PERU!!!

We made it!    Survived our trip and conquered Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail.  

The trip was fantastic.  My husband is the best travel partner in the world.    He'll take care of you, the details, the planning and speaks Spanish which is a huge bonus!  

The only problem we encountered was the day we were to leave.   We get to the airport for our 4:00 pm flight only to realize it had been changed to 12:30 that day and we had missed it!    Since we missed our first leg of the trip, all other flights got cancelled.    We had a great lady at the American airlines counter helping us and she was able to trade some seats with Delta and rebook our trip.  That was scary!   

We made it to Cuzco, Peru on Thursday the 3rd.   Explored some local ruins, toured the city, shopped in a little market area and acclimated to the altitude.  

Here we are arriving in the courtyard at our hotel - they served us coca tea as soon as we arrived to help us acclimate.

This was the square and view outside our hotel:

 This is us at the market getting ready to shop for goodies!

Llamas and alpacas are everywhere.   The use them for yarn for their clothing, to carry stuff and for food.   We tried the alpaca and it actually was pretty tasty.  

What are their other specialties you may ask?    Guinea pig.  That's right - the little furry animals we have as pets.    Some restaurants even allow you to pick the one you want before they cook it - alive.   Like we do lobsters.    Here are some pictures of a restaurant where you could do that.  You could even feed it the seasonings you wanted ahead of time.  I'll spare you the picture of what it looked like served at the table.   But imagine a whole pig with the apple in it's mouth........it did not taste good at all..............

We also loved people watching and observing the culture while we were there.  The little children were so cute.  I don't know how many times I told Rob to grab one and hide them in my backpack.   I swear I'd have a dozen right now if I could!

And here are a few pictures of the city - loved the architecture:

On Saturday the 5th, we were picked up by bus to travel to the beginning of the Inca Trail for our 3 night, 4 day hike.   We had breakfast along the way and met the others in our group.   14 hikers in all with 2 guides.

I can easily say the hike was one of the toughest things I've accomplished.  I'm so proud of us for pushing through and finishing. Approximately 30 miles in all and we added an extra hike up a mountain to overlook Machu Pichu when we were done.   The views were beyond incredible.  Pictures do not do it justice.    The ruins are amazing along the way.  I was awed by how advanced the Incas were for their time.   I'd love to go back in time and live with them for a while just to understand more since there is so little we know.  

Here are some pictures of the hike.   The trail was very steep and A LOT of stairs!



Orchids in the jungle




View from our tent one night



Yes - I'm climbing out of a dark, steep tunnel!



One of the large rocks at Machu Picchu

We arrived back to our hotel Tuesday night and had a few more days to explore.  We took in some museums, toured the amazing churches and saw a mummy!   We arrived back to our house on Friday the 11th.   Rested up on the weekend and now we're back at work - planning our next adventure!  

We have so many more pictures of the trip - I couldn't post them all - you'll have to come over and visit to see the rest!