Muchas Fiestas

Since the internet stopped working last time I updated, I thought I would put up a few more pictures from my weekend at Lake Titicaca.

The sunset on Amantani

Me on Taquile, the third island we visited

Our Lake Titicaca group: Regan, Katie, Heidi, Me, Jenae, and Caroline

Me and Katie in the bus station in Puno

Monday morning, Katie, Heidi and I ventured to Maximo Nivel to update our blogs and send some e-mails. Once we were kicked off of the computers we decided to walk down to the Plaza to see what was going on. Tuesday was a big celebration in Cuzco called Inti Raymi and there had been parades and celebrations building up to it for the past week. We caught part of the day long parade that was going on and got some good pictures.

In the afternoon, Katie and I forced ourselves out of the house (actually, Katie forced me out of the house) to go to a fair that was happening in Cuzco. I´m really glad we went because it was a lot less touristy then many other locations in Cuzco and I think I only saw a handful of gringos there. The fair reminded me of the Sheboygan County Fair... there were lots of animals, rides, food, and things for sale.

Part of the fair

Cows
A lamb
A hippy hobo Alpaca Cuy (aka Guinea pig)

Tuesday morning, we left early in order to get good seats for Inti Raymi. The festival is held in some ruins outside of Cuzco and it required some work to get there. Most of the taxis weren´t allowed to bring tourists to the ruins and we had a hard time figuring out how we were supposed to get there.

We finally arrived at 9:30 and had four hours to kill until the actual celebration began at 1:30. The hillside we were on filled up quickly and I´m glad we got there so early.

Waiting...

My housemates: Natalie, Katie, me and Heidi

It was hard to follow what was actually happening during Inti Raymi because everything is spoken in Qechua, the local Indian language. It was a cool experience, though.

The Inti Raymi festival

My favorite part was when a bunch of locals broke through the police line and flooded a hill. It was fairly entertaining.

The hill before...

And after...

Our Inti Raymi group: three friends of Natlie´s, Natalie, Katie, and me

Today we´re starting our new project at the orphanage. We decided to paint all of the playground equiptment at the orphanage to help try to make it look a little nicer and maybe give the girls a sense of pride about thier home and playground. So we´re now going to be at the orphanage an extra two hours a day, trying to get some painting done before the girls get home from school.

More later...