The end of last week went quickly! I met with Elena on Wednesday night for her last night out. We ate dinner, and had our first potential robbery! Elena had her backpack under her chair and we were the only people in the restaurant. Then randomly this guy walked in and sat down right behind his, all by himself. After about five minutes I notice and Elena feels him sliding her backpack towards him from under the chair! She immediately picked up her bag and gave the guy a look. He left right after that... didn't get any food or anything! Just a reminder to keep your bag around your foot i guess! Jerk! But I'm glad that we noticed! After that we just walked around the plaza de armas and said our goodbyes, but she ended up inviting us to her house for lunch the next day so it wasn't really goodbye afterall!
The food at elena's goodbye lunch was amazing! We met Elena at Mega, which is a real grocery store, and had a little time. So we wondered in and ended up buying some "casino cookies" which are very good and have coconut frosting instead of vanilla, but are basically just sandwich cookies, but yummy! We had two soups: quinoua ( a small grain) and pumpkin/squash and then we had cheese and tomato snacks and then this chicken salad that was awesome. It was just lettuce and veggies and chicken but I could have ate it all day! We just don't get salad down here. I'm going to buy a cookbook at the Lima airport, because there they have them in english with substitutions as not all ingredients will be available in the states, but yummmy it was good!
We went to Huasao, a witch town, last Thursday! I got my cocoa leaves read and good news: Mom you will find a new job, I will get into UofM for grad school and have a good career, have one kid, and will be lucky in love ( I already am ;). It was all very general and he basically just dumped the leaves on to each other and I don't believe in it, but it was entertaining for $1.50 none the less! On the way back we were on this crowded local bus where they were playing "play that funky music whiteboy". I just started singing and laughing... of course not many people understood the words but it was funny, they just play so much music from the US for not knowing english very well! For example, the Jonas Brothers had a concert in Lima this morning, it was broadcast on national TV and was a huge deal. It's the big thing down here... I tried to tell them there are a kids band... but oh well!
Lake Titicaca was an awesome trip! We left on Friday afternoon after class and got there around 9:30 at night. The bus was stinky and slow, but I could handle the means to the end. I got mad though as I bought a cheese and bread sandwich at a stop, got all the way back into the bus (which was two stories!) and realized it was all moldy! Gross! We got to stay in a really nice hotel for the night in Puno, the port town. We left for the lake at 7:30 AM, I guess I should mention we is six students and me that traveled together!
Our boat was really slow, but nice and relaxing. Look at the pictures, as the lake is gorgeous! I bought some lemon candy for the kids on the island and some noodles to share with a family on the island that we were going to spend the night with.
The first island we stopped at was Uros. They are floating islands, handmade by the residents, made of reeds. They basically just pile them up on this floating dirt until they are stable. It was fascinating. They were about ten of these floating islands in total, and apparently when a fight breaks out on the island they just cut it in half and float away. The islands are anchored so they really don't float too far. I bought this cool textile with tons of colors that explains the way of life there, so I am excited to hang that in my dorm next year! I had brought candy for the kids so I passed that out and then they all wanted to be our friends, so we ended up giving them our cookies too!
The next island was Amantani... and we also stayed the night here. We walked up hill for about a half mile where we had a family that would host us for the night. They gave us lunch and then we took a nap. The lunch was goat cheese and potatoes though, it was soo gross! I think it was what made Mike sick the next day! I read my book for a while outside, but had to move b/c I kept getting stampeeded by herds of sheep heading for the water from the mountain! At 4PM we went to the cancha (field) and had a soccer game. They play on cement here, so the ball moved quick and the goals are tiny! Nonetheless, my old skills kicked in and I had fun, but the gringos ended up loosing to the locals 3-4. It was so high of an altitude I was exhausted after the game, but we had to climb the mountain to the Temple of Wishes. We got up there at sunset, and my camera batteries died right on cue. I got a picture or two though, and it was very pretty! I was so cold I bought some gloves on the way back down, they match my alpaca hat! After our hike we had dinner, some potatoes and rice (my favorite...NOT!). After dinner our host mom brought us some traditional clothes to get ready for the fiesta. I had to wear my regular clothes and then two skirts, two shirts and a shawl on top of that, but at least I was warm. We watched a band and danced a little and the fiesta, took some pics, and headed back up the mountain to bed!
We got up at 7 on Sunday morning so we could get breakfast and had to the last island on the Peruvian side, Tequile. It was a two hour ride, and was just beautiful! Mike wasn't feeling good at this point, but another student, Katarina, had brought some medicine! When we got to the island we hike a mile or two around to the other side and did a little shopping (but I didn't buy anything believe it or not). We saw how they use their looms and that the men do the knitting. On this island all the men wear hats: red if they are married and red and white if they are single. It seemed a bit blunt, but you definitely knew who was single. The women did a similar thing: wearing bright skirts if they are single and dark or black if they are married. They showed us how they use some of the herbs, and even made a soap out of some crushed leaves. We walked up to a restaurant at the top of the mountain and had some yummy trout and more rice, duh! But it was grilled and delicious! At three or so and after 500 steps down, we headed back to Puno for some coffee, shopping and dinner! Our bus left at 930 and we were a little nervous b/c the Cusco farmers were supposed to start a strike the next day, but it got postponed a day and we made it back safely. Apparently there strikes consist of blocking the roads so that the tourism is blocked and the government will listen to them. We will see what is like today, were are supposed to head on a field trip an hour out of town... Well we got back at 4AM on Monday and have just been catching up on sleep and rest since then! I think I am going white water rafting on Sunday, so that should be fun, and cold! Well, that is all for now! 40 more days!
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