Taking Puno by Iron Puño

If posts were hills this one might be a mountain.  There are a lot of pictures so remember that you can make them pretty huge if you click on them, just saying.

The opportunity to go to Puno was absolutely incredible.  We were able to be tourists with nothing holding us back, and oh boy did we go at it.  We went to be able to get to know the city and just experience where we’ll be living for almost two years.  I almost pee my pants when I say that.  This city is absolutely it’s own culture and to be able to have the chance to live in it just blows my mind.  Everyone needs to see this city, probably.

We came by bus, which only cost 15 soles for a 6 hour journey.  The trip there in itself was awesome.  Down below in the photographs you can see a herd of wild alpaca.  That’s neat-o.  We came around a turn and boom there was this city on the side of the mountains.  We arrived at night, so where the lights in the city ended is where the lake started.  The city seemed to be positioned next to the lake with a mountain right in the middle of the city.  When you’re in any given area of the city, there’s more you can’t see because it has a mountain right in the middle.  You have to remember how big Lake Titicaca is though.  We can only see about 1/15 of it because Puno is located on a bay.  But this lake is massive.  Its an all day boat ride just to get across it.

We met the pastor of the Naz church there, ate dinner at his house around 9, and then stayed at a gangster hotel.  I got up the next morning to look out the window to a mountainous landscape that is significantly greener than Arequipa.  It does look a tad Mediterranean.  From there, after breakfast we went to the floating islands in Lake Titicaca.

Now this is insane.  These people build up reeds and live there with their families on them.  Most of them go home at night after the tourism is over but some of the actually live there.  It was probably top 10 coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life.  Down at the bottom, I’ve placed a panoramic of one of the islands that we visited.  We got a little lecture of how they build them.  On the “capital” island (as the owner of the “supermarket” calls it,) I bought an alpaca sweater/hoodie thing in order to satisfy my tourist needs.  I found out later that I overpaid a little, but heck, I bought it on a floating island.

The pictures down below:

Upper left: Wild alpaca.

Upper right: A field in the lake with a little calf.

Bottom left: One of the floating islands that we passed.

Bottom right:  The squishy ground of the island.

So that was our day Saturday, except for a pretty energetic teen service a the church, and the hilarious presentation by our Peruvians.  On Sunday, Roy, Trevor, and I headed out to hit the town to see what’s up.  We found a cute little market with the sweetest old ladies ever.  Roy had them going, and we told them that he is single.  We decided to go up to the condor (TO THE CONDOR!) which over looks the city.  On the way, we ran into Chad and he came with also.  It’s quite the hike trust me.  Remember that Puno is at 12,000 feet above sea level, and we had to climb 600 something steps.  Those steps you see in the picture are about 1/3 of what’s actually there.  The other 2/3’s are behind us.  We stopped about every 100 steps and talked about the “most hillbilly things we’ve ever done.”  Roy won that conversation.  Well it was super hard but super worth it.  Now remember, this is my tourist weekend so if you’re thinking that this sounds kind of “fun,” you’d be right.  It was a blast.  Down below you can see a the condor overlooking the city.  When we arrived at the top, it was kind of surreal.  There was one of those old ladies selling candy.  I named here Athena, because she was at her temple at the top of the city.  Of course we all bought something from her.

So, I bought an alpaca sweater, and two hats.  The classic, originally made in Puno hat, and just my first Peru sag hat.  They’re pretty balling.  The weather’s not bad at all in Puno.  It gets real chilly at night but other than that it was nice.  The black and white pic is of the catholic church downtown, which was not too far from our hotel.

Well that is about as touristy as I get, I kind of felt annoying being a tourist.  I’m really glad it’s out of the way and I’m super excited to call this place home for two years.  Hope you enjoy the update, even though it was pretty small.

 

Me he mudado y me mudare otra vez

So, I have moved into Zamacola (the Church/Dorm/School) and according to the title of this post, I’ll be moving again soon in a month.  More about that later.

