Hey!  Lets see how much I can get down in one post.  Bare (or is bear?) with me!  I have a looooot of pictures.  (BUT THEY´RE BEAUTIFUL AND WORTH SEEING!)

But the post incredible part about all of the pictures you will see in this post (and every post here, for that matter) is they are completely uneditted!  #NoFilter

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So on Friday, we caught the overnight bus to Puno.  It left at 10:15 and arrived in Puno at 5:00 am.  It was a sleeper bus with really large, comfy seats and leg rests.  So it was a nice bus, BUT they closed the door and turned up the heat.  I was dying and very uncomfortable.  I ended up bathing myself in the cold condensation on the bus windows.  Even those poor windows were sweating!

After a restless night of sleep, we arrived in Puno and were greeted by our tour guide and another woman named Vicki.  Vicki took us to a hostel were we were allowed to rest until 8:00 am, at which point we would be picked up.  We were allowed to sleep ON the beds, but not IN the beds.  I tried not to think about how many other people have only slept ON the bed.  Yuck.

At 7:15, we were served breakfast in this sort of  sunny terrace.  It was very nice.  Then we were on our way!  We took a 2.5 boat (I took mucho Dramamine so slept mucho).  We arrived at Uros island, which is one of the famous floating reed islands that Lake Titicaca is known for.  We learned that every month, the people that live on the island (there are 23 of them) pack more reeds onto the island as to avoid their entire homes from sinking.   They fish in Lake Titicaca and then trade the fish for other products on our islands and in Puno.  We got to take a boat ride off the island in a reed boat, which was nice.  Its amazing that the reeds were so strong as to hold 25 people!

After that, we had about 15 minutes to walk around the tiny island and take pictures, and then it was back on the boat!  Another1 hr and 45 minutes later, we arrived at Amantani island, which was not a floating reed island and was more like a mountain.  We were staying on this island for the night, so we were greeted by our respective host families and then they led us up the little hill (more like hiked up half a mountain carrying all of our stuff).  The local people thought it was quite funny when we needed to take a break!  I stopped to take pictures of the animals!  When we finally (finally!!!!) arrived at the house, we were shown our small, but comfortable rooms.  We then washed our hands, used the bathroom, and sat down for lunch.  The Amantani people cook in small huts over a fire, so that aspect of the night was super interesting!  Lunch was quinoa soup, then rice with potatoes and a piece of cheese.  After lunch, we had about a half hour to take a nap before we hiked to the sun temple!

The sun temple is at the top of Amantani Island, and at the top, you can see the sun rise and sun set.  They have a moon temple, as well.  The hike up wasnt far, but it was TOUGH.  It only took about 45 minutes to get up there, but the altitude, combined with the strong sun made it very difficult.  And we had to make way for the sheep:  Once we got up there, tt was so, so, so worth it!  Check out the view!

–I have seen many Jewish stars here, but I do not know their significance.  I will find out–

We didnt stay for the entire sunset, because the wind was really picking up and there was a lot of dust flying around.  When we got back down the mountain (our poor knees!), we had 2.5 hours to kill before dinner.  We all hung out in one room and played a (drinking) game (without the drinks) haha.  Actually a couple people had drinks.  Eventually, the cute little boy came to tell us that dinner was ready.  We were super excited because we were huuungry.  Dinner was corn soup, then rice with pasta and potatoes (carbs for the win!!).  After dinner, we had more time to just hang out before the family came and brought us traditional Peruvian costumes for a party/ dance that was happening later that night.  Oh my gosh, they tie those skirts SO TIGHT. (I look like death, no?)  It was very hard to breath, but when we tried to explain that, they would say no, no, it needs to be that tight because it will fall down when we dance (yeah, if we dont pass out first!).

The dance was fun–more like holding hands and going in circles.  We didnt last too long and within a half hour, we were heading off to bed.  Needless to say, we were pooped from our long day/ night!

We slept soundly (with spiders, apparently! According to the bites all over my legs) and then woke up at the crack of dawn (literally before our alarms went off) because breakfast was ready.

Another post with more adventures and pictures coming soon!