June 3rd Day 3...More Awesomeness!!!

Hey Lovely People!!
Here I am again to share with you my adventures in Peru!! This trip keeps getting better and better!! I catch myself thinking "Am I really in Peru?" even though I am walking down the street in Peru and talking in Spanish.
So last time I left off we were still in Lima, Peru. Surprise!! We are no longer in Lima Since my last post we have traveled to Puno, Lima. We left the Hotel La Hacienda and had to leave our new friend Ernesto and the bus driver Manuel. It was sad and happy at the sametime because we were off to new adventures, but we already had to leave someone we had just met. The good news is that we will see him again in a month when we return to Lima before we fly out.
We left in the morning and loaded on the huge bus again to ride to the airport. Once we got to the airport we waited for our flight and then got on to fly to Puno. We arrived safe and sound at the airport in Puno and were greeted at the baggage claim by locals who serenaded us as we waited for our luggage. After we got our luggage we headed out to the parking lot where a gigantic bus pulled up. This one was even bigger than the one that we rode in Lima. I thought we were done with these big buses and looking like tourists. So we loaded and road the 2 hour trip to the town of Puno where the hotel was located.
We were all so tired when we arrived because it was so dark. We looked at our watches and realized it was only 5:00pm. It has been so weird getting used to how quick it gets dark here. It makes me so tired so early.
This morning I woke up at 5:45 am with a wake up call that sounded like a fire alarm. I was a little confused. In my sleepiness I picked up the phone and hung it up again, but found out later that there was someone at the other end of the phone that I had hung up on ;) OPPS We had an excellent breakfast before we headed out to the harbor. Today our adventure was going to Lake Titacaca. We road on a boat in the middle of the lake for nearly an hour and then we arrived at the Reed Island. This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life!! This island was floating in the middle of Lake Titicaca!! They explained to us that about 3,000 people live on the islands surrounding the island with about 12 people on each one. To build the actual floating island itself it takes about 1 year. They went through a whole demonstration explaining to us how the construction takes place. The people have to go out cut the dirt in blocks below the surface in the water that the reeds grow on and then transport them to the place where they are going to construct their island. With all of the squares added together the dirt pods become around 6 feet deep. Next, they cover the dirt with about 3 feet of reeds on top. The entire floor with the dirt ends up being around 8-9 feet deep. Then the people construct reed houses to live in and clay stoves. This whole new way of life blew my mind. (My hair was standing straight up...Jovee you will get this) We had the chance to buy from them and I bought a reed whistle and a necklace. After we had the awesome opportunity to ride around the lake and look at the villages in a reed boat. It was so awesome!!! We saw all of the little villages lining the shore with men and women dressed in colorful native clothing. There was a boat of children rowing next to us heading off to school. I was amazed that they were going faster than we were and we had two men rowing us.
After we got back on our boat and continued our journey to Taquile another island. This journey was another 3 hour boat ride. We had a lot of fun sitting on the top of the boat playing games like charades to pass the time. It was also great bonding time with all of the people. I stayed up on the top of the boat for the entire trip even thought it was cold because the view was so beaufitful. I can't even do it justice by telling you about the beauty of the mountains or the lake because it is so hard to describe. As we were traveling we saw off in the distance mountains covered in snow. We were told that they were mountains in Bolivia!! We all decided that we just needed to keep going on the boat and make a day trip to visit Bolivia! NO such luck. We did arrive on the island of Titacaca and were warmly welcomed by all of the locals all in their native clothing. They did a welcoming dance and song for us as we walked up on the sand and then they led us to the dining room for lunch. Lunch was so good we had their local fish, potatoes, apples, tortillas, and their speciality coca tea. The coca tea is so simple yet tastes so amazing!! Just a tid bit in the US Coca leaves are illegal because it is used to make cocaine!
After lunch we learned about their native dress and now the type of hat they wear and the bag they carry tells if they are married or not. They have a hat that the young men wear when they are single. It is called the "single man's hat"
After we got to go on this amazing hike around the mountain. It was a little steep because we are still trying to get used to the altitude, but it was so worth it. As we hiked I had to stop every few feet to take a picture of the mountains and the lake below. Although I took a lot of pictures none of them can capture the beauty that I saw today. It is almost indescribible.
We all got back in the boat and took the 3 hour ride. Some of us sad on the top of the boat and braved the cold while other sat in the warmth of the inside. It was so worth it sitting out in the cold being able to see the sun high in the sky and then setting over the mountains.
It is such a weird thing being in Peru during winter. We were all bundled up in our warm coats, hats and gloves, but before we left we had to put on sunscreen so that we wouldn't get a sunburn. Even though I did put sunscreen on I got a little bit of a sunburn.
We finally arrived back at the Hotel after a long day of traveling out on the lake. We all got into the van at the shore and loaded into a van. There was some kind of festival going on in the street which made it very difficult for the van to get through the narrow streets. Finally, we made it through and then had to go up a hill to turn onto the street for the hotel. I found this next part extremely funny and laughted so hard I was cying. You all might not find it as comical, but here it goes. So we were going up this hill and the car died because it is a standard. The driver started it up again and as we were continuing we all heard a loud scrape on the bottom of the car from the road. We wondered what had happened, but we kept driving. After we made a turn onto the next street the driver got out of the car. Our tour guide told us "He has to go check the car to see if anything happend." His next statement got me he said "Sometimes things just fall off of the car." That was all he said nothing more, no words of concern if something had fallen off. He said it just like that so matter of factly. Just like he was saying sometimes when we are driving we make a turn to the right. I was dying laughting.
So the rest of the night was pretty low key we went to dinner at a restaurant. I had some amazing chocolate caliente to warm me up and pizza and sopa de pollo. I am just so amazed all of the food here is so great! I am not going to want to come back to eat American food!
I am in need of sleep because we have a busy day tomorrow. In a few days I will get to meet my host family!! I am so excited!!!