It is cultivated in all the Andes, it is a fundamental food and is one of the few dishes that even the poorest can afford.

A man and a woman hold their cultural roots, going down to the cities in search of fortune, they will have to leave forever their traditional clothes and their old hats and and lose their true identity

Lorena is a young mother, left alone. She's very poor, her husband went to Lima looking for a work, but she had no news from him yet since this moment. it is very difficult for her to feed her child and raise him alone. She squeezes it and kisses it continually, and so, in this way find the strength to move on.

Two women come back home with their sheep after a day of pasture. Graze sheep it is one of the main activities on these mountains Sheep are raised principally milk and wool and for their meat.

The villages of this region are very difficult to achieve, without paved roads men usually use donkeys or horses to move.

Alejandra Figueroa in her small hut in Quinhuaragra (Perù), one of the poorest areas of the region, about 4000 meters on the Andes. Grow the Oca to live (Oxalis tuberosa) a plant used for the roots, tubers, currently second only to potato. Know as Uqa in Quechua, the ancient incas language.

The longed lunch through the hole of their poor house. These two women keep company, remained widows from many years have decided to join forces. At their age it is very difficult to find food to eat and medical care, they rely on the help of the people who brings them basic needs

Aurelia, 88, lives alone since many years, when the children have gone to Lima in search of fortune. Probably lost in the poverty of the big city, she never heard back from them. This single photo represents for me all those people, poor, elderly, sick, who found themselves isolated, far from the villages and from the family and in need of help.

T’IKA, (name of this woman) means flower in the ancient Quechua language, the language of the Incas, still spoken in these valley. Portrait in his hut surrounded by his poor belongings, like a candle in a plastic bottle and some food cans. Is sitting on her bed, made from a thin wooden table with a wool blanket on it, illuminated by the wonderful natural light that filters through the hut.

A little girl with a kitten in her hand is waiting happily for her sisters to come back from school. it is difficult for young people to stay in the mountains until the end of school. Young people are continuously leaving mountains for the cities to achieve a new life and better job, depopulating the mountain area called “La Sierra”. These girls take care of their little sister after her parents left home for work.

Doña, deaf and mute, illiterate, no one knows his story, its provenance and his age. People call her Doña, simply woman in spanish, since when arrived in silence at around 20 years old in the small village of St Martin de porras, over 4000 mt above the sea level. She not be able to write or speak, communicates with others only through his eyes, his gestures and his expressions. She is deeply loved and helped by the whole community.

a man admires the majesty of the Andes cordillera, in the silence of those places

Inside a bus in the direction of Lima, sellers go up at every stop to sell something to eat and drink. Many of the men and women inside the bus are leaving their homes forever, looking for a job and a better life in the cities. Every day many men leave their land on the andes in search of fortune in the cities.

The impact with Lima are very different from that imagined. People of the Andes are marginalized and discriminated. it is very difficult to find a job and they are forced to live in the suburbs and the most dangerous areas closely with organized crime.

the first time that a woman from the mountains sees a jewelry store.

Is the first time they see the sea, they come from 4000mts, a completely different world. Marginalized by city citizens, they feel alone, and lost, they understand that they have made the wrong choice of life, but trapped by the city they will hardly be able to return to their mountains.

The arrival in Chimbote is very hard, an infinity of shacks attached to each other, people here live in extreme poverty. Probably the slums of Chimbote are one of the poorest places in Peru. For years Chimbote has been a thriving city, full of life and work. It was one of the most important ports in South America, and certainly the largest fishing port in Peru. it was the Peruvian dream: modern life, work and the charm of the big city, an almost irresistible attraction for all those people who were born in the Andes; but the dream is over since many years. Fishing has come down sharply due to intensive fishing practiced for years without control.

In the suburbs of chimbote, a second city has been created (called New Chimbote) made of shacks that increase everyday, and that gather all the people who come down from the andes looking for work. They arrive in Chimbote and create a shack with mats and cardboards. there is no running water, no toilet, and gas, violence is the order of the day and the conditions of life are unsustainable. This migratory movement that goes to empty the andes to end up in the chimbote slums it is called "invasions", for the unstoppable number of arrivals.

Andrea (25), nursing Angela (4 months) in her tiny shack, made with cardboard walls. This daughter is the victim of one of the many sexual violence that they have in the slums. The mother has another child with a mental disability, even in this case she was raped when she was only 13 years old. Chimbote, Perù

Sayuri 6 year old, portrait in the garden of his shack, surrounded by the waste collected by his father. live in extreme poverty, she sleeps under a tarpaulin, does not go to school and often does not eat for days. Chimbote, Perù

Pedrito sleeps on the ground in the shack without a floor. Behind him, the mother's legs (Juri) standing inside her house, near the entrance, waits for her husband, hoping he found something to feed her and the 5 children.

Arianna and her dog, inside her little hut with plywood walls. The perforated roof tarp creates a beautiful ambient light. She spends his days almost always alone, he can not go to school constantly because he has to look after the younger sisters when the mother is away from home.

The situation is very serious, people live in enormous poverty, in shacks with cardboard walls; children grow malnourished among the collected waste and the risk of diseases

One of the "best" houses of the chimbote slums, plywood walls, plate sheet roof and a real bed. A father wakes up and prepare him to go to job. Many people here is looking for plastic in the trash to resell it.

Juanito 6 years old. portrait in the garden of his hut, among the clothes hanging out to dry in the wind. He just started going to school. He has never seen the andes, nor the villages of his parents' origin, he was born here in the Chimbote slums.

A night view of the expanse of shack, almost without end, of the "invasions" of Chimbote