Peru trip

We flew into Lima and spent a couple days seeing the city, this is my parents with my aunt and uncle in front of their apartment, with whom we stayed while in Lima (and then traveled with later). It was in the 60's our whole visit, meanwhile at home it was 35 degrees and my poor wife and the boys spent the whole day bundled up at the soccer tournament.

Next we headed for Cuzco and the sacred valley to climb a whole lot of rock walls and find out just how bad of shape we are in. Sacsayhuaman, Pisac, and Ollantaytambo were definitely the best. Unfortunately we were on a fairly tight schedule and didn't have time to explore them in depth. My dad and I were the only ones willing to climb all the way to the top most of the time, while everyone else stayed down, promising to take a picture once we were at the top. I haven't seen any of those pictures yet, but here is one of them at the bottom (sitting on the curb in the center of the picture).

Next it was on to the big deal of the trip, Machu Picchu. Dad and I were the only ones to get up at 4:30 to get in line to be on the first bus up the mountain, so we could get tickets to climb Wayna Picchu (the taller peak you see right behind us). When we got in line there were already about 100 people in line ahead of us. One of them said she had been in line since 3:30 and there were several people in front of her, so I guess if you want to be first in line you have to be there all night (you would save on lodging that way).

Machu Picchu was great, and the views were amazing, and here is another picture from the top, looking down on the rest of our group (I'm sure they are there somewhere).

We all used bug spray but apparently I missed my elbows, and every time I lifted my arms to take a picture the bugs let me know it. I counted 30 bites on one elbow and 40 on the other. It's the ideal souvenir since they were free and take up no room in my suitcase.

Next we were off to Puno and lake Titicaca. Here is one of the reed island natives explaining how the island is made, and showing us how thick the island is.

Here are a few of their houses on their island... the night life has gotten a lot more exciting since the recent installation in the middle of this picture (yes, enough solar panels to watch TV)

We finally found a restaurant that served cui (guinea pig). Unfortunately it was a little tough since they fried it well done. Next time I'll order it medium rare I think.