Quick Post on my Homestay on the Island of Amantani in Lago Titicaca

Hola!
I´m am now in Puno, and about to go to bed so I can get up at 5:45 am tomorrow, but I just got back from my amazing homestay on one of the larger lakes on Lake Titicaca called Amantani. It was soo awe inspiring, crazy, cool, and interesting, I just had to post something on it briefly!
So, the group of 5 of us from our normal group of 13 got up and left at 7:30 with our guide and a guy named Jimmy from Hong Kong, but working in Canada for the past ten years, in neat bike buggies downhill to the port on the lake. We bought gifts of rice, sugar, pasta, tuna and fruit to give to the families we would be staying with, as well as toys for kids we might encounter, but no candy. Then we got on the boat with our guide, and listened to him lecture on the culture, etc, for the first hour until we arrived at the floating islands, made out of naturally growing reed and reed roots. SO COOL!!! We visited the floating islands, and got to try on their traditional dress, and take pictures, and buy soveigners and such for about an hour, and then back on the boat. Our boat was big, and the group was made up of 3 canadians, including Jimmy, a couple of Irish, some australians, some english, some scottish, 2 korean girls, and some people from Catalonia, Spain. We became ¨The Happy Group!¨ lol. It was great! So, after the floating islands, and getting to see a demonstration of how they build the islands and boats, we got back on the boat for 3 hours to get to Amantani for our homestay.
When we arrived, it was a steep steep steep uphill hike to our house with our ¨Mother¨Clara for about 45 minutes. Mind you, not only was it a hike, but you were hiking at about 4500 meters, so about 12,000 to 14,000 feet, uphill only, and only getting higher. Needless to say, I felt like I was totally out of breath the entire time, and kids were passing me!!! It was actually pretty entertaining! The house was much more than I expected, with 2 stories (short stories, as I always was ducking my head) and a kitchen off to the right, with a little cobblestone plaza in the middle. Every body was shorter than me, and you could tell really fast after the first couple of doorway head bumps! We were given a very authentic quinua soup with potatoes and a plate of sticky white rice with a few fresh veggies and boiled potatoes and turnips and homemade cheese. I had a hard time finishing it it was so good! And fresh mint grows wild, so we had mint tea with a little sugar, sooo good!
We then helped Clara peel potatoes and we got to meet Clara´s dos hijos, Mario, age 2, and Jimmy, age 7. SO CUTE!! We played a little soccer with the boys and then went to a meeting with our group nearby to break into groups for activities. A bunch of us decided to play futbol/soccer with the locals, who were AMAZING, and we actually held our own, and were only a couple points behind, or tied! I played defense at first, then Jake (one of the guys from UNC) asked to switch, so I became an amazing goalie, as everyone said. Blood, sweat and tears the whole way, as I went to block the ball, and dived, and definitley scraped my knee on the cement ¨field¨, but I just kept playing, and I saved several shots, and was totally impressed at my own unexpected abilities!! I never in my life thought I could play soccer like that, let alone at an altituted comparable to Long´s Peak!!
I then went back to the house with my roommate Lindsay, also my roommate throughout this trip, and got help treating my wound from Clara and Nancy, Clara´s sister, since there was no electricity, and it was already dark. We had a wonderful dinner, similar to what we had at lunch with the whole family, Clara´s parents, her sons and her sister. Lindsay and I presented our gifts, and I can sadly report I have never seen anyone so thankful to get a banana. It was definitley interesting, and a bit depressing. After dinner, they let us take a quick nap, and then got us dressed in a skirt and petticoat, with a nice top and cumberbun, belt type thing, and a shawl, all very traditional, for the dance that night. The local band was very good, but it became quickly apparent that none of us could breath in our outfits, so we stopped and went to bed after about an hour.
The next morning, we had these pancakes, that were a combination of a pancake and a crepe at breakfast with the same mint tea for breakfast. We then got to give the boys their toys, and showed them how to spell our names in the colored pens and pads of paper we brought them. A 30 minute downhill hike with Clara (who was able to knit the entire time) down to the docks and we were on our way to another island called Taquile. We had a long hour hike, that had one big hill, but was mostly flat up to the main city, where the whole group did a little exploring, and took many pictures, and then had breakfast where we met up with one of the soccer players from the day before, whose name I believe was Raphael, and was a lot of fun. Our guide then talked to us about the marriage practices, which are really really cool and interesting, while we ate some delicious trout and rice. We then hiked down the 530 something steps back downhill to our boat from the city and rode the 3 hours back to the Puno docks, and then took a bus to our hotel to meet the rest of the group around 4 pm.
Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I don´t regret it at all, and I cannot wait until I get a chance to upload a few pictures, because I think you really have to see it to believe it. :)

Well, Buenos Noches, y Hasta Luego!!