Rounding out Peru

So we didn't actually end up visiting the ruins in Cuzco because we are feeling pretty exhausted, so instead we went out for a really great lunch at a hole in the wall place overlooking the whole city, and then went exploring. The girls went shopping for a little bit while the boys walked back to the hostel, and I got a few pieces of jewelry for pretty cheap. I'm glad we took the time to walk around and see more of the city, because I didn't have that great of an impression of Cuzco when we arrived, and I liked it a lot more after walking around some.

(The view right next door to the restaurant we had lunch at)

(One of the nicer areas of Cuzco)

Also, fun fact: apparently it is Carnaval time in South America. This means that young boys buy plastic balloons at the local stores, fill them with water, and throw them at me. We got hit by a few different groups...they would sneak through alleys and follow us, and then ambush us from the front in a group of 5-10 people. When we tried to go buy some water balloons and get our revenge, the woman at the store refused to sell them to us. Conspiracy.

My debit card wasn't working for a while but I got it fixed, finally, although I guess I'm not 100% sure because I haven't tried to use it yet. I haven't really had the time to, because we left Cuzco yesterday morning at 6:45 (I'm really starting to get sick of waking up so early), and have been busy ever since. We took took a 10 hour bus to Puno, which is a town on the border of Lake Titicaca. The bus we took was cool because it made 3 or 4 stops at really interesting/beautiful places, like old Incan ruins unlike the ones we had seen earlier in our trip, and the highest point on our route called Abra la Raya (it was so cold! And there was snow on the mountain peaks, it was so weird to see in a country that is in summer).

We got into Puno at around 5, when we realized that we happened to be visiting during the exact time period where they celebrate "Virgen de la Candelaria", which I just looked up and is actually a lot more interesting than I originally thought. It celebrates a statue of the Virgin Mary that magically was able to protect itself when others tried to do it harm (paralyzing a man's arm when he tried to throw a stone at it, for example). Apparently Puno is one of the biggest three celebrations of this in all of South America, which we definitely did not know before planning our stay here. People come in from all over Peru and neighboring countries to partake in the celebration; already we've run into the owner of the hostel we stayed at in Cuzco, and a girl we met who organized the trivia night we went to a few nights ago. There are daily parades, fireworks and big parties and dance competitions in the street which is awesome, although the influx of tourists has made prices go up a little (not that things are expensive...today I had empanadas, a 2.5L bottle of water, bananas and chocolate for 1 dollar). It's fun, except not this morning at 6 am when the parade started up again. I am not sure what their reasoning was behind banging on drums through streets at the crack of dawn. Actually, as I write this they've started again. When do they sleep!? I tried to upload a video which is taking forever so I got frustrated, but take my word for it, it was cool.

We took a boat out to visit some of the floating islands today; it's super weird that people are still living the way the inhabitants of these islands are. Their houses are made from this bamboo-like stick called tortora, and it covers the ground as well. Literally all they have on the island are houses, if they need a doctor or education or anything they have to go in boats to the mainland. We had a tour guide who sat us down on the island and explained to us pretty much everything about the islands, and then after she was done the local inhabitants each approached a few of us to invite us into their (tiny!) houses, made of tortora and tarp. The man whose house I went into told us about making it and then showed us a bunch of crafts he and his wife made personally. It was pretty awkward because none of us wanted to buy the overpriced merchandise he was trying to guilt us into purchasing, but he was sitting in front of the door and had been really nice...eventually I bit the bullet for everyone and paid 20 soles for an alpaca wall decoration thing, which if it wasn't worth it for the quality of the cloth itself was at least worth the price of my escape.

(Us eating crazy grass stuff that the locals chew on. Also, a boat they made out of tortora to get to the mainland)

Tonight we're probably going to go out to a bar or cafe and try and catch some of the festivities, although I think tomorrow is the main event. I'm going to have to be careful with my money for the next couple days though because I only have less than 40 soles left (about 13 bucks), and that needs to last me all of today and tomorrow. Next we're taking an overnight bus into Chile to go to a beach town, which should be a really nice change of pace from all the activity we've been having. It will also be nice to not have to wear a sweatshirt and raincoat everywhere too, especially since I only brought one sweatshirt down here with me. Gah beeaacchhh!