Cusco and Lima, Peru

Hello family and friends,

As most of you know, we only have two days left of our year long mini retirement. We cannot begin to express our appreciation for this entire experience. Just today, we hiked up to 4700 meters to the peak of a volcano in Quito, Ecuador. Sure we did this all in a torrential downpour, but we cherish each and every one of these moments in fair weather and in less ideal circumstances. We have learned a lot about ourselves along the way and we can't wait to catch up with you guys when we get home.

Lately it seems like we have been getting on bus after bus in order to make it to Ecuador in time to catch our flight back to San Francisco. We have become very familiar with the 20+ hour bus rides. In fact, they aren't too bad. You get to watch six movies (in spanish with spanish subtitles). And if you're lucky, you can get a seat in the front of the bus that fully reclines. Anyway, we digress. The point of all this is to say we have missed posting a couple shorter stays in Peruvian cities. So, here are two we missed. Cusco is the gateway city to Machu Picchu, but it is beautiful in and of itself. Lima is the capital city of Peru which we only spent one day exploring. Here are some memories from our short stays in both places

Cusco

The narrow cobblestone streets near our house




Barely one car can squeeze through




Plaza De Armas- a beautiful plaza in the middle of the city













By night (with a less than perfect camera)




Everyday, there was a parade or protest going on in the square. We liked to pretend they were all parades







The Inca wall next to where we were staying. This wall is fully preserved and a masterpiece of architecture. This is the famous twelve sided stone perfectly constructed to fit with all the other pieces







To get us pumped and ready for Machu Picchu, we made a visit to the Inca museum in Cusco. We saw many artifacts from Inca times. We saw mummies and these elongated skulls




This is the definition of handmade




Also in Cusco, we went up to a mirador to get a view of the city from above







The main square




The Christ statue that illuminates at night




Around the mirador- from left to right (llama, alpaca, little boy, Mila)




On our way to a second viewpoint, we walked past Inca ruins the locals call "sexy woman." The actual name is Saqsaywaman










At the second viewpoint- same idea, different angle










And our favorite meal in Cusco at a restaurant called Jacks




Lima

We only spent one day in the capital city so we opted to take the coastal walk around Miraflores

The saucy statue and the main square










The coast













This area is popular for parasailing. It looks incredible and scary in a good way













Next time this will be us




We capped the night off with a caramel macchiato from Starbucks and a donut from Dunkin' Donuts. What a day! The next blog from Quito, Ecuador will be our final post... for now. We hope you all enjoyed traveling alongside us on our adventure. See you next time from Quito

Thanks for reading

Sincerely,

-Mila and Scott


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Location:Los Rios,Quito,Ecuador