Our spanish classes were finished in Costa Rica, and our visas for Ecuador were not supposed to be ready for a couple of weeks. So before we left Canada, we planned to meet a family friend in Peru and hike in the Andes together in late October.
After remaining constantly aware of our “security” for two months in San Jose, it was wonderful to spend time in the well-policed tourist-areas of Cusco, and especially in the out-of-the-way rural areas of Peru. We lived a backpacker-life our two weeks there: staying in hostels, tents, and even sleeping in the airport. We ate local food in small economical family-owned restaurants. And we went on a number of unforgettable tours.
We visited “a lot of broken down buildings” (aka Inca ruins) throughout the Scared Valley, near Cusco. We marvelled at the historic infrastructure: the aquaducts, the terracing, and the stonework. We did a full-day horse-back-riding tour in the mountains around Cusco. Even Katelyn galloped across the mountain meadows at 13000ft. Then we hiked for three days, interrupting grazing llamas, meeting local shepherds, cresting a 14200ft pass in the Andes. We hiked along trails that had been used by Inca messengers and are now used by indiginous Quecha shepherds. The children did great on this three day, eight hour a day hike.
We visited Machu Picchu. For a full day we climbed up and down uneven Inca stairs, some as tall as Katelyn's thigh. We laughed at how large the ruins must seem to her. Don and I climbed Hyna Picchu, enjoying a magnificent birds-eye-view of Machu Picchu before the clouds rolled-in and hid it all. Our friend, Fraser, from Canada, managed to get enough cell reception to call his mom from the Macchu Picchu, but we don't have such technology, we relied on inconsistent hostel reception to try to stay in contact with Canada.
The Ecuadorians LOVED our children. Ethan, Lauren, and Katelyn are in so many photos. So many people asked them to pose for pictures. They often were swatmed with attention. As we walked around Machu Picchu, young girls would call out “Ethan, hi Ethan”. The stone walls echoed with it. Funny. Strangers would pick up and hug Katelyn. Kiss her head and tell her how beautiful she is. Katelyn has a large personal space and this was strange for her. The kids go a lot of attention! and we saw very few tourist children in Peru, turns out that not many children are taken there to hike.
We had a wonderful two-week family adventure in late October, in Peru. We loved the culture and color of the Cusco area. When we left Costa Rica, we were wishing we were going straight to Ecuador. We were eager to get on with our mission work. But our time in Peru was wonderful for our family. We came to Ecuador an intact little family unit, immensely thankful for each other, and feeling very blessed.
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