Soccer, Llamas and Much, Much More

I'm writing in my journal!

11/27/2010

         

At 8:50, we went to the train station to go to the small town.  When we arrived, we drove to a small town called Pisaq.  In Pisaq, we had a great lunch.  I had a cheese pizza.  After lunch, we went to a market that is known through the whole country.  It is called Pisaq Market.  We got a mask, some finger-puppets, a T-shirt, a deck of cards, a sweater, some water bottle holders, and two pens.  After that, we went to a llama farm. At the llama farm we got to feed the llamas and alpacas.  They eat grass.  When you put the grass to their mouth, they put the grass in their mouth and yank.  One of the llamas yanked so hard it almost pulled me down to the ground.  After that, we went to the gift shop.  Sadly you couldn’t bring your cameras, because there were beautiful tapestries.  After the farm, we got to our hotel.  An hour later, We had dinner.  I had a stir-fry.  It was really good. We got back to the hotel and had a good sleep.



Mom and I feeding llamas at the farm.



11/28/2010

          After breakfast, we got in the van for a three hour drive.  After three hours, we arrived at Aguas Calientes or hot springs.  One of the pools is 205* F!  The pool we went in to swim was about 93* F!  After the pools, we had another 3 hours of driving to get to our hotel, next to Lake Titicaca.  We got to our hotel.  Next, we had dinner.  I had a ham and pineapple pizza with a side of broccoli. It was really good!  We got back to the hotel and slept.

11/29/2010

          After breakfast, we had “luxury” transportation.  We were in a bike taxi.  It was much easier to take pictures, because there were no windows. 

luxury transportation

We were dropped off at a little store.  At the store we bought rice, oil, pasta, and sugar.  The foods were for a family in an island inside Lake Titicaca.  After the store, we walked to the boat to go to an island in Lake Titicaca.  The island was called Taquile Island. We reached Taquile Island two and a half hours later.  From the port at the bottom of the island, we walked uphill to pretty close to the top of the island.  We had to do this at an altitude of 13,000 feet!  At the top there was the main plaza.  At the plaza, there was a school, knitting store, and lots of candy and soda stores.  After looking at the plaza we went to lunch, even closer to the top of the island.  I had trout, rice, bread, and quinoa soup.  All the food tasted really good!  After lunch, we walked down the other side of the island to get to the boat.  On the way there was a woman making the sheep walk forward.  She did this by whacking a stick on her or the sheep.  There were about ten behind her.  They weren’t walking so I got an empty water bottle, and started whacking on myself.  The sheep started to run.  While I was doing this, I noticed that all the sheep (not babies) had their right front and hind legs tied together.  So when they were running they were actually hobbling.  I stopped making them run when I got to a small store. 

I am a sheep herder!

My parents got to the store.  I asked them if I could buy the llama. They said, “yes.” The llama was a Christmas ornament.  After looking at the store, we walked back to the boat.  We had an hour boat ride.  Then we arrived at Amantani Island, where we were sleeping for the night.  We arrived, and had to walk uphill half a mile with three backpacks, a suitcase, and a bag of food.  When we finally arrived at where we were staying.  We laid on our beds like we were dead.  The door to our room was about four and a half feet tall!  Even I had to duck to get inside!  There were lots of decorations.  On the wall, there were hats.  The hats were so small they wouldn’t fit a person.  There were posters and maps on Lake Titicaca as well.  The beds were super short.  My legs touched the end of the bed!  Imagine how my dad would fit.  The pillows were almost as solid as a rock. 

The bathroom was outside.  The toilet didn’t flush by itself. You had to pour water in the toilet. The pressure would make the water flush.  If you had to go in the middle of the night, there was a cup under the bed.  While we were laying down, Sally said we only have thirty minutes to rest until the soccer game at 13,000 feet. 30 minutes later, we started walking uphill to the soccer field behind the school.  It was closed because it was under construction.  Since it was under construction, we went to the other field downhill from our room.  We started with Dad in the goal, and Sally and I on defense and offense.  After 45 seconds of playing, I got the ball, and kicked the ball.  It hit the inside post and bounced in! J  That was probably one of the best goals I have ever scored. Next, the other team scored.  Now the first team that scored two goals wins.  We were off to a good start when Sally scored a goal.  A few minutes later, the other team scored.  Three minutes later the other team was focused on offense.  Dad got the ball and threw it towards our opponent’s goal.  Their goalie was talking to a man walking by.  Sally ran to the ball, and scored.  We won!  A couple minutes later, two small kids walked over to us and wanted to play.  We started passing and shooting.  We had a fun time.  Two minutes later, two boys (my age) wanted to play.  I played with a different guide, against Sally and the four kids.  No one scored for a long time, so we decided the next team who scores, wins.  The two boys were doing very good passing to each other.  They took a shot and it hit the outside post for a goal kick.  The guide passed it to me.  I had an open shot at goal.  I shot.  It hit the goalie.  The goalie picked the ball up.  Their goalie threw it to one of the big kids.  He shot and missed.  We had a goal kick.  We had an open opportunity at the goal.  One of the little kids stole it, and shot at the goal from midfield.  He scored.  We lost. L  By the end of the game, I was just laying down on the field because of exhaustion.

