Lake TITICACA!!!!

Jan. 16

On Monday (??? Can't keep track of days anymore) we had our first official tour meeting where we got the rundown of what we're doing and what the rules and regulations are. Pretty much the usual stuff. After the meeting Matt and I took a walk down to the beach. On our way we stopped at a really nice grocery store - Vivanda - which appeared to be the Central Market of Lima. I have a little game I like to play at grocery stores in foreign countries...it is called "could I live here?" I walk through the aisles and check out everything in order to decide if I could live in the country based on what I could buy at the grocery store. Lima passed the test. They had Raisin Bran, lots of cheese, pasta, and even Kraft Mac & Cheese (not that I need to buy this, sometimes it's just important to know it's there). They even had Gatorade so Matt would be happy.

When we arrived at the "beach" we found out it is more like a "coast." There is a 200 foot drop down to the water with a beautiful park above. The park stretches for miles along the coast of Lima. We walked for about an hour and a half but had to cab back to the hotel to meet up with out group for a city tour.

The most important thing we learned on the city tour was that there is only one road rule and this is that rules are only suggestions. Clearly in Lima size matters. We had a 15 passenger van and we definitely used that to our advantage. The driver would just go when there were cars coming at intersections and no one pays attention to stop signs. Miraculously we survived. Our tour guide was "John Smith." No joke, a Peruvian guy who must have changed his name. He was very knowledgeable and funny and we also think he has something going on with our tour guide, Paloma. After leaving Miraflores, the area we were staying in, we headed to San Isidro. The houses are big, beautiful and heavily European influenced. It is a very wealthy area. We then continued on to the area where the wall that used to be around Lima was (used to keep pirates out, I think). There were a lot of houses here in Moorish, Spanish and Islamic styles. There was one palatial house in this area that took up an entire block. The house was enormous and very ornate. We were told the American Ambassador lives there! It's nice to know our tax dollars are hard at work!

During the tour we found out that Peru once made its money in gold, silver and guano. No joke, poop. They sold poop to Europe for fertilizer until chemical fertilizer was invented. Apparently they have (had) a lot of seagulls. The collapse hurt the economy so badly they started a war over it. This is what John Smith says anyway. The city tour took us to the historic city center, where I still saw a lot of American chains. The buildings were really cool though. Lots of great old architecture and definitely more of what I was expecting to see. We toured a church and catacombs, the highlight of which was the old library with two sets of staircases up to the books. One day I hope to have a library like that! It hadn't been restored and it was cool to see it in an "untouched" state. On the way back to Miraflores we went through the a rougher area of Lima. No more American chains. It was a very poor area and was dirty and run-down. It's always important to see the whole city to get a feel for it.

Jan. 17

ANOTHER travel day. Destination: Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca which I was totally excited about. The flight there reminded me of a Southwest flight because there were so many stops it was like being on a bus. Luckily we were stop #2. Stop #1 was Cusco and it was scary as hell to fly in as there were really tall mountains everywhere. We had to fly in and snake our way through the mountains and then it was a really fast landing. Scary. After a quick refeuling we took of for Juliaca. We flew in over Lake Titicaca, the worlds highest navigable lake, and it was immense. When we arrived there was a sign reading "3800 meters above sea level." Wow - that's high, about 12,500 feet. The altitude bothered some people in the group but Matt and I were feeling ok. Also, the temperature had dropped from about 80 degrees in Lima to around 45. We had a one hour bus ride to Puno and upon arrival we checked into another cute little posada (pousada in Portuguese, as you'll remember.)

Our dinner was in another touristy place, but Matt and I both tried the Alpaca and it was really yummy. Kind of like beef with a different (but good) flavor. We all hit the hay early since we had an early start the next morning.

Jan. 18

Wednesday was the day of our homestay on Amantani Island on Lake Titicaca. To get there we had to take a very sloooow boat. There were little rickshaw type bikes waiting outside our posada in the morning to take us to the harbor to catch the slow boat. We had a race to get there and the Yanks pulled ahead in the beginning. Somehow our guy lost steam and everyone else started passing us. In the end, we came in last so Rufino, our driver, didn't get as big a tip:-) Before arriving in Amantani we had two stops. First at the reed islands (Uros) where people live on floating islands made of reeds. Their houses and boats are also made of reeds. They eat the reeds too, in addition to guinea pigs and fish and whatever they can trade or buy in Puno. It was amazing to step onto the island! A little bit of water would bubble up but it was really pretty dry. We got to take a ride on their reed boat to another island. Check out the pictures because they are super cool. All of the guys took a turn rowing so we got there slowly. Hehe.

Our slow boat turned out also to be a bad boat. On the way to our second stop, Taquile, we ran out of gas. The captain had to siphon gas with his mouth to fill it up - yuck! But, that is dedication and you can't worry too much in the hands of a captain so dedicated to his customers. Unfortunately about 5 minutes later the engine stopped working completely. Luckily we were not far from the dock at Taquile and we floated in. There are 2000 inhabitants on Taquile and their main industries are agriculture and knitting (same as Amantani). We had a nice steep hike to the town square to check out some of their knitting and have lunch. Getting used to the altitude is pretty difficult and we're glad we'll have a few more days before starting the Inca Trail hike.

