We are in Peru

We are now in Peru.

We did a few things in Bolivia before we got here though. We climbed the hill behind the hotel. It was good practice for Machu Picchu. There is a shrine there with 12 stations of the cross. It will be busy tomorrow when all the people from the surrounding area come for a pilgrimage on Good Friday. The picture on this entry is from there, overlooking Lake Titicaca.

We took a bus to Puno Peru yesterday. We had to get out of the bus in Bolivia, go through customs, walk into Peru, and go through customs there. It was very simple. Save your papers when you travel and learn what embarcation means.

We traveled around Lake Titicaca for almost 4 hours. We talked with some people from Australia on the way. We ended up in Puno, Peru. Our hotel was nice. We walked around to get our bearings. We saw a parade with a large statue of Christ. It was for the Day of the children (Dia del niños [it is easier to type those spanish letters on a spanish keyboard]). Later we had dinner at a typical Peruvian restaurant.

We got up early today and took a cab for half an hour to Juliaca. We flew to Cusco in about 45 minutes. We have walked around the main plaza and have fended off the street vendors. We have been told about 5 times where the Inca stone with twelve angles is located in a wall. We had to walk by it several times.

The big news is that we met with our guide for Machu Picchu. The good news is that we will see the ruins, the bad news is that we will not be hiking there (maybe our legs are complaining). Two weeks ago there were two landslides on the stretch we were going to walk on. It affects everyone on the trail. The people on the 4 day trek have to hike back down to the train and ride it the last 15 kilometers.

We will have two days at the ruins now. Hopefully we will be able to see more that the standard tourist.

We will be back in touch on Saturday or Sunday.

Hello all, this is Robin typing- I was watching Joel type this entry and giving editorial comment. Visiting Peru and Bolivia is so exciting- the sights,sounds, and experiences are incredible. We are now on the tourist trek, I hope that we will be able to have some meaningful interactions with Peruvians besides just being asked to spend money!

Please take time to post a comment or two, we read the entries and are very entertained. Take care, Love, Robin and Joel