I arrived here at Zamacola on Friday before graduation.  At graduation, we had to do a skit, which I believe was a major hit.  Right away, my body didn’t like adjusting to this environment and it went crazy.  So far I’ve been sick since I got here, with some kind of allergy.  So, I’ve been taking a lot of Benadryl and fall asleep at random times which is exciting.  School has started, but I haven’t had classes yet because our professor failed to arrive on time.  So this afternoon I’m going to have classes, in all out Spanish.

My partner arrived on Saturday and his name is Jeremias Something Something (they have like 100 names.)  He’s pretty chill and super nice and generous.  He’s kind of quiet and conservative but we’ll fix that all in good time.  Can’t really describe much about him until I get to know him better.

 

A little about Zamacola: It’s kind of cramped.  Hot showers are found between 11 and 1 because that’s when the sun is heating up the water.  It’s so cold all the time.  The food is so-so.  But we’re all together so it makes up for it (awwww.)  The picture above is the view from on top of the building in Zamacola.  No big deal.  The building to the left is Zamacola in all it’s glory.  It’s actually a pretty gangster looking building.

Zamacola is about a 15 minute combi ride from my old house.  It’s not a central location, but the pollution is a lot less here compared to my old house.

This is our classroom.  We’re all getting ready and it’s about 8:30 only to be told that the professor won’t be showing up until the afternoon. Que pena, pues eso es Peru.

 

 

 

 

This is what it looks like when I enter Zamacola.  To the upper left is where my dorm is and to the upper right is the sanctuary.  To the bottom right is where we have school.

So I don’t think that anyone actually likes to live here in Zamacola because the conditions aren’t great, but in truth, I have no problem with them.  But, according to the title we are going to move again! In a month we’ll be moving to the red building pictured below.  It’s going to be great.  My cluster support parents, Chad and Amanda, will be getting the third floor, the girls will be getting the second floor, and us men will have the first floor.  Each floor has there own kitchen and bathroom.  I’m excited, and its only a two minute walk to school, which will remain in Zamacola.

Random: Went to a parade, accidentally.  The difference here, at parades they throw vegetables instead of candy.  Wow, that’s awesome.

One last thing, this weekend we’re all going to be going to Puno to visit the city!  I’m so pumped.  I’ve been told by so many that it’s different but it has its own culture.  I'ma get my tourist game face on.  I’ma get that outta the way so I don’t be touristy when I return again.  I’ma wear some cargo pants, a button up shirt, a belt that’s too long, a hat to protect me from the sun and some socks that go halfway up my shins.  That’ll fill my tourist fiche.

Nos Mudaremos a Zamacola

To the convenience of most who read this, I will not be writing in Spanish.  In advance, I had a long stay at the Plaza de Armas (the main plaza) so I took a bunch of random pictures of stuff, and they’re on this blog.  But am in need of throwing out and update, so here’s what's going on in the forthcoming days.

The truth is that I am a week short of completing language school!  Give a little shout for that one.  I graduate on Friday the 13th!  There should be a nice little ceremony and what not but I'm not exactly sure as to what's going to happen.  Because I graduate, that means I move out of my host family's house and move into Zamacola.  Zamacola is the academy/church/dorm where I'll be living and taking classes.  I will post pics of Zamacola and my living quarters and all that juicy stuff and a new blog after all this goes down but it’s nice to know stuff in advance.  This Saturday, too, I get my Peruvian partner that will be with me for the next 2 years.  That’s pretty important, so please keep it in your prayers, thanks!  We’ve got 2 days of meetings with a psychologist from Lima preparing us to be able to work as a team.  Yeah, don’t really know what that’s all about.

Other than that, there is not much going on but things are about to change quickly this next week.  Right now I have hot showers and very good food (all as compared to the rest of Peru.) BUT, in Zamacola we’ve got cold showers and frightening food.  Not much to complain about especially when you think that we’ll all be together, awwwww.  My Spanish is going to improve dramatically after speaking for hours and hours daily to my partner.  Well that is all for now except for the update on the mustache: It’s looking hot.