Hola from Cusco, Peru

¡Hola a Todos!I hope you all are doing well. My brother James and I have had many adventures since last I wrote in Ecuador. We are now in the Inca capital of Cusco, at about 11,500 ft. elevation in the Andes mountains of Peru.To get to Lima, we took a 10 hour bus ride from Quito to Guayaquil, Ecuador, spend the night there, and then took a 30 hour bus from Guayaquil, to Lima Peru, arriving there last monday evening. We spent four nights in Lima. Lima, on the Pacific coast, is covered by a grey haze for much of the year apparently. I think there are around 8 million or more people living there, with more arriving each day. We saw many parts of the city, which offered a glimpse of many contrasts. Of course we saw the main historic and colonial sights, a monestary, the main plaza and surrounding sights (during the daylight and at night - everything is beautifully lit up at night), the upscale Miraflores and San Isidro areas and the seaside cliffs. But we also ventured into parts of Lima on the outskirts where many people from the countryside move to, and saw how most Limeños live. I got to visit a school and a church in one of these areas and talk with the students. That was a very meaningful experience, and I really learned a lot such as how some parts of Lima have very wealthy people and nice amenities and resources. But here in this community there is a twenty percent plus unemployment rate, and the average family income is less than US$60 per month. As I know from previous travels, this scenario is common in some form or another around the world.Well, concerning other stuff. My mom and her colleague´s speech at the conference on Problem Based Learning in Lima went well Thursday morning (James and I met up with them in Lima on Monday). All the food we´ve been eating has been quite rich. I think a meal or two every now and then of just rice and potatoes my be in order to offset all these full, tasty meals. My favorite dish so far is Lomo Saltado, which consists of beef strips grilled with onions, peppers, sauce, fried potato strips, and sometimes other stuff. Potatoes and rice do usually work themselves in with most entrees. Límonada (fresh limeade) is always a refreshing beverage.Well, our trip to Macchu Picchu has now come and gone. We arrived in Cusco after about an hour flight from Lima over the beautiful Andes around 9:00 am Friday morning (after waking up at 5:00 am), then were taken to the hotel to rest. The altitude in Cusco is around 11,500 feet and you can definitely tell it. We were all suffering from mild altitude sickness due to less oxygen and extremely dry, thin air. I can still feel the altitude even today, so I guess it takes a while to acclimatize. Friday afternoon was a 4 hour tour of Cusco - a monastery, the cathedral, the Plaza de Armas, and three Inca sites in the hills above the city. The guide, Odilia, was very good and had a lot of interesting information. We went to bed early friday night, and got up around 5:00 am again on Saturday. The train to Aguas Calientes (about 6,000 ft. elevation) and Macchu Picchu left around 6:15 am and arrived about 10:00 am. We then took a 30 minute bus ride up a switchback road on a cliffside to the entrancce of Macchu Picchu (around 8,000 ft. elevation). Our guide of the site has written several books about the place and has also been a professor and archaeologist. Every view of the site from all points was absolutely incredible. One of the most interesting places I have been to. I would say that it is a must to see for anyone traveling to Peru. Words and pictures really can´t substitute seeing it with one´s own eyes (but I took countless photographs though). The steep mountains here in this cloud forest are covered with lush vegetation as it is on the border with the jungle region. It was a nice contrast to the barren hills surrounding Cusco (although they have a beauty all their own as well). After that, we ate lunch in Aguas Calientes, on the Urubamba River, and then got on the train which left around 4:00 pm and got back to Cusco around 8:30 pm. This morning, my Mom, her co-worker Janet, and Janet´s husband Dexter, left for the airport to fly back to Lima around 10:00 am. We were sad to see them go because we´ve all had such fun together over the past week. I think they land in Atlanta around 8:00 am monday morning. I´ve had a bad cold over the past couple of days (soar throat, aches, etc.), and James has had a sour stomach I think. We´re both still literally winded here because of the altitude and less oxygen. So, today and tomorrow we´re going to take it easy. Tuesday, if we can get it booked, we´ll go on a four day expedition east of here, and much lower, into the Peruvian tropical rainforest and stay at a jungle lodge. Next weekend we may return to Machu Picchu again to do some more things there such as hike to the top of Huayna Picchu - the pointed mountain in the background of most pictures of Machu Picchu). Next monday we´ll probably depart Cusco by train and ride all day south of here to Puno on Lake Titicaca - the highest navigable freshwater lake in the world, at about 12,000 ft. I think. After that, we´ll try to go into Bolivia a little, maybe to La Paz, and then start making our way back to Lima for the flight to Mexico City on Aug. 8. We return home on August 12. I would probably say that this has been the most exhausting trip I´ve ever been on, but it has been well worth it. Wish us a continuing safe journey!I hope all of you are having a nice summer, whether at home or on a journey of your own. Take care everyone!