Yesterday morning we went to school, 2nd grade learned the days of the week, kindergarten learned airplane, train, bus, car, boat. It was fun. We took a big cami back to Cusco, and the conductor tried to short us 20 centimos each, but we caught him and he gave us our change. After school I went to the red market and bought a beautiful red alpaca...

It was an afternoon flight out of Houston, Texas, and we arrived Lima just before midnight. We decided to stay in the airport that night because we have to catch our flight to Cusco in about 5-6 hours. I almost lost my bag, left it on a waiting chair at the check in area and the bag contained all my valuables including my wallet and passport. It...

Once in Lima, I again was greeted with the fact that knowing **** all Spanish is very difficult. I ordered a KFC for dinner as I couldn't get anyone to understand anything else I said. It tasted ****. Lima is a very difficult place to cash money. They won't take notes unless they are new, have no rips and were printed before 2002. They have peop...

"Cooter, my alarm is going off.  It is time we leave." "Seriously?  4:30 already." "Afraid so." "Do you think I have time for a shower?" "Absolutely not.  We are still at the nightclub." "Good point.  Let´s get the hell out of this town." The alarm was supposed to wake us up for our 6:00 flight to Lima.  The plan was to have a couple of beers at...

Hello again! As I write this the fires of Southern California are hopefully winding down. We have been trying to keep up with the situation there via CNN and the Internet, and we have heard from most of our San Diego friends that their homes have been spared. Thank you, Lord! However, we can´t imagine how awful it must be for so many people who ...

So, got up early (ish) to catch a micro to Kasani, a little town at the border between Bolivia and Peru, and went through the faf of crossing a border in S.A. The border post was one room with 4 desks, but only 1 guy, so you went to one desk to get an exit stamp on your Visa from Bolivia (harder than it sounds with the guy insisting he´s seen yo...

This is where our trip turned sour. Amanda got REALLY sick in the wee hours of the morning. It was probably the fish last night (it wasn´t actually cooked, the one thing that every travel guide says NOT to eat, raw meat of any kind). Mike was a sweetie and walked across the street to a sidewalk vender to get some crackers and soda for my stomach...

Pikillacta and Tipon Pikillacta and Tipon are very close to Cusco, so we drove out on Sunday morning to see both sites before Claire and I went to the Cienciano (futbol) match at 1.30 (Cienciano lost again by the way - I think I may be a bad luck charm, as they have been losing since I got here). Pikillacta was phenomenal. Not even half of the s...

We view the very disappointing Inca museum. Again, no gold artifacts to speak of. The highlight were deformed skulls of the Inca elite. Their heads were strapped at a young age, giving them cone or ape shaped bonces. If I was Inca then maybe wor wappa knappa would be the subject of envy rather than ridicule. Also of interest were the portraits o...

Imagine walking out of your house and going through the following routine at least twenty times a day: No gracias, I don't want to buy a postcard. No gracias, I don't want to buy any finger puppets. No gracias, I'm wearing trainers and I don't want to have them shined. No gracias, I don't want to come into your restaurant. No gracias, I don't wa...