Peru - Day 1 & 2

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Cusco at almost midnight.  I should be going to sleep since we take off to the village in the morning but I'm 2 days behind already!  This will be short and sweet and won't include too many pics because the wifi in the hotel is pretty slow and it will take forever to upload.  So that said...

After a sizable flight delay in Houston, we made it in to Lima on Saturday morning about 1:30am.  We went down a day earlier than everyone else and hired some transportation to take us around Lima.  We went to Plaza de San Martin, Plaza de Armas, the San Francisco Monastery/Catacombs, out to see the Lima Peru Temple, the Huallamarca Pyramid in the middle of Downtown, and then Parque Reserva which is a big water fountain show with lights and music.  By the time we got back to the hotel, we were so tired and just ate quickly and crashed.

Cute little boy doing a traditional Peruvian dance in the plaza.

Hey guards, whatever you do, don't smile.  The guy on the left cracked me up!  Outside the Government palace in Plaza de Armas.

A total illegal picture I snuck in the catacombs underneath the San Francisco Monastery.

A picture of our group that toured on Saturday at the Lima, Peru temple.  Mel, me, Erica, Shannon, and Mel's friends Lynn and Mark.

Huallamarca, a pyramid in the middle of Lima that pre-dates the Inca.  Built in about 200 B.C.  The fog was totally rolling in off the ocean in the late afternoon.

Not the greatest picture but you get the idea of the fountain show at Parque Reserva with music, lights, and lasers.

 We were up the next morning at 5am to check out and make our 8am flight up to Cusco.  The first day they tell you to get acclimated to the air at 10,000 feet and take it easy.  We've never been one to listen too well, so we drank our coca tea, grabbed some lunch and were off doing some more touring.  We headed up to Sachsayhuman (where the last battle between the Inca and Spanish took place) and then walked back down to Cusco to see Coricancha (an ancient Incan temple destroyed by the Spanish and rebuilt by the Catholic church right over the top).  After dinner we had an awesome fireside by Chad (he's come to Peru twice a year for the last 30 years on medical/humanitarian trips) on Wiracocha who is their great white God who we know (and who President Kimball basically said) is Jesus Christ.  AMAZING.  One of my favorite things from last time too.  Perfect ending to our Sunday.


Day 2, we were boarding the little plane to fly to Cusco.  About an hour up into the Andes Mountains by plane.

Erica and Shannon in the main plaza in Cusco.

Sachsayhuaman...

More Sachsayhuaman...

From the top of Sachsayhuaman looking down on Cusco.

Coricancha, ancient Incan Temple on the bottom, rebuilt Catholic cathedral on top.  HUGE.



OK, and now I'm going to sleep.