IQALUIT - After travelling thousands of miles to Peru in late April, Nunavut Sivuniksavut students found some parallels to their own lives.

Meeting indigenous Amazonian peoples, known as the Harakmbut, was something that Allen Auksaq said he will not soon forget.

"We were telling them about our culture and how we view this world. They did the same thing afterwards and almost everything was similar. The differences were just the languages and the environment," he explained, citing tools and hunting techniques as examples of the likenesses.

As well, the Harakmbut refer to themselves as "people" in their own language, and Inuit also means people, he added.

While in the green and lush Amazon, the students stayed in shelters that Taloyoak's Megan Pizzo-Lyall described as "the outside inside" because there was a roof but no closed walls. Elsewhere they stayed in hostels and motels.

The Amazonian people lived modestly, but didn't seem to be struggling, according to Pizzo-Lyall.

"You know when you become used to something it's the way of life you're going to have until something's done about it," she said. "It's not like there was millions of sick people."

There has been much international media coverage on deforestation of the Amazon. Pizzo-Lyall said they saw areas that have been cleared, but there are non-governmental organizations that have developed models for sustainable development and to help the forests recover.

Yet a guide informed the students that tracts of Amazonian land may be put up for sale to the public sector, Auksaq said. Pizzo-Lyall said the indigenous people didn't seem comfortable talking about losing the land or the Peruvian government's policies.

Adjusting to the climate in Peru, a country of 28 million people on South America's west coast, was a challenge for the Nunavut travellers. One day it reached 30 C with 80 per cent humidity.

"Oh man, it's so humid," said Auksaq, who is from Iglulik.

Pizzo-Lyall said the sweating students sought shade from a large rock or a tree.

Some of the Peruvian cuisine that they had the opportunity to try during their two-week stay included alpaca and guinea pig. For those who weren't so daring, there were plenty of chicken dishes.

In the wilds, they spotted some monkeys, many unusual insects and exotic birds like the macaw, parrot and parakeet.

A trip to Machu Picchu, the ruins of a stone city constructed by the Incas in the 15th century, was an amazing experience, said Pizzo-Lyall.

"It was so beautiful," she said. "We hung out there all day and got to learn so much about that one little area that is so sacred and so beautiful."

Travelling by bus occasionally made for harrowing moments. Pizzo-Lyall recalled looking out the bus window while driving two kilometres up a road on the edge of a mountain.

"Whenever we hit bumps you could literally see all the way down the mountain, which made it really, really freaky," she said.

The students returned to Ottawa to graduate from their first year of Nunavut Sivuniksavut, a college-preparatory program, last week. Auksuq said he plans to return for a second year while Pizzo-Lyall has decided to enrol in environmental technology studies through Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit.

The trip to Peru has whet Auksaq's appetite for travel. Pizzo-Lyall, on the other hand, said she is content to remain closer to home.

"It made me want to stay in Nunavut more," she said. "There's so much that can be done, and lots of people leave. Somebody's got to stay and do it."