Getting Ready to Go Home

Hello Everyone

Today has been a nice lazy day. We are packing a little and getting ready for our LONG trip home. We went out to the store today to buy some candies for the kids and lots of Chocolate for Betty.

We ate at a Chinese restuarant today. Star couldn't eat much she is still having stomach pains, Toby had a little left over and we boxed it up and gave it to a old lady on the street who was begging for food. It brought tears to our eyes when she hugged us both and was so very thankful for our leftovers. She keep telling us Thank you thank you my angels. It just reminds us to be thankful for what we have and to be giving to those how need.

Otherwise, Toby is playing with the kitten and Star is packing and playing the guitar.

Tomorow we will visit the school again. Last time we went we forgot the camera.

God Bless Everyone!

La Playa Estrella (The Star Beach)

Today we took a taxi down to the district of Mira Flores. We arived at Largo Mar which is a park and shopping center on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. There was a nice cool breeze blowing in off the ocean (how refreshing on a hot humid day.) We walked around the shops and enjoyed the views. We sat down a nice resturant and had lunch before going down to the beach. We had to walk about a mile and then down a huge flight of stairs to get down below the cliffs to the beach. We spent all day walking up and down the beach collecting rocks and watching hundreds of people surfing in the ocean. We sat and relaxed in the shade for a few hours and enjoyed the sound of the crashing waves. We tried to get a taxi home, but everyone that stoped want to charge us 3 times too much, so we finnaly called eduardo, and he came and picked us up after work. While waiting for eduardo star got sick out of the blue (not sure what happened but it happened quick). After a few hours she started felling a little better, but is still a little under the weather. But dont worry Toby is taking good care of her and make sure she is safe and well.

Machu Picchu, Peru

Well Machu Picchu is AMAZING. No words will ever describe it's beauty. You have to step foot out on the grass and look out and see this wonder for yourself. It is beyond words.

Aguas Calientes

Aguas Calientes is the closest town you can travel near to Machu Picchu. From this small town you can take a bus up to Machu Picchu.

The town mean Hot Springs. There is a river rapidly flowing by, and it is a beautiful site. The town is very small, smaller than Raymond :-) I know we are all shocked!!!

The town's children take turns racing skateboards and scooters down the steep cobble-stone streets. It was fun to watch them race.

The bridges going over the river were very scary!!! They were made of wood planks that moved, flexed, and creaked when you stepped on them. It was frightening to think that the old wooden planks were the only think keeping us from falling into the swift river.

The town had lots of shops to buy many gifts for all of you back home. It had pretty nasty tasting food, and it smelled funky.

After buying out bus tickets on one side of town and our entrance tickets to Machu Picchu on the other side of town, we quickly jumped on the bus to get to Machu Picchu!

Peru Rail (Cusco-Aguas Calientes)

The train ride was not so exciting. A little over 4 hours of traveling rocking back and forth. I think my favorite part was when Toby came back from the bathroom and said "that sucks trying to take a sh** and your rocking back and forth the whole time." It was priceless.

The train was not very full so we were able to move around and be a little more comfortable. We stopped twice and we got some fresh corn on the cob. It was delicious.

We met a family from New Jersey on the train. We continued to see them everywhere. Aguas Calientes, the bus to Machu Picchu, the train ride back to Cusco, in the city of Cusco, and they of couse sat very near to us on the plane returning to Lima City.

Cristo Blanco

This is a very large staue of Jesus. They say that he is looking out over Cusco protecting everyone. This was stop #5 on our journey. Stop #4 was Saqsaywaman. It was dark and our pictures did not come out. We were nicely told it was time to leave so our taxi driver took us to the Jesus Statue which was lit up with lights. It was a beautiful view of the valley of Cusco. It was much like looking down on the Wenatchee Valley at night. The lights were very peaceful.

Q'enqo

Q'enqo is an Incan archaeological site near the city of Cusco, Peru. As with most Incan ruins, no one is quite sure of the site's purpose. Speculation is that the underground chamber at Q'enqo was used for ritual sacrifices or for embalming of nobles.

Eduardo and Star decided to kill the King Toby and sacrified him to the Inka Gods. Hahaha!

Stop #3 on our History of Cusco. It was a nice little place. It had lots of nooks and crannies to crawl into and rocks to clumb.

Pukapukara

This was a border control point along the Inca trail, to keep track of who was coming and going and when.

We had an amazing 360 degree view. It was very green all around and beautiful. It is amazing to stand their and be a part of the Inca Trail History.

We have a taxi driver who drove us to each stop. He rested in the car while we checked out each place. We paid him 50 soles to drive us around for about 4 hours. In American money it is about $12.00. He was a very nice man, and was happy to make such a good amount of money from us.

When we pulled in here he drove over the top of a pipe sticking up from the ground. We had to get out and he was able to back out over the pipe.

Tambomachay ~ Baths of the Incas

Tambomachay was one of the favorite resting-places of the Incas, used as a resting watering place and, at the same time, it was one of the pillars of the defense system of the Valley of Cusco.

This was our first stop in Cusco. It is very high elevation here and it is really hard to walk, especially up hill to this fountain. It is a beautiful site.

One the way up we were hasseled by many many people wanting us to buy their goods. Eduardo and Star found a hat, but poor Toby has a big head. Toby had every Cusco lady searching through their hats for a grande one for the tall gringo man. It was a race to find the one for Toby. All the ladies gathered around, hoping for their hat to fit and they could get the change. It was like Cinderella's shoe, but none fit!

Cusco, Peru

We arrived in Cusco and Toby was very excited he arrived at the airport. I took this photo of him below.

Our Hostel does not quite live up to the pictures on the internet, but for $25 dollars a night we shall not complain. It is just a place to lay our head anyways. Lets just say, "don't let the bed bugs bite" really means something here at our Hostel!

We ate dinner at a cute little restaurant in the Plaza de Armas which is the center square of Cusco. Toby and Eduardo shared a pizza and Star had a chicken sandwich and papa fritas (french fries)!

The Picture on the bottom is in the Paza de Armas, it is a typical family here in Cusco, it is a mother, father and their little baby.

WE ARE ALIVE!!!!

Hello Everyone,

This morning we went to bed at 2:00 am shortly after a 4.4 MAG Earthquake hit the coast of Lima. Shaking our california king bed (with us on it... mucho LBS) about 6 inches forwards and backards. The whole house shook. It was CREEPY!!!

We got up and all were running a little late. Got shoved into the car and another Earthquake hit. 5.4 MAG this time. We jump out of the car and they started pushing Toby and I to