Christmas and Lake Titikaka

After returning from the Sacred Valley we planned on spending only a couple of more days back at SSCY. However, upon arriving there we discovered that there were lots of volunteers there (8 including us) and plans for Christmas were being made. Despite our original decision to be in either Puno or Arequipa for Christmas because we were ready to move on, after having spent about 2 months in the Cusco area, we eventually chose to stay at SSCY for the holiday. What a great decision we made!

The first week back at SSCY we did a lot of building of a wall for newly acquired goats as well as a green house for some tomatoes. Working with Christian and Marisol, the leaders of the project, as well as so many other volunteers was a nice change from the weeks before we had left for the Sacred Valley. We also got along well with the other volunteers and it was wonderful to finally make some friends!

Our second week at SSCY was similar to the first in the beginning of the week. However, Friday was a very different day as it was the children´s last day before their vacation. The children arrived early at the finca and then we all took a bus to a local hostel, where the children received gifts, hot cocoa (the Peruvian version is great!), and Paneton, which is a typical Christmas bread/cake. After a chaotic few hours at the hostel we all returned to the finca and had a Christmas party. Marta, the Peruvian lady who cooks lunch for everyone at the finca, made wonderful holiday food, including some meat-like gluten (similar to seitan, but not quite the same). The children also got more hot cocoa and Paneton...they were pretty wired. Although Friday was rather exhausting, it was great to have the holiday party with the children.

On Saturday the volunteers decided to go to an Indian all you can eat buffet in Cusco for lunch, which was fantastic. After lunch, Kyle and I wandered around the main plaza, which was absolutely packed with people and vendors. People were selling all sorts of gift type items, chocolate, Paneton, candles, religious items, and much more. We didn´t spend too long there, but it was really interesting to see. After all of the volunteers returned to the finca we headed back to Cusco for dinner at Christian and Marisol´s place. We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner and drank lots of glüwine (an Austrian hot wine drink with spices and orange juice....two volunteers were Austrian, as well as Christian). It was really nice to be in a warm house and be able to hang out with Christian and Marisol in a non-work setting. We stayed at their place until the early morning and then got to bargain with a taxi to take us back to the finca, which took awhile!

On Christmas morning (actually, more like afternoon) all of the volunteers made brunch together and had more hot cocoa. After that we lazed around and watched a movie until we decided it was time to make dinner. Essentially, we just cooked and ate on Christmas, it was great. :)

On Tuesday Kyle and I, as well as another volunteer, Steph, headed off the Puno. We spent a day in Puno wandering around and walking along Lake Titikaka. The next day, Steph headed off the Bolivia and Kyle and I took a tour of Lake Titikaka. On our tour we first went to two of the Uros Islands, which are floating reed islands. Apparently, they were originally built centuries ago so that the Uros people would stop being invaded. The islands were really amazing and absolutely everything, including their houses and boats, were built from reeds. A local man gave us a demonstration on how they build the islands, which take about 1 year to build. After visiting these islands we took about a 2 hour boat ride to Taquile Island, which is a large island inhabiting about 2000 people. The island was very beautiful, but we didn´t enjoy visiting this one as much because everything seemed much more touristy than on the Uros Islands. When we first got there some locals demonstrated dancing for us, and then we walked to the main square. At the main square all of the little girls were trying to sell us bracelets, going so far as to tie one on Kyle´s wrist and declare that it´s 1 sol. Also, I was taking a picture of Kyle and a local boy jumped in the picture and then was saying to Kyle in Spanish "tip". We gave him some change and he seemed thoroughly displeased that we didn´t give him enough. Despite our frustrations with the blatant desire to take our money, the island was very pretty and was nice to walk through.

In a few hours we will be taking a bus to Arequipa, where we will spend a couple of days exploring the city. About 3 hours from Arequipa is Colca Canyon, which we´ve heard is pretty amazing, so we plan to spend about 5 days trekking in the canyon. Once we´re done with our trek we will return to Arequipa for a day or two and then likely go on to Chile. We may spend a bit in the Atacama Desert, depending how much we like it, and they probably begin WWOOFing at a place near the coast. Yesterday we also contacted a number of other WWOOF sites in Chile, so hopefully we´ll get some other cool volunteer opportunities lined up.

Peace and love,
Megan y Kyle