From the shores of Lago Titicaca:

Hola all. we have just finished three weeks of language school in Cusco. Tomorrow Daniel, Brad, and Christine land in Cusco for a trip to Manchu Picchu and more days of fun. We are running behind on timeline of pictures, but flashing back to Dateline End-of-April, here are some pictures posted from Lake Titicaca (on the Border between Bolivia and Peru).

We started our Lake Titicaca tour, spending a night on the shores of Isla de Sol, the birthplace of the sun, according to the Inca legends. The above picture is our lunch spot--a traditional meal of lake Trout on the grill. After lunch we were planning on finding this "birthplace of the sun", but after a beer and a full stomach, we decided it was time for a nap. Our hostal could not offer us electricty, heat, or running water, but they did have lots of blankets and cost us about $3 for the night. Given the compassion of the Señora of the house, we were more satisfied.
In the above picture, Kristen is still searching for the birthplace of the sun. Turns out, we never really found it. We saw lots of Donkeys, Llamas, and sheep, but no evidence of UV rays being born. Next time...
Our last stop in Bolivia was a little town on the shores of the lake called Copacabana (above). We ended up staying here a couple more days then planned, due to an inpromptu transportation strike. We were upset for five minutes before realizing there are worse places to be stuck. If you look closely, you can see our hotel!! It is the giant pink one on the waterfront on the far right--we used our stellar spanish here to bargain for a nightly rate of $7.00, including breakfast. See below of for the view from our window.

The man below is one of the inhabitants of the Uros islands, a string of floating islands in Lake Titicaca, made out of lake reeds. There are close to 40 islands that were constructed years and years ago by the ancestors of the current inhabitants who were trying to escape wars on the mainlands. The entire culture of the islands centers around the reed plant--their islands are made of them, their boats are clearly made of them, they make their houses from them, and yes, they even EAT them!! (they kinda tastes like celery). Unfortunately we didnt get any good pictures of the islands themselves. We did, however, meet a Catholic priest on our trip to the islands from Tressie´s home of Effingham, IL and he knew of her family--what a small world.

As the sun set on Lake Titicaca, we realized we are not destined to see water again until the northern beaches of Peru. Dont feel too bad for suffering traveler, beaches are only two weeks away.

Hasta Luego,

Your now fluent spanish amigos