Machu Picchu- 9 year Anniversary trip

After a great Thanksgiving connecting with family, Dave’s parents offered (or were asked) to stay in
town longer so we could go on a trip for our anniversary.  We know how rare a trip without kids is so we wanted to do something that would be too difficult with kids.  Macchu Picchu in Peru was the top of the list.  As I looked into it, I found that it was quite expensive to get there (even with cheap flights).  The train tickets, bus tickets and entry tickets were crazy, expensive.  That was not what I expected from a 3rd world county.  We didn’t want to book anything in advance for fear we didn’t make it, but everything I read said that trains and entry tickets typically sell out days in advance.  Luckily, we weren’t going in high season, so we were hoping this would make it easier to get there.  Unluckily, the weather called for rain the entire time we were there.  Since it was downpouring in Dallas, I thought our trip would be somewhat miserable and very wet.   I laughed when I went to pack my sunglasses and left them out.
I was wrong..

We packed a few hours before our red eye flight, put our kids to bed and headed to the airport.  Our flight was delayed a couple of hours due to a mechanical problem, but this was a great thing for us.  We got a bigger plane with more seats and we both ended up with a row of 3 seats to ourselves.  We laid down and slept the whole way (5 hours maybe?)

Once in Lima, we had to make another connection on a different airline.  This is always a nerve-racking part for a stand-by passenger.  Flying on another airline means you fly the lowest priority and you can’t see how many seats are available or how many stand-by’s there are.  However, with 15 flights a day to Cuzco, we were pretty sure we would make one.  We made the first one we tried for and were in Cuzco by 10:30.
Once we landed in Cuzco we had no plans and no reservation.  We thought about booking a tour and
were quoted some prices and then we listened to a taxi driver.  He talked us in to going with him for $55 (it is a 2 hour ride to Ollantaytambo to catch the train to Macchu Picchu).  We thought that sounded very reasonable, but then the ride started and we felt like we were going to get swindled or taken for ransom or something.  We realized we had no proof they were really taxi drivers, no receipt, no info on them, etc.  Plus, there was no wi-fi and we had no phone service.  Letting your imagination run wild as you drive through the run-down, dirty city of Cuzco is not a good thing.  About half –way through our ride, we were starting to feel more comfortable and our driver said we were passing a yarn making, dying and cloth weaving place and did we want to see it.  We agreed not knowing exactly what that meant.  Our driver walked us in and showed us llamas, different kinds of corn and potatoes and  then got us a tour guide that spoke English and walked away.  We were trying to listen and enjoy the presentation, but the whole time we were looking for our driver.  We had already paid, so he could’ve just left us and if he left, would he at least leave our suitcase for us??  We were really scared, so when the presentation was over, we booked it out of there to find our car still there (with our luggage) and our driver in the bathroom.  Whew!  After we knew we were safe, we enjoyed that we learned about the textile making skills of the Chinchero

The drive through the sacred valley was gorgeous.

We were dropped off at the train station and we bought a ticket to the town of Auguas Caliente.  We had an hour before our train, so we grabbed a bite to eat.  The food was really good and it was only
$7/plate, which we thought was good until we walked the other direction and found hamburgers and
pizza and other Peruvian foods for under $5.  For some reason I thought all of south America ate food
like Mexican (beans, rice and tortillas) but the Peruvian food was very different from Mexican.  Rice and French fries were the main side dishes.

The train ride was beautiful.  The train had windows that wrapped around the roof so we could see the majestic mountains towering above us.   It was a beautiful afternoon and about this time we were
thinking we were lucky to get at least one day without rain.   We followed a river through a valley the
whole way.  It was interesting to get a glimpse of tiny homes or farms and see people as we crept
through the valley.  It is a way of life so foreign to my own.

I loved the little town of Aguas Caliente (Hot springs).  It definitely is a tourist trap, with many, many
shops and overpriced items.  There was one main road that followed the river up the mountain.  On the road were shops, restaurants (who try to get you to eat there everytime you pass), and hotels.  We
found a hostel online for $36/night.  I knew we were getting ourselves into what would probably be
dirty, but we like saving money enough to do it.  The room was pretty clean (although I was really
nervous about the bed) There was direct TV, hot water and wi-fi (in the lobby only).   We walked around town and found the really upscale hotels that made our place look like the doghouse.  We found the quaint town square and walked up to the hot springs.

view from our hotel room.  The no-car town was just perfect.  

