Puno (continued)

Being welcomed home one night by yet another band

We chose to stay at a hostel far enough away from the main plaza to be quiet, but close enough to walk to the action. Boy were we mistaken! We arrived in Puno around 11:30pm and took a taxi to our hostal, but he couldn't bring us all the way there because our street was filled with a band and dancers and people getting ready for the long weekend of festivities for the Candelaria. Needless to say we were serenaded pretty much every night after that by various bands in the streets.



Jennie enjoying herself at Monday's street dances



We also chose the hostal because it was run by a family, specifically a wonderful woman named Jennie. She was so welcoming and helpful to us the whole weekend. We got invited to do things with their family at various times during the weekend (like elite seats for the big dances in the streets on Monday) and she was always so concerned with what we were doing or how we would get there. Liz told her she reminded her so much of one of her aunts in the states because of her great character and loving personality and she was (of course) so honored by this.

Liz enjoys our splurge on a tasty coffee cake

A delicious breakfast was another great perk of the hostal (and as you now know this is one of our priorities when choosing a hostal). We were served fresh mango and juice, tea, bread from a bakery, and scrambled or fried eggs or a banana crepe by Mr. Sunday (Señor Domingo) every morning. We got to practice our Spanish with him and he was surprised to hear that the US isn't a great place to grow mangos and better understood why we were so excited by the treat every morning. We shared many of our breakfasts with a great couple from Victoria, who had been travelling around Peru and had some great recommendations for us. They also gave us a great tip on a bakery a few blocks away from the hostal. We went there pretty much everyday and sampled everything from asparagus soup to mocha cake to papaya juice. Yum!