BEST Gringa Barbies EVER

We took a tour of Lake Titicaca (do not laugh), which involved spending the night with an authentic Peruvian familia on la Isla Amantani. As gifts, we brought them a few very practical small tokens from DC (a snow globe, magnet) and some tasty treats that we picked up on the dock before we left.

Anyway, our authentic Peruvian host mom was named Hermalada and we spent the night in an authentic house that had no electricity, running water, heat, doors, plumbing of any sort, or anything metal to stick the magnet we brought to.

Upon arriving, it was time to prepare lunch. We offered to help and were assigned to peeling the worlds smallest potatoes with two dull dirty knives. (Again, something that we will not be telling the travel nurse). The daughter of the family managed to peel twice as many potatoes as us combined and in less time. Lunch was potato soup, fried potatoes, and boiled potatoes.

We went on a quick hike and then it was time for dinner... which was potato soup. We enjoyed the soup as we watched the children scarf down the cookies and candy we brought them. In retrospect, fruit or vegetables that were not potatoes would have been a better token of appreciation to bring.

Following dinner, it was time for a fiesta to welcome all of the gringas to the island. The natives of the island were approximately 4'2'' at the very most, so we're assuming that they just viewed us as big awkward gringa dolls that were unable to peel potatoes. This suspicion was confirmed as it was time to prepare for the fiesta. They dressed us in traditional island clothing, which involved a huge hoop skirt (that looked like mini skirts on us), embroidered scarves, blouses, corset like belts, and shawls.

Completely willing to unleash the little girls that live within us, we totally got into playing dress up. A little bit too much. Once we figured out that Hermandalada was indicating to us that she wanted to dress us up, we started to strip off of the five layers of sweatshirts we had on (it is damn cold on an island with no electricity), which sort of shocked her. After she frantically screamed as we took off the first sweatshirt, we realized that we were supposed to wear our dress up clothes OVER our other clothes. So, lesson learned... Peru - it is a modest country.

Anyway, we have a series of increasingly hysterical pictures from the fiesta (which was held in the only building on the island that had electricity) which we will post upon our return.

P.S. Breakfast the next morning was a potato pancake with jam.