When we woke up at 4:30 it was raining and we slowed down our plan of getting up the mountain at 5, hoping the rain would stop.  Continental breakfast was a roll and Tampico orange juice.  Luckily I
brought packs of instant oatmeal to supplement.  Halfway through eating I realized the water was
probably not purified so I was hoping it was hot enough to remove any diseases or parasites.

When we left the hotel it wasn’t rainy, but was very misty and foggy and wet.  We bought a couple
panchos and was happy with every moment we got without rain.

We originally bought tickets to hike Machu Picchu mountain at 7.  This is not the famous Wayna Picchu mountain, but one that is twice as high (and takes longer) but is actually the better viewpoint, with Wayna Picchu in the background.  

We rescheduled for the later hike time and then went back to the gate and got a guide who spoke English to show us around and teach us what the city was all about.  Patrick was dramatic and hilarious. We learned much more than we could've on our own. 

 this was a city in progress of building for the royalty to go to.  There were agricultural terraces.  storage homes, temples and sacrificial tables.

Door for the royalty to enter the temple area

The terraced land for agriculture

Temple of the 3 windows

 The ampitheater

another temple damaged sometime during it being lost.

At 10 am. We started our hike up the macchu picchu mountain.  I was pretty confident that the 4 hour round trip estimate would be much longer than 2 young, in-shape folks like us would need, but only a few minutes into huffing and puffing up the steep steps and I realized we may not even make it.  We stopped and ate a bunch of snacks to lighten our load and give us more energy.   I cannot express enough how difficult this hike was.  We could NOT catch our breath!  Even after a break only a few steps later we would be huffing.  The steps were steep and never ending.  The sun came out right before we hit the top.  It took us 1 1/2 hours.  We sat at the top forever!  We were so tired.  and the view was beautiful!  The city, Wayna picchu and the gorgeous weather was a perfect end to the hike.  But we were dreading going down.  We were very sore (but were using different muscles) and the hike down was significantly shorter, although the uneven steps made us take our time.

 We decided to save the bus money down the mountain and hike down ourselves.  Maybe we shouldn't have because I was so sore for days after this. This is was free for peruvians day, so we saw many festively dressed Peruvians. 

We bought tickets on the train and had enough time to grab some lunch.  We didn't feel hungry (just exhausted) but eating definitely revived us.
Stuffed avocado appetizer

Once in Ollaytaytanmbo, we literally walked 50 steps up the road and found a hostel for $24/night and crashed.  We were so sore and sunburned.  The water took 1 hour to heat up, the internet crashed 4 times (while trying to coordinate PTA items of business).  Finally, we fell asleep to the sound of the little creek running down the mountainside.  It was a gorgeous view in the morning.  After wandering around the small town and seeing the small marketplace, we took a minibus back to Cusco.  We ran out of soles when the driver dropped us off at sacsayhuaman.  so we drove around looking for someone who would exchange money.  We had plenty of cash, but the $20s had slight creases so no one would take them. Finally, someone exchanged enough to get us into the ruins, but not enough to even get us a taxi out.  This definitely helped us not spend so much on souveniers.  On most of our international trips we have had a few moments of panic not having enough of the right kind of money and wondering what to do about it, but we have always figured out something.

The  sacsayhuaman (sexy woman?) ruins were amazing, huge boulders carved into perfect cubes and stacked like a perfect puzzle.

The city also has a miniature (compared to Rio) Jesus statue watching over it.

A taxi driver drove us to several other ruins and sites (while waiting with our stuff in the car.. . this time we actually trusted him)

After seeing a few smaller ruins in Cuzco, we ventured into the town square.  which was gorgeous, esp compared to the rest of the city.

 We then tried for a flight to Lima to make sure we made it before our red-eye home. We made the first flight no problem. That meant that we had 8 hours of a layover in Lima.  We walked outside of the airport and then we ate dinner and watched a movie.  The long wait was made a bit more exciting by our flight completely filling up and us listing on another flight.  We had several hours of waiting with a pit in stomach.  But eventually we got tickets on a very full fight.  We didn't slept well being so sore, sunbuned and crowded, but we were so happy to be home.

 A quick little get away with my handsome husband.  I love exploring the world with him.  

