Peru part 2

So we made it to Peru and really, it was fabulous!  I feel like the Lord really watched over us.  I mean, to think that Hyrum didn't even get sick at all (while both his parents had a good spell of constant bathroom dashes) is incredible, he was the one I was mainly worried about getting some crazy bug and that little traveler trooper beat the odds and came back avoiding it all.

One of the sweetest moments of traveling to Peru was going to see family and my grandma (on my dads side). Her health is really declining and is in bed most the time, but when she had heard we were coming with her great-grandson, we met her out in the living room and she hangout with us for much of the evening, something she hadn't done for such a long time.  In her quite meekness, she just observed that little great-grandson of hers and could not take her eyes off of him. There was much joy to be enjoyed with my family and with that union.  I think that sometimes before a great moment happens there is often time a battle to be fought to get there...maybe that all those hiccups to get to Peru were just that.

Jess, my brother Jose and I were lucky enough to go to Cusco, Peru. Another fortunate setup was that my mom had also arrived to Peru earlier and she was willing to watch Hyrum for 4 days while we were out.  Before then I had never  been away form Hyrum for even a full day. It was nice to have the time to just hang out with my husband and my brother, but I must say I missed that little boy like crazy.

Boy, Cusco was AWESOME.
Here are some highlights.

Here is a snapshot from right outside our hotel window. Narrow cobble roads,  staircase sidewalks to help pedestrians with the incline, rustic charming hotels were all part of the Cusco turist experience.

This is a peak into our hotel room. Despite the paper thin wall and toilets that had a hard time flushing and far from warm showers, it was actually quite a nice little play to stay.

After all, they set out a continental breakfast every morning, sure we left too early most mornings for (too early) scheduled tours but it was nice to have the traditional warm tea (Everyone told us to drink the coca tea to help us aclimate to the high altitude but  it seems like we managed to do ok without it) and milk and bread.

This is the main plaza in Cusco city. Shown is the 16th century cathedral.

These are dashing young men posing in the courtyard of the cathedral.

Ok, Peruvian food is delicious, no questions asked. They had great diners there that served your traditional Peruvian Cuisine and since everything revolves around tourists in Cusco central, they couldn't fail to include a choice of pepperoni pizza and other more common dishes.

Like I said, everything revoles around tourists and with that locals of course try to make the most of it.  They look like three ladies in the middle of downtown wearing traditional attire who happen to be holding adorable baby lambs, yeah, this picture cost 10/.s which the naive tourist (my brother) finds out after he takes the picture.