Today is our last day of the adventure in Lima… the dream will soon end. Laura is returning to Spain this afternoon, but I will continue the adventure on my own, at least for a little while longer. First, we are going to go to downtown Lima and then to the airport during the afternoon.

This week has been a real dream come true for us… so much more than what we expected! There really is nothing left for us but to say “thank you, thank you, and thank you!” to PromPeru for this once in a lifetime opportunity. We are especially grateful to Carla and Jessica who have done their utmost to make certain we feel right at home.

I will attempt to keep journaling about my adventures in the days to come, and I promise to post fantastic pictures of everything we have done. Unfortunately, I could not yesterday because I was experiencing technical difficulties. From now on, we will become the best ambassadors of Peru in Spain… and we will make ceviche!!! XX OO!!

Today was our last day in Cuzco. It started out kind of overcast and rainy… it seems that the rainy season wants to start up here. We were very lucky that the weather has been excellent these past few days. It was time to go and visit the city. We toured the Coricancha and the Cathedral as well as some of the outlying archeological sites like Q’enqo and Sacsayhuaman, an immense fortress in a sector that overlooks the city. The walls make you say, like, “Wow!” We were just bowled over by their perfection and beauty, and they must have been much higher back in the day. We’re bewitched by it all.

It is now the moment to say good-bye to Cuzco, and that makes us very sad since time has just flown by and we almost didn’t have time to see everything we wanted. We’ve been treated as queens and met a ton of super nice and friendly people. Thank you’s go out to Betty, Angie, all the staff at Domiruth and PromPeru, the drivers… and especially Shura, our fabulous guide who was able to communicate to us all the wonders of the Incan culture. We’ve enjoyed so much, and I think we won’t easily forget any of it since it far exceeded everything we could imagine.

Waiting for us in Lima was Bartolome, the same guy who met us the first day we arrived in Peru, with Tang, our driver. We went to a farewell dinner at the restaurant, La Rosa Nautica, perched at the end of a pier jutting out into the Pacific Ocean and serving good seafood… of course our favorite: delicious ceviche. Today, we will sleep a little more since tomorrow we don’t have to get up early. Bad luck, though, since it will be the end of our legend in Peru. What a shame!

We woke up somewhat later today, but by 9 we were well on our way to the southern part of the valley where there are plenty of charming little towns. Our first stop was the Raqchi archeological site. It has an enormous temple, very well preserved, that is dedicated to Wiracocha. We also visited Pikillacta, an enormous Pre-Incan city where they have found a large quantity of nearly intact human remains. In Quechua, the name means city of fleas. Still don’t quite know why.

We also toured Andahuaylillas and saw its beautiful Spanish Colonial church, filled on the inside with lovely paintings from the Cuzco School. It is called the Sistine Chapel of the Americas because its walls and ceiling have been richly painted. Our last stop was Tipon where they terraced the upper slopes and installed canals and fountains. The Incas certainly had a gift for hydraulic engineering… what they were able to accomplish without modern tools and knowledge is simply amazing.

Back in Cuzco, we spent some time in the neighborhood of San Blas. It has a very laid back feel about it and is a hub for artists, with shops full of typically Peruvian handicrafts.

That night, we were invited to see a show performed by the Kusikay theater group. Colorful and featuring Andean music, but mainly full of humor and laughter. We had a phenomenal time. Later, we ate at the restaurant Incanto… which left us… Incanted (enchanted)!

We woke up super early today… at 4:15 A.M. because we were going to take the first bus to Machu Picchu, which left at 5:15 A.M., and from there try to climb the summit of nearby Mount Wayna Picchu. It was a cloudy, rainy morning, so much so that you couldn’t see a thing. We waited for hours hoping it would stop raining and clear up, at least for the early morning since we had passes to climb the summit at that time, but we had no such luck! You see, they sell only 400 tickets to the peak, taking 2 groups of 200.

It cleared up for short periods of time… but all for nothing. It would have been crazy to climb the mountain anyway if we weren’t going to be able to see anything… ugh! Instead, we chatted with our newfound friends from the flight that never landed in Cuzco, two couples: a charming one from Argentina and another from Peru. It was nice.

Afterwards we ate lunch in the town below and spent some time visiting the hot springs and handicraft booths until it was time to hop the Hiram Bingham back to Cuzco. Supper on the train was excellent, as always, but we were noticeably tired and so curled up in the seats to sleep away the rest of the trip… ha ha, just like now as we close our little eyes. Tomorrow is another day full of excursion… so it’s off to bed!