la vida peruana: olimpiadas en juli

After arriving in Puno, we took a smaller (much less comfortable) mini bus to a small ghost town called Juli.

What happens in Juli? Absolutely nothing.

BUT it is located on the shores of Lake Titicaca, which is awesome. AND it hosted "The Olympics for Boarding Schools in Farming Towns of Southern Peru" (title loosely translated).

Juli's main plaza.

Chilling by the fountain with my ladies.

This man interviewed us for Juli's "radio station."

So odd.

I am so happy to have found a restaurant in Juli!!

Here are some of the girls and I before the big theater performance.

72 girls all slept in this one room with cement walls and about 10 old mattress sprawled about. We were relieved we had booked a hostel upon arrival,

as they begged us to sleep there with them.

Note that these girls also hadn't showered in about 4 days and the odor was less than pleasant.

Enjoying the theater performances in the frigid cold.

The next day, we had some free time to take the girls to Lake Titicaca.

As a side note, my bed at the hostel had sheets that said "BEAUTIFUL" all over them.

¡VAMOS PACCA!

Profe Alexandra y Profe Jennifer cheering on our students!

This was the only restaurant in the town open for breakfast.

I think it was one of two restaurants in the town...period. Looks cute, doesn't it?

Not so cute when they screw up scrambled eggs so badly.

They were unlike any eggs I have ever tasted. Note the instant coffee. Yum.

The roaring crowd.

A little boat on Lake Titicaca.

The girls thought it a great idea to braid Alex's hair.

I was so glad they didn't ask me.

They found a dead fish and instead of "eww"-ing, they reached down and grabbed it.

These girls were literally fighting over who could hold it.

The "beach" in Juli.

Here is the only thing to see in Juli.

The old church. Which I did not enter.

Roxanna, one of my students, had never before seen a body of water larger than her nearby pond. She is from a small farm town outside of Cusco and was enamored with Titicaca's gorgeous waters.

This little girl melts my little heart.

No better place to play soccer than right here.

After a horrible breakfast, we asked someone to send us to the "Best Restaurant in Juli." They sent us here to "El Lago Azul," which looks basic but had incredible food. We were delighted.