After lunch we walked down to the dock and found out that we had a new boat. This was good news as we still had another hour or two to get to Amantani (6 hours in total!). The waters were a little choppy and some of the peeps on the tour were feeling sick. It was not a fun ride and everyone was happy when we arrived at the island. We divided into groups and the Canadian guy, Ivan, bunked with us. It was nice to know someone wanted to stay with the boring married people. Our "mama" for the homestay was Benita and I was really glad to have some Spanish at my disposal. On the steep hike (another one, and not the last!) I learned that she had a 3 year old daughter and 4 year old son. We were excited and surprised. Excited because we really wanted a house with kids and surprised because Benita looked older than we expected for someone with kids so young. I guess the sun can do that to a person. I also found out that there are several communities on the island and each farms something different. Benita's community farms potatoes.

When we approached the house two little kids ran toward us. They immediately tried grabbing the plastic bag I was carrying. Before leaving Puno we were told to buy gifts of food for the families we would stay with. It was obvious these kids had been through this many times before - they clearly wanted to see what was in the bags! The kids' names were Ronaldo and Janet. We later met dad and his name was Raul. Grandma and Grandpa lived in the house too. The house was very basic with no electricity. There were actually two rooms for guests but since there were three beds in one room the three of us decided to stay together. The room was clean and although it was cold there were tons of blankets on the beds. The toilet was in an outhouse. This was not my favorite part of the homestay but was definitely important to the experience.

We had brought a Polaroid camera with us so we could leave photos with the family. As a way to engage the kids we took a picture of them. It was a huge hit and they were soon demanding more. They happily showed off their pictures to the neighbor kids. Even Benita was so excited she went and dressed Janet up in her dress clothes and I took another picture of her, Janet and Ronaldo. After playing with the kids for a while we took another steep hike to the town center. There were a soccer game between the locals and the gringos so we stayed and watched until it started to rain. Shortly after we had dinner with the family. Their kitchen was in a separate building and was lit by two candles. We gave our gifts and they seemed especially excited about the fruit we brought since they don't grow any on the island. We also had colored pencils and a coloring book for the kids. They lit up when they saw that and ran off. For dinner we ate corn soup, rice, potatoes and carrots. We truly were treated as honored guests as we sat at the table and the family on the floor. Both kids fell asleep during dinner. We found out from Benita that she had been born in the house and that three generations before her father had lived there. Again, I was glad to have my basic Spanish as no one in the family spoke any English - sure did help the dinner conversation!

After dinner there was a party at the community center for all of us. Benita dressed us up in traditional clothing. My skirts were made of very thick wool and were very big. I had a belt that felt kind of like a corset and a very pretty blouse. Matt wore a big poncho - guys always have it so easy! At the party we learned some of the traditional dances. It was pretty easy to catch on to and was fun because the music got really fast at the end. Hard work in all that wool! It tired me out so we went back to the house and crashed.

Jan. 19

Altitude sickness can interrupt your sleep so it was day two with very little sleep. However, Benita made us a very nice breakfast of crepes and tea. We needed the fuel because we had another steep hike ahead of us. This time to the top of Pachu Mama, which was one of the mountain peaks on the island. Before we left Grandpa came running out asking for a photo. So he got the whole family dressed up and we took a few Polaroids for them to keep. It was cool and I think they were really excited to have pictures of themselves.

There was a special ceremony on the mountain so we hiked to the top to see that and have lunch. It was a pretty tough climb to 4300 meters at the top. That's 14,000 feet. The view of Lake Titicaca was incredible and we had nice clear weather. It had been raining the previous two days so we felt very lucky. The sun was so strong we were hot when it was out and freezing when it went behind a cloud.

After lunch we hiked back down to our houses to say goodbye to our island family. We had a great stay with them. Benita walked us down to the boat and I noticed that the outhouses on the bottom part of the island were a different color than hers. I asked about it and she said each community has a different color outhouse - who knew?!? We boarded the boat for a 3.5 hour trip back to Puno. We were all happy the lake was calm and it was sunny. Some of the dummies in the boat didn't wear sunscreen and got burned. Duh. Matt and I stayed covered up...we know better.

About 1 hour from Puno the crew started making everyone in the cockpit put on life jackets. Then we had to write our names on a sheet. We heard whispers about the Coast Guard and soon enough were being boarded. They sent us on our way quickly enough, but we soon realized there were not enough life jackets on board for everyone. Nice. It is an understatement to say the boat was old and rickety (remember boat #1??) We were glad when we could see the Reed Islands because it meant we weren't far away from Puno.

In the end, we made it back safely. We had a quick dinner and went in search of a Lake Titicaca T-shirt which I wanted badly. Unforntunately no luck so I had to settle for a cute pink Inca Kola T-shirt. And now here I sit blogging. I'm exhausted so I have to head back to the hotel soon. Tomorrow is an 8 hour bus ride to Cusco and we leave at 7am. Hope everyone is enjoying the reading. We will try to post pictures in Cusco before we hit the Trail.