Ten minutes later, we started walking back to our room.  I had a choice of writing in my journal or going to the kitchen with the family we were staying with.  You can probably guess what I chose.  I chose to go in the kitchen with the family we are staying with.  Their kitchen and our kitchen probably have almost nothing in common.  They didn’t have an electric or gas stove.  They had an open fire stove.  They had a rock, similar to a pizza oven with a fire on the inside.  They would put pots of food on the rock.  That is their stove.  Since there is fire, you would think they have a chimney.  However, there was no chimney.  All they had were small windows far away from the stove.  The whole room was very smoky.  There was a dirt floor and only one light.  The light was powered by solar power. 

 We were in the room for about 40 minutes letting Dad do all the talking.  This is because they didn’t speak English.  Only Spanish and a different native language called Quechua.  Mom and I know almost no Spanish, and Dad knows a little bit, so he got to practice his Spanish.  The family had a mom, dad, 17 year old daughter, and a boy my age.  The boy’s name was Ronney in Spanish and Elvis in Quechua.  The 17 year old’s name was Yanet.  Dad asked what the kids’ favorite subject were.  He asked in Spanish.  Ronney answered communications.  Yanet answered economics.  After a while of talking, Mom and Dad started showing Ronney pictures from earlier in the trip.  He thought almost every picture was funny.  We gave the family some gifts.  Rice, pasta, oil, sugar, cookies, candy, and what the family enjoyed most.  A set of binoculars.  Ronney started looking through the binoculars towards Mom.  Mom made a funny face.  Ronney started laughing.  Ronney started looking through the binoculars backwards.  Everything was pequeña (small).  He thought that was funny.  Three minutes later, he took them outside to try to look at the stars.  Binoculars don’t work well at night when it is cloudy, so they didn’t really help. After receiving the gifts, they said thank you in Spanish and Quechua.  Gracias and Yuspagarasunki.  After thanking us, they either hugged us or shook our hand.  Next, it was dinner time. We had quinoa soup and a rice and macaroni dish.  The food was great.  In the middle of dinner, Dad asked Yanet in Spanish, “Do you speak two words of English?”  she answered, “No.”  Dad said, ”There’s one, do you speak any other English words?” She answered, “No.”  Dad said, “There is another.  You know two English words.”  I thought that was really funny.  A few minutes later I took a head lamp to the room.  I climbed in bed, and started to sleep.

Me and my new friend Ronney

11/30/2010

          After breakfast we walked to the bottom of island Amantani.  At the bottom, we got on the boat.  We had a two hour boat ride to the peninsula where we will be kayaking.  The reason we were kayaking at a peninsula is because when it is windy, the wind creates waves. The land will block most of the wind, so it would be calm.  The last time our family went kayaking, we were on a river.  Dad and I were rescued by other people on boats.  Mom was rescued by the coast guard.  So we weren’t 100% confident.  We gained confidence when we had much more equipment to keep us safe and comfortable.  We had a skirt to keep the water out of the kayak, some boots, so our feet wouldn’t freeze from the cold.  A raincoat to keep our top half dry.  And a steering system for the people in the back.  Dad and I were in one kayak.  Mom was in one.  Sally was in one.  And our other guide was in one.  We kayaked to the end of the peninsula and kayaked back.  Dad and I were in the front for a long time, until the end.  At the end, we landed at the beach in the wrong place.  We had to push off and land farther down the beach.  We all got back safely.  After kayaking, Sally and the other guide dove into the frigid water.  After a few minutes, I decided to get my bottom third wet.  After that, we went back to the boat for a 45 minute boat to ride to the Floating Islands.  These islands are actually floating!  At the Floating Islands, the ground isn’t dirt, rock, sand, grass, or anything you would expect.  The ground was all reeds!  Reeds are very similar to straw, but they are much thicker.  Reeds are edible.  The locals peel them like a banana and eat the inside.  On the islands the houses are similar to huts.  For lunch we ate in a hut.  We had quinoa soup and beef or chicken.  The food was good.  We had a few minutes of free time and we went to the watchtower.  On the watchtower you could see at least half of the 57 floating islands.  The view was great! J 

The view from the watchtower

We went back to the boat for twenty minutes more to arrive in the city of Puno on mainland Peru.  We took a taxi to our hotel.  We had a few hours to rest until dinner.  This was a very special dinner.  It was a dinner show!  There was a man playing the drums, a man singing or playing the Incan pipes, three men playing the guitar, and a man playing the Incan pipes spectacularly.  They played about ten songs with a native dance in between each song.  If I did one of the dances I would do it for twenty seconds then collapse.  We bought this band’s CD! J  This band is known all around the country.  For dinner I had a good roasted chicken.  After dinner we walked back to the hotel.  I had a good sleep.

Kayaking on Lake Titicaca