I heart Peru

Hola todos!!!

The past few weeks in Lima have been crazy.... here what's happening.

I arrived in Lima and quickly went to Cusco... and guess who I ran into!? Mom and Earle! Ok... that was planned, but still. I spent the day with them and had a not very delicious meal with them, but it was nice to see them!

Mom and Earle left, and I went to Puno, the main town on Lake Titicaca. It was just my luck that when I arrived it was the end of Virgen de la Candelaria Festival, aka the Devil Dancing Festival, which is a parade celebrating the victory of good over evil. The parade was huge and lasted for hours with lots of people in crazy costumes, marching bands, oh yeah, and the people who aren't in the parade partake in a giant town-wide shaving cream fight! Adults, old men, kids, everyone. Totally amazing!

The following day, I took a tour of the islands of Titicaca, include Isla Uros, floating islands that are completely made out of reeds. Everything is made of reeds including the actual island, the houses, the boat, they even eat the reeds. Sadly, because it's become such a tourist destination, it's become rather commercial, but still very cool to see. Then, I hung out for a bit on Isla Taquile which is one of the larger islands and quite beautiful. Its population is under 2,000 and they don't really go to the other islands to "make friends" so there is a lot of inbreeding.

After Lake Titicaca, I returned to Cusco to have my last family encounter: Aunt Sam and Paul! We took a city tour of Cusco which included the ruins on the outskirts of town and went to a very cool market in Pesac to buy lots of baby alpaca goods. Softer than cashmere and cheaper! What could be better? We went went to Macchu Picchu and explored the ruins there and heard about how it was found accidentally, and I ditched the family and guide to climb up Waynapicchu to see Macchu Picchu from a birds eye view, definitely an intense hike, but only an hour up, so it wasn't so bad.

Back in Lima, Aunt Sam and Paul treated me to yet another delicious dinner and a stay in the 5 star Marriott. How could they spoil me so and then expect me to go back to the slumming ways of a backpacker staying in hostels, sharing rooms, sharing bathrooms, wearing flipflops in the shower, having no TV, no cable, and eating cheap food? Easily, but I enjoyed everyone second of my time with them along with the accomodations.

From Lima, I made a detour to head south to a town called Pisco. Pisco was devestated about a year and a half ago by an 8.0 earthquake and there are several organizations there helping to rebuild the homes. I went there intending to spend just a few days, and stayed a week. I dug trenches for homes that would use concrete and helped put a tarp roof on homes that are more like glorified huts. The owners of the soon to be completed homes were so grateful, and it was nice that we were able to meet them. I wanted to stay longer and continue to help, but it was time to get moving. Really, I wanted to stay another week because my arms would have been seriously buff, and I wanted to be there when they poured concrete because apparently, it's fun, oh well. But, all of the manual labor was fun... there were cool people and we were all there for a good cause, but I have other cool things that I want to see.

The pictures of me as a construction worker are coming, sadly, we didn't use hardhats or boots, but I know my way around a shovel, pick, and lots of tie-wire.

While in Pisco, I also tried octupus ceviche. A little chewy, but quite tasty! If you get a chance to go to a Peruvian restaurant, you should definitely try it.

Pictures from Cusco and Lake Titicaca:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2368770&id=907196&l=3dc99

Next stop.... the jungle!

Hope everyone is well.

besos!
Lauren