Labor Day in Fort Myers, FL

We had plans to go to upstate New York over the labor day holiday. Flights filled up, but our hearts were set on going somewhere, so we started searching for a location with open seats.  We searched 30 states and many locations in Florida and the east coast.  We finally found an open flight with an overnight layover to Fort Myers, Florida.  I had never heard of it before.  We only had 5 minutes to finish closing up the house to get to the airport on time.  Security was challenging with tired kids and we were still wondering if maybe we should just head home and have a quiet weekend.  One of the problems/great things with standby is that you don't HAVE to go if you aren't feeling up to it. But we stayed and got our seats.  Dave researched what to do in Fort Myers on the flight and found out that it is the shelling capitol of the world.  We started getting excited for the beach with shells.  There was a SUPER drunk man on the flight to kept saying that our family just warmed his heart and we were doing it right.  He loved that we were traveling with our 3 kids and thought we deserved free flight vouchers(little did he know).  He told Dave I was a 'solid' wife (fat joke?) and he wished he were married to me.  It was funny and crazy, but for once it was nice to not feel like people were mad or judgy that we were traveling with 3 little kids.  We landed in Charlotte at 11:00 pm and went to a hotel.  Getting out of the airport with sleeping kids and into the hotel room was a challenge, and knowing we had to wake up in 4 hours to go back to the airport and do security was daunting.  I was wondering if it was going to be worth it.  But the morning went really smoothly and the flight was quick and painless.  When we got there, we got a minivan with a DVD player and gps for no extra charge!  Minivans make our trips so much easier!!

We immediately got a redbox, some food and buckets (I had packed for a trip to NY, NOT the beach, so we were under prepared) and headed to Sandibel Island to go shelling for the first time.
We were not disappointed.  The whole beach was littered with shells!

The water was almost too warm, it didn't cool off the hot weather, but the kids could sit in it for hours.  The waves were gentle and easy and the kids could touch the bottom for a good stretch, thus we could go look for shells together.  We found so many sand dollars.  There was a man there who started the group the 'shellanators' on facebook and he found a giant shell with a fish, shrimp and crabs in it.  It was so neat to see.

After 2 hours at the beach, we headed to our hotel for a nap time. Mariah fell asleep and the kids and I went to the pool.  We were in heaven with the great weather and the cool water.  Hallie is learning to swim and loving the freedom of moving in the water on her own.   After nap time, we grabbed lunch at Carvers and headed to lovers Key state park.  This beach was great as well, but fewer shells and more sand.  The water was still warm and shallow.  It was a beautiful place to enjoy during dusk.  

Hallie had quite enough of the beach and sun  (and the late night/'early morning finally caught up to her) and she laid down for a nap. 

There was a turtle egg that didn't hatch that a ranger found.  Inside was a 2 headed turtle baby!  It was incredible, but I missed getting a photo of it. 

We crossed this river to get out to the ocean, and there were fish jumping out of the otherwise peaceful waters.  Once in the ocean, a fish jumped right near Jackson's face.  

 We only found 50% of the shell varieties on display here.  I enjoyed learning the names of the different shells.

 Mariah loved the sand and water this trip.  She was comfortable sitting in the water and digging in the sand.

After finding what we thought were empty shells we took them to our hotel and the next morning they shells were all open with the animal dead inside.  We felt terrible, but we didn't think they were alive, we were careful to put back the shells that we could see something in it, but these shells were closed up tight, like pebbles.  Now they are open and beautiful 'butterfly' shells.  

At the end of the night we drove up to Fort Myers beach and caught the sunset. ..

Just as an ominous storm was brewing from the east.  It downpoured while we tried swimming in our hotel pool.  We got ice cream from Carvers and crashed in the hotel room (Thanks Hilton points!)  

On Sunday morning we found a flight that was direct from Fort Myers to DFW, saving us 5 hours from our original plan with a layover in Charlotte.  This helped us have an easier morning and be able to attend all 3 hours of church.  I love meeting members and seeing the church in many different places.   We always bring a microwavable lunch (ez mac, oatmeal, tuna packets, popcorn) and use the church kitchen for a meal.

We took a drive while the kids rested/slept  and found a beautiful barefoot beach, with amazing homes lining it.

We went to Lakes park and walked around, wish we had more time for a walk around the water (or even a tandem bike ride!)  But alas, the time to go had come.  We got through the long line of security just in time to jump on our flight and make it home by bed time.  

Almost every new place we explore, I want to go back for more. This was just a taste of a wonderful place.  The shells were incredible and we loved the warm water.