Lake Titicaca!

First, let me start by saying that I miss living near the water. Lake Titicaca looks more like an ocean, and it definitely made me a little homesick for the Atlantic…and toilet seats.

SO, I got picked up at 9:20 at my house and taken to the bus station. Our bus left at 10:00 and was due into Puno at 4:00am. Most of us got “first class” seats, which were nice big seats on the bottom of the bus that reclined and everything. After staying up having a few drinks and talking to the girls in my class/on the trip, we all eventually fell asleep. We had a false alarm when the bus stopped at 4:00am….we were dropping off another passenger and still had an hour ago. When we finally made it to Puno around 5:00am, we were taken to a hotel where we had about 2 hours to nap before we took off again. After a light breakfast, we took these ridiculous little pedi cabs to the port to catch our boat. 

Caroline & I on our sweet pedi cab

We had a short ride to the first Island of Uros, also called the “floating islands”.  The Uru people are pre-Incan and literally live on 64 floating islands that they make themselves out of the roots of reeds that grow in the water. It’s something you can’t believe or understand until you step foot on one of these things.  The people are very sweet and welcoming because they make money by hosting tourists and selling their handmade art. The girls got to try on their clothes and see the inside of their houses. I bought a sweet pillow case and a necklace here. We also got to take a ride on one of their crazy handmade boats. 

Local handmade textiles

Elise & I dressed in their clothes. Sexy

Adorable Uru babygirl

Then, it was off to the next island where we would stay overnight

We had a 3 hour ride to the next island and it was absolutely beautiful out, so the 6 from my class decided to sit on top of the boat and enjoy the views and have some sandwiches…and maybe a few drinks. It was good times.

Elise & I on our party boat....pre red wine stains

The next island was called Amantani. We hiked about 30 minutes to a spot where we met our host families and then were taken to their houses. I was with 2 of my classmates, and our host parents were Ruben & Maroja, two very soft-spoken and shy people, but still very sweet.Our room was very nice and they fed us lunch, dinner, and breakfast in the morning. Lunch was soup and an omelet type of thing with some rice and potatoes. Dinner was more soup with some rice and vegetables. Breakfast was a pancake with jelly. They also served hot tea at the end of every meal which was just water with a muña leaf which is kind of like a combination of mint and eucalyptus. It was delicious. Luckily our family spoke Spanish so we were able to communicate with them. Quechua is the native language, but many of them speak Spanish as well (thank god!). 

Between lunch and dinner, some of us played soccer with the locals. I watched. At 14,000 some feet above sea level (2,000 higher than where we live in Cusco), the 5 year old locals were kicking our asses. After that, a group of us hiked to the top of Pachamama. It took about 45 minutes and the views on the way were breathtaking. At the top there are some pre-Incan ruins that I’m pretty sure were used for sacrifices. We also got to catch the sunset up there, which despite the clouds was really pretty.

Our "family's" house

View from our house

Hike up Pachamama

The little nugget pup I found at the top

We made it!

My sweet get up

That "star" is Venus!

After dinner, our “mom” gave us some traditional clothes to wear and we went to a fiesta and danced around for a little bit. We all looked ridiculous and were so exhausted but it was fun. Our “mom” absolutely LOVED Byron, the guy that was staying with us. He’s 6’5” and was super giant dancing around with her. It was hilarious. After the fiesta, we went to bed and slept like rocks from 10pm to 7am when we got woken up for breakfast. We gave our “mom” some pasta and rice as gifts and she was so excited she ran out of the kitchen to show her husband. It was adorable. After that, we hiked down the hill, took a few pictures with our “dad” and got back on the boat for an hour ride to the 3^rd island, Tequille.

All dressed up, looking quite ridiculous

Elise, Byron, & I with our "familia"

Byron dancing with Mom

Saying goodbye to Dad in the morning

Tequille, in my opinion, was the prettiest island we visited. The hour long hike we had to the town center had the most beautiful views. There were also women and children selling their hand-woven goods all along the path. I collected 4 or 5 bracelets and bought a few postcards like Gramma told me to do. We were told this island had the best and most authentic hand-woven goods, so we went into the craft center to buy a few things. I got a great hat and the cutest backpack for 70 soles ($28ish). Then we walked a short path to a restaurant for lunch and found this adorable little sheep with his Mom trying to “baaa” like she did. He made the cutest little high pitched noise. Lunch was MORE soup and a veggie omelet with rice. Others got fish but I’m glad I stuck with my omelet because it had the skin and bones…yuck! After lunch, we hiked down the other side of the mountain to the boat. More beautiful views. Someone had a guidebook and told us that we hiked down over 500 stairs. Pretty sick. After that, we had a 3 hour boat ride back to Puno where we dropped our bags at the hotel and went to a restaurant for some pizza and sangria. It was delicious, but I ate way too much. I started to feel like crap between the fullness, the altitude, and my sunburnt nose & lips (the sun is strong that high up!). Luckily we got on the bus around 9:15 and I went right to sleep. Got into Cusco around 5:00am, back to my house by 5:30, and went back to sleep until 10:00am. 

Pretty view from the hike up Isla Tequille

Another pretty view

The ladies with our awesome hats!

Little lambchop

 About the toilet seats thing….NOWHERE since we left on Friday had a seat on their toilet. We did a LOT of squatting, and had to bring our own toilet paper everywhere. So between not having a shower or a toilet seat for nearly 4 days, I am so pumped to be back at my Arcopata house with my own bed, hot shower, and real toilet….not to mention fresh fruit for breakfast and NO MORE SOUP!!!

Sorry this one is so long, but it was an amazing weekend. Truly an eye opener into the lives of some of the native cultures down here. I also took 250 great pictures that I’m dreading putting on Facebook because of how long it will take with this internet…

Happy Monday everyone! Love & miss you all tons!