Peru
For some reason, I expected Peru to be lush and green, similar to Tena, Ecuador. To my surprise, it was very desert-like.
Peru is a tough country. Generations of work must have gone into terracing the mountains, and there were many times we saw abandoned homestead, probably due to a water source drying up.
The trails that run along side the rivers are tiny, and in cases where a trail couldn't be carved, they simply stuffed rocks in crevices until it was high enough for the "trail". So many people have days of hiking to get to the nearest "town".