So long, Peru

Tears. I always cry whenever I leave Peru.  Our last family get together was at Rustica, it is a restaurant that serves Peruvian food buffett, you could find, ceviche, causa, seco de carne, lomo saltado, tamales, ají de gallina...etc... etc... You can eat all you want and the food is so delicious! It's incredible.

Sisters!!!

Papases!!!

Here's everyone, except for Joshito, he was at school!!!

It was hard to believe that we were going to be gone next morning.  My family was good to us, they sheltered us and fed us.  It was much more than we had asked for.  I thank them and Andrew for that, for always taking care of me especially when I was released from the hospital in Lima.
We said a family prayer and we started to say goodbye, I wasn't going to cry but I guess I did.  Family and siblings ties strengthened too.  I didn't want to say goodbye but it was time, school and work were waiting for us in Provo. My dad and Estela took us to the airport and I started to think about all the good times we had.  We said goodbye to my dad and Estela and off we went to the States.

It felt unreal that we were going back to Provo.  What was Provo anyway? we had already forgotten. It surprised us how quick we adjusted to Lima; especially Andrew since it was his very first time there.  The second week we were in Peru we had already forgotten about our house in Provo and the things that needed our attention over there.  We "lived" in the place we were living and nothing else mattered.  The relationship between Andrew and I strengthened because we knew that no matter where we are, we will adjust quick and start our new life there as long as we are together and as long as we love each other.  He is my family and I coudln't live without him, I couldn't go overseas for a long time leaving him behind.  We are husband and wife! and we are supposed to be together, otherwise... why would we get married if we wanted to live our lives separate, right?  I am happy next to him, he is home. We are a team, he is my buddy and I am his.  I hope our family grows in a home where there is much love to give and get and I hope we stay united as an eternal family... forever :)

Goodbye...

The BIG DAY! = Machu Picchu!

OK, it was a nice train, at least it kinda matched what we had to pay! We sat in front of 2 Colombian women. I slept on the way up; it was dark when we got to Aguas Calientes and we left the duffle backpack and just see what they had in Aguas Calientes.  It is such a small town, I believe we got to see 80% of it in just 30 minutes! It was warm up there, there were people playing Andean music on the [narrow] streets and there were businesses everywhere, restaurants, small stores and places where they sold souvenirs. Everything was so expensive though.  

We bought a big bottle of water for S/.2.60 in Cuzco and in Aguas Calientes it cost us S/.5.00 more than double.  After eating the snacks we brought, we went back to our hotel.  We couldn’t wait to wake up next day for Machu Picchu!

So, by that time I thought: Dang, we traveled 20 hours from Lima to Cuzco, we traveled around 3 hours in train and tomorrow we will travel 30 more minutes in bus just to get to Machu Picchu and be there for a couple of hours! But, it was worth the wait.

The BIG day

We woke up around 6:30 am, our hotel was just right next to the bus stop. We looked out the window and there was this HUGE line.  We thought we weren’t going to make it on time since the tourist guide told us to be up there around 7:45.  We rushed to get ready as soon as possible and Andrew went to form the line while I was finishing getting ready.  I had breakfast really fast and sneaked 2 pan con mantequilla y mermelada J for Andrew.  I ran to the bus stop and I can’t believe I made it just when it was Andrew’s turn to go in.

The ride up was very bumpy and it seems a one way path because it only fits one bus; but there are buses coming up and down both ways obviously.  I don’t know how these drivers do it, but they just have a lot of skill!! I was a bit scared.

In the bus from Aguas Calientes to the ruins

We got up there, right outside the entrance.  We were itching to go in.  After our group gathered, we went in.  Another walk up… 5 minutes went by and I was so tired already trying to breath.  Fortunately, my mom lent me her inhaler because I have asthma.  Up we went, up we went… up we went…

When I saw this I got really excited!!

And so we saw…

Machu Picchu

One of our dreams came true. We were together and it was one of our happiest days in our Peru trip.

I'm so tired! I want water...

Entering Machu Picchu

Our tour guide

Obteniendo energías positivas para luego poner las manos al sol...

It is believed that this rock had the shape of the mountain behind it.

More pics of the city of Machu Picchu...

El Condor, símolo del dios de "Los de Arriba"

There are still so many pictures! we took more than 500+ !! We felt so happy to have gone there.  It was the honeymoon we didn't have when we got married and it was our almost 1st year anniversary. We couldn't believe we were up there seeing it with our own eyes.  Two hours passed and we didn't want to go down but we had to...

Going down...

BIG SURPRISE!

When we arrived to our hotel, we were so tired that we didn't even want to eat even though we were hungry.  We just wanted to take a long nap until it was time to take the train back to Cuzco city.  Well, the girl at the front desk told us that the check out time was at 8:30 am or I think it was 9:00 am.  We asked where our things were and she said she put everything in plastic bags in some other random room.  We ran there and made sure everything was in there! Luckily, we didn't take that many clothes and we took our money and passports up with us.  Everything was in there, phew! Now we had like 3+ hrs idle.  We didn't know what to do! Well, we just sat down in the main plaza and ate our bread with tuna with the pigeons!! haha...

We took our train back to Cuzco

There are still many things to tell.  We had one more day in Cuzco after Machu Picchu, we visited a lot of museums and the Qorikancha which holds the temples of the Sun, Moon, Star and Rainbow. We learned about Inca Garcilazo de la Vega, we saw evidence of how the andean people performed surgeries. Our experience in Cuzco was great overall, someday we will take our children there to learn more about their 50% culture :)