We started out with a 18 hour bus ride to Cusco turning into 22 hours because of a land slide. We finally made it and got the translators off to their mission trip. We then learned that going to Cusco during Holy Week is one of the worst ideas ever. Everyone else in the world travels to Cusco during this time and so everything was more expensive. Plus we were having a really hard time finding train tickets to Machu Picchu. We finally got some and were on our way to Machu Picchu, of course a couple of days late, but that was ok. We rode the train to the base town of Aguas Calientes. It was a cool town because it is in what is called "la ceja de selva", or the area in between the mountains and the jungle. So that night while sleeping there was a huge storm. I was enjoying it because I never get storms or rain in Lima. The next morning we got up to catch the 5:30am bus to Machu Picchu... but it was still raining. Well we figured the rain would stop soon so we should go anyways to beat the crowds. Well being one of the first buses going up we soon discovered there had been a land slide because of all the rain. So the bus could not take us the rest of the way up, we had to hike. So we climbed over the landslide...
On the way up I started out too fast and soon found myself struggling with the lack of oxygen. I learned my lesson here... if you're not used to the altitude, you've got to take it slow. After hiking about an hour or an hour and a half we reached the entrance to Machu Picchu...and it was still raining. We went in and hiked around a lot. A few hours later we were at the lookout point where you are supposed to see all of Machu Picchu, except it was covered with clouds. So we just prayed, and for a few minutes, God cleared the clouds for us!
Well after heading back to Cusco we started making plans to go to Puno. We had planned to take the train but because of our delays we were now leaving on a day that the train didn't run. So we found a cheap tour bus that would take us to Puno plus stop a few places on the way. What I didn't know at this time is that I went right through the area where North Lanier might get involved here in Peru. I wish I had known before then so I could have tried to check it out. So here is a picture from the highest point on our journey. This is an area called la Raya right in between the departments of Cusco and Puno and I believe it is VERY close to the area North Lanier might adopt!
That evening we finally arrived in Puno. It was cold, but definitely not as cold as I had expected. The next day we headed out early to our tour on Lake Titicaca. This took us to two floating islands and another island in the lake. My favorite part of the whole trip was visiting the floating islands. We got to go in the house of one lady that lived on the island and then she dressed me up in her clothes. We also got to ride from one island to another in a traditional style reed boat. It was a lot of fun.
From Puno we were supposed to go to Bolivia to renew our visas in our passports. But for some reason we were having a difficult time finding the time to make it to the border and still make it back to Lima in time for our retreat. So we changed our plans and decided to head south to Chile. We took a bus overnight from Puno to Tacna. We started out at a really high altitude in cold weather and when we woke up at 6am the next morning we were now on the coast. So we then found a taxi that would take us across the border into Chile. We spent the day hanging out in Chile before we headed back to Lima on a 20 hour bus ride.
We made it back to Lima at about 11 Friday morning only to have to leave for our team retreat at 1:30pm. We quickly got ready for another trip and then piled in the trucks and headed to Chosica, just outside of Lima. We were able to get together with all of the REAPSouth team for the very first time. We had Bible studies, games, and made plans for all of the stuff coming up in the next few months. It was great to be able to spend time with everyone and get to know the team.
So now we're back in Lima and I'm getting back to teaching my classes... I've definitely realized how much Lima has become my home because I sure did miss it when we were out traveling. I've updated my photo website also so you can look at some more pictures from our trips.
PS. Thanks Ron for the peanut butter and thanks to Mrs. Christy's class for the pictures!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment