- First you need to build a ‘House’. It doesn’t need to be a palace!
If you travel around Peru, especially by bus, you will see many little huts in the deserts. It is easy to see that no-one really lives in them, so what are they for? Well the answer is simple – you are looking at a land invasion.
In Peru much of the land between the big cities is empty and belongs to the state. When you look at it you wouldn’t think that anyone would want to live there because most of it is just desert.
In Peru, the laws allow someone to start living on empty land, to try and farm it for example. When they have been on that land for 10 years they can demand the government begins to supply them with services, like electricity and water.
But Peruvians can build a wall around some land and build a small house just to claim the land, knowing that if they wait they can eventually get water and electricity and start to build a new village and irrigate the land. Once this process starts the land starts to become valuable.
Land invasions - how to get your own piece of Peru!
Some of these land invasions are very well organised, with the houses laid out in a grid patter, with streets and some even have signs telling you the name of the new town!
So now you know when you see them, that these little boxes in the dessert will one day be farms and villages.
