Royal Family Times: Cuzco: The Sacred Valley (July 24, 2010)

Andes Mountains from the friendly skies of Star Peru

Admittedly, writing about the rest of our trip will be challenging. It is so much fun writing about David and his missionary work. From here on out I expect it will be more of a travelogue, although I hope to make it a bit more interesting than that. So, here it goes.

We actually made it onto a Star Peru flight - our first one. It was about an hour late, but it got us to Cuzco - did the trick. Earlier as we were getting ready to leave our hotel room and check out, Maralea was complaining to me about “how slow” David is all the time. We, on the other hand, were moving at our usual quick, hurried pace to get from place to place. David would just kind of stroll, whether it was messing with things within his bags, double checking around the room, or even walking within the airport terminal. I had to turn around to find him and yell words of encouragement to get him to catch up to us. It was such a contrast to how David was when walking the streets of Chachapoyas, Piura and Chiclayo, where he was the one walking quickly and I was the caboose. David’s pace has slowed down noticeably. I think he is now ready to sit back and be a tourist.

At this lookout spot over Cuzco we found a young girl, Kelly, and her llama

Kelly actually did smile after we paid her 2 soles for the picture

See!! A smile from Kelly. That's what 2 soles gets you in Cuzco

We were met at the airport by Julio and Jorge (different Jorge) who whisked us away for a tour of the Sacred Valley. Cuzco is pretty. It was warm. The altitude here is about 12,000 feet. There are warnings everywhere about altitude sickness. We have been taking some things, drinking water, trying to stay hydrated. We drove to a peak that overlooks Cuzco for a picture. While we were standing there, a young girl named Kelly walked over with a llama for a little paid photo op. She was too cute to pass up. What a racket! ;) Julio gave us a little history lesson on Cuzco and the surrounding community during uor trip that winded through the mountains. There are a lot of tourists here: hikers, bikers, shoppers, etc. We saw some of the devastating effects of the major flooding they had here in February of this year, which resulted in many landslides that tore up the roads and railroad to Machu Picchu. The road runs along side steep mountain sides that would present quite the hazard on a rainy day - much like what we saw on the road to Chachapoyas as we neared the city.

Our entry to the Sacred Valley - let the tourist stuff begin!

I had to remind David the water was not drinkable

Maralea and David at our first stop in the Sacred Valley (taking a needed rest)

Remember this pic: Royal parents making the peace sign - these people are way cool

Maralea and David looking within what once served as a home

You know, it would have been nice to rest and get acclimated to the altitude before doing all this climbing

The Incas were very hospitable, welcoming us into their homes

I experienced a bit of a rude awakening as we walked points of interest in the Sacred Valley, with the very thin air here. Walking up steps at 11,000 feet is pretty challenging. We made it, though. The Sacred Valley is beautiful, and it is so interesting to mingle with the Inca descendants. They have adapted well to the tourist industry. We bought some small gifts and a few ridiculous items, and managed to leave several of them at the table where we ate lunch. It was a beautiful day and a clear night. We had taken a lot of pictures, and had such a beautiful view of the moon from the valley. It was bright and amazing. I realized that this was my first time seeing the stars visible from the Southern Hemisphere. I identified the Southern Cross, a first. That was pretty sweet. We got settled into our hotel room, then went exploring Cuzco’s night life. This is a very interesting place. We did not do much other than walk around the streets of stone and stop in for some pizza. (David was very unhappy to learn that, like the gifts we purchased earlier, we left the uneaten pizza we had wrapped to bring back to our place sitting on the table. David and I sat in the hotel lobby for a while visiting and catching up on world events online. It has been fun just being with him. Time has seemed to stand still. And, since the internet is very dicey, allowing for only very limited access, it has been as though we have been cut off from the world. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Today was one where all we did was run around with our tour guide. The long drives were good for conversation. I have been complaining every day about how tired I am, how I want to get to bed early, take naps, etc.; yet, I cannot find a way to do that when the rare opportunity presents itself. I guess I just plain don’t want to miss anything. We are looking forward to attending church tomorrow.