Arriving in Cusco

we are getting behind - so much to do, so little time 

- Tammy writing about Saturday April 13

Saturday we got up early to get to the airport for our flight to Cuzco.  We were very blessed to be able to leave several pieces of luggage with one of Kaylee's former companions, Hermana Cornelio.  She lives in Lima, and had dinner with us (and a sleep over too) on Thursday.  It was so great not to have to haul everything and to not pay a bit extra like we had to out of Trujillo.  

We made it to Cuzco and hooked up with our guide,  Betho.  He is great.  He is member  of the church here in Cuzco and has a travel agency.  It has been a nice change to going from cramming us all into a taxi and racing through town to our own van and driver and our own personal tour of everything.  

We took our stuff to the hotel and drank some coco tea (highly recommended to help with altitude adjustment -and approved by Pres Turk - that part was very important for Connor).  It is nasty stuff in case anyone is wondering.  Before our scheduled city tour, our guide made big points with the boys by taking us by the stake center where the youth were all playing in a stake futbol tournament.  We got to meet some great people, see some great soccer and some members even played a short game after the tournament with the boys.  It was a highlight for them for sure.

We were off to see sights around Cuzco.  We visited some ruins- Saqsaywaman and a museums.

It was amazing how walking across some fields and up a few stairs at the ruins made us out of breath and had your heart pounding like crazy.  I thought I was in pretty decent shape but have decided none of that matters at 11,000 feet.  ok maybe it would be worse if I hadn't been doing any exercise.  (fyi we're coming from 4400 ft and Kaylee from sea level).

We returned to  the hotel for a much needed nap - because of the altitude it was amazing how cold it was.  We were all freezing and layering whatever we had.  So glad I stuck in my easily compressed winter coat.  But sad I didn't bring some warm things for Kaylee.  She gave so many clothes away to future missionaries in Trujillo.  Its a good thing Connor could share his jackets since she shrunk and he grew. 

That night we went to a buffet dinner with traditional dancers and musicians.  We tried a lot of new things (some of us were braver than others)  among the spread was alpaca, cuy (guinea pig), trout and a lot of different traditional salads. 

It was a great day, we are seeing so many incredible things.  The diversity of Lima, Trujillo and now Cuzco is amazing.