Nearing the end....

I can't believe how fast time is going, it seems to be speeding up on me lately!! I have been studying spanish and working with the kids at the project still during the week, we even went on a field trip to Tipon with Spanish class last Friday to try the local delivacy: cuy aka guinea pig. Yeah, not such a fan. It was not bad but I mean they serve it intact and it's a little distracting quite frankly.. I am now so glad I associate the sauce they cooked it in with guinea pig. Excellent. It was hilarious though (well maybe not for some people) but to begin the feasting it is necessary to split the cuy by its toes... HAHA I can't handle this. Anyways I snapped one of its paws off by accident hahahahah it was so funny. One of the other girls in the class could not handle it which made it even better. Haha it was an experience and I had no hesitation in trying it because it has to be done when in Peru!! Friday afternoon while at the cuy restaurant we found out that the VILLAGE PEOPLE CONCERT WAS CANCELLED!!! So on a whim I decided to go to Lake Titicaca that night. I threw the idea out there and three people ended up going with me!! So, four hours after deciding to go, we found ourselves on the most luxurious bus I have ever been on for our 7 hour trip to Puno. After watching some 24 (YES BEST THING EVER ON THE BUS) I managed to sleep some and we got to Puno at about 5:00am and booked an all day trip to Uros and Taquile, some floating islands and a natural island on the Lake. We ate some chocolate orange pancakes for breakfast which I ended up pouring my hot chocolate on because they were so dry. We headed out on the Lake at about 7am, it was GORGEUS (it was nice to get in so early because we saw the sunrise over the lake!) it was the nicest day ever. We stopped at Uros first, which were about half an hour out of Puno, were there for a couple of hours and then headed out on our two hour boat ride to Taquile. Uros was so cool, it was so weird that the islands were actually made out of reeds! It's so peaceful out there. We sat on the top of the boat all the way to Taquile because it was so nice out. Unfortunately I fell asleep and burnt my eyelids. Obviously who puts sunscreen on their eyelids. Taquile we made out way to the square at the centre of the community on the island. We chilled out there for a bit and took more photos and then headed up to our lunch spot. We had fish on fish shaped plates which was super cute and quinoa (?) soup. We then were shown some traditional dances by some people from the community, complete with their fancy dress and everything! It was really cool. After that we hiked down to the other side of Taquile, through the arch that most people would associate with the island. We hopped back on the boat for our 2 hour return to Puno, which was very relaxing. Once we got back to Puno at about 6:00, we said goodbye to our guide and made our way to a restaurant for some dinner. SO HUNGRY. I think it was cause we had the longest day ever. After dinner we walked around for a bit, went to see the Plaza de Armas and found our way through some pretty sketchy streets to the bus station, where we caught another night bus back home. We arrived home (delirious) at about 5am and CRASHED. It was so great though I am so glad we did it!! And we had the perfect day!! Sunday a bunch of guys who are doing construction went up to a football festival street thing I guess you could say. Holly and I headed up there to meet them and got s/.7 Pollo al Brassa which was THE best thing i have ever tasted it was fantastic. We watched a little soccer as Sebastien from the house was playing with Maximo. We decided to head to the Cusco soccer team after that, it was a soccer filled day!! This week, none of the kids have school all week and Maximo is closed all for two days this week because of 'la semana santa' preceding easter sunday. It is crazy! Yesterday afternoon there was this huge procession where Jesus was paraded around town for four hours then returned to the Plaza for the finale. It was so crazy!! There was so many people in the Plaza I think it was the whole of Cusco. I don't even think my feet were touching the ground. it took us a half hour to get from the Plaza to Avenida el Sol (usually takes 1.5 minutes walking) and discovered that it had been a little more intense than we had though as Holly's camera case got stolen, and Mike's bag got KNIFED. There was a giant rip down the side and they sliced through his sweatshirt too, which was actually lucky cause it served as padding for his camera and lenses!!! So Friday I think is the next big day in terms of public celebrations, but I will not be in Cusco! I am heading to Arequipa and Nasca and Ica to do some traveling, returning to Cusco for Easter sunday, then heading to the jungle before coming home! NOOOO I have so much more to see!!! I guess this just guarantees a return trip for me. :)