First, we all boarded a plane to Lima where Robert, Heather, Micah, Ellie and Sadie continued on to Puerto Maldonaldo to spend two days and nights in the jungle. Bill & I have been to the jungle twice so we decided to let them experience this by themselves. We headed to Cusco and waited for them to arrive 2 days later. They loved their experience in the jungle and came back excited to begin the next phase of their journey.
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| Planes...... |
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| Trains...... |
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| Automobiles....... |
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| Buses........ |
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| & Boats. |
Here are some pictures the kids took in Pueto Maldonaldo. They stayed in a jungle lodge, hiked and boated through the jungle.
They loved Monkey Island.
Meanwhile, while waiting for them to arrive in Cusco, we acclimated ourselves to the new altitude of 11,252 feet, rested, shopped and enjoyed the city. We drank Coca Tea for the altitude, which helped a lot. They serve it in all the hotels and restaurants and we also had a teapot in our rooms. By the time the family arrived in Cusco we were pretty well adjusted to the altitude.
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| This marketplace was across from our hotel. |
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| The Plaza de Armas in Cusco is bustling with tourists. Everyone has to stop in Cusco before going to Machu Picchu. |
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| This young lady sold us these sweaters. You will see them often in our pictures because the mountains are pretty cool. Her brother is serving a mission to Argentina. |
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| Bill standing next to the famous 12 corner stone, part of an Inca wall inside the city. Each corner represents one of the 12 kings. |
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| The Jose Antonio Hotel where we stayed in Cusco. On Wednesday, August 3rd, the family arrived in Cusco at 1:30 PM. We had a free day for them to get used to the altitude. We took them to the Plaza de Armas to have lunch at Jack's. We later did some shopping and walking around the city. |
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| Filling out paper work after arriving at the hotel |
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| Ready to order at Jack's Cafe. |
Our guide Nilo, picked us up at the hotel around 9:00 AM to start our City Tour. Our first stop was a Catholic Church / museum built on top of an old Inca Temple.
Sacsayhuaman
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That night we tried to Skype little Jacob Porter Hartman in Missouri for his 5th birthday. The connection wasn't very good since the hotel internet was not that strong. But we sang Happy Birthday and he told us he got a dragon for his birthday. He asked Sadie why she moved to Peru. He is a cute little guy with a sweet smile and happy personality. He was born in his great grandma's bathtub (my mother). None of us were expecting that but he likes to tell the story. We love you Jacob & hope you had a fun birthday.
August 5 - SARED VALLEY & TRAIN TO MACHU PICCHU
We left for the Sacred Valley at 7:30 AM to visit Pisaq, Urubamba & Ollantaytambo.
We first stopped at a farm to feed some llamas and alpacas. We all enjoy these animals.
Our first views of the Sacred Valley.
Our next stop was the ruins of Pisaq.
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We stopped for lunch in Urubamba and found more llamas and alpacas. Llamas have a longer neck and shorter hair. The alpacas have the shorter necks and long hair.
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| This little guy sat so still and loved to be petted. |
Our last stop before catching the train to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu town) was
Ollantaytambo.
Here we are on the Vistadome train to Aquas Caliente, the only way to get to Machu Picchu. There are no cars in Aquas Caliente, it is a walking town and was built for the tourists coming to Machu Picchu. They even served us drinks and a sandwich. On the way back to Cusco we also had a floor show and fashion show to entertain us.
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