Peru: Cuzco

When we arrived to Lima, Peru we had only 2 hours to go through customs and catch our flight to Cuzco, Peru. It turned out that our flight was canceled and that they were planning to put us on the morning flight. That meant that they would put us up in a hotel and pay for our food. It turned out to be the Five Star Sheraton Hotel in Lima. It was really nice and the food was awesome.

We did wander around a little from the hotel and saw some amazing old buildings but mostly we just enjoyed the hotel and the food. The next day the Airline forgot to send a bus to get us so we took our own taxi. But it worked out and they paid us back.

We did arrive the next day without any problem in Cuzco. Cuzco is the ancient capital of the Inca empire. It's in a beautiful valley and is fairly cold at 11,000 ft.

Tracie & Ricky picked us up from the airport. They spent the whole day with us, drinking coffee and eating meals together.

The next day we took the train to Machu Picchu. It was really expensive; the train and the entry ticket cost $120 each! But it ended up being worth it. The 4 hour train ride followed an amazing river in the middle of valley with steep cliffs on each side. Once we were there we wandered the streets of the town till we found the ticket booth. The ride up the mountain was in a bus that went up steep switch back curves.


The view was amazing better then we imagined.
It's a 600 year old Incan Fortress built on top of a huge mountain with cliffs all around it. We signed up for guided tour but it took so long we didn't get to do some of the things we had hoped to do...

We decided to hike down the mountain to get back to the train as Coralee really hated the bus ride up due to the steep cliffs. It started pouring rain on the way down and we got totally soaked but made it to our train just five minutes before it left!

The next day Ricky & I, Jason, went and played soccer at the Juvenile Hall. It was really fun and everyone was super good. That afternoon we went to the barrio and did a children's bible school. It was amazing to think that Ricky & Tracie do this every week by themselves with over 50 kids each week.

We went out to eat a few times while we were there. The best place was when we had Alpaca. It's like Llama but tastes like a really tender beef. There was also a live Peruvian band.

We walked around the town center a few times too. It's looks really amazing at night. Most of the buildings were built in 1500s when the Spaniards came and conquered this ancient Incan Capital. They took apart the temples and built them into huge churches. It's really cold here though about 40-45 degrees at night.

Well today we were able to see the church that meets in their house. It was really neat to realize that they have only been here less then a year and they have a small church already. It has been really amazing being able to see Ricky & Tracie's ministry and to realize that they are doing this all alone. They are praying that a couple will come and work with them here.