20 de Octubre (Machu Picchu Parte 2)

Saturday morning we woke up and ate breakfast so that we could catch the 9:00 bus to Machu Picchu. Breakfast consisted of some sort of Peruvian flat bread similar to a pita with mermelada y mantequilla. To drink, I had some more mate de coca. They served papaya juice, but I can’t stand my drinks to be lukewarm which is usually how you find them in Peru. We then headed to the bus station and up the mountain to Machu Picchu! The bus ride was only about 20 minutes long, and when we got off, we booked a tour guide. Our guía, Ernesto, was very knowledgeable about Machu Picchu and really added to our experience and understanding of it.

*eating my Peruvian desayuno

Machu Picchu truly is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. To know that an ancient civilization lived in such a beautiful and efficient place is truly beyond my comprehension. When you stand on the grounds and breathe in the beauty of the landscape, it’s absolutely impossible to deny the omnipotence of our Creator. I truly cannot convey with words just how beautiful it was, so I took a lot of pictures!

In addition, we saw several llamas!! We were so excited and managed to get quite a few pictures with them!

So, the saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Well, this statement is apparently universal and includes Machu Picchu tour guides. My new rule of thumb is, “When in Machu Picchu watching your dark skinned tour guide put on sunscreen, follow suit.” Yeah. I am so sunburned, it’s truly not funny. I had my hair in pigtails and have a burnt scalp to go along with my farmer’s burn on my arms and my red neck. Yeah. If anyone doubted that I was from Texas before. . . Painful. They also have mosquitoes that leave really strange bites. I have a few of those on various places including my pinky finger.

*this kid ran down the whole mountain and waved at us every time we came around a corner.

When we were done with our tour, we decided to eat lunch. However, since we noticed that the buffet right next to Machu Picchu was $29 each and since there’s no way I could ever eat that much food, we went down the mountain and ate at a restaurant located on the stream that runs through town. The restaurant was so pleasant with the fresh air and sound of the water. Ahhh.

*enjoying some Peruvian kabobs. mmmmm. :)
Going around town a bit, we stopped in a souvenir shop to look around. As we were walking in the shop, the song that was playing sounded familiar, so we asked the shopkeeper who the singer was only to learn that it was Tracy Chapman! Now, my family is going to get a kick out of this one because I’ve certainly overplayed that CD! Anyway, he went and changed the song to Fast Car and then asked Junior to ask me to explain the song to him. I told him about the theme and basic message of the song and Junior translated for me. The man seemed very grateful to finally understand music that he’d been enjoying for so long. It was quite an interesting experience.

Later, we went back to the hostal and took a little nap before heading out for dinner. Since we had to catch the train the next morning at 5:45, we figured that in would be a good idea to find the train station. So, we went out in search of it, and found it with ease. As we were walking back to the hostal, we stopped in at a little restaurant and each ordered pizza which was delicious! As we finished our food, we bundled ourselves up so that we could run back in the rainstorm.

TO BE CONTINUED. . .

“To you, O God, belong the greatness and the might,
the glory, the victory, the majesty, the splendor;
Yes! Everything in heaven, everything on earth;
the kingdom all yours! You've raised yourself high over all.
Riches and glory come from you,
you're ruler over all;
You hold strength and power in the palm of your hand
to build up and strengthen all.
And here we are, O God, our God, giving thanks to you,
praising your splendid Name.”

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

Katrina

pictures!

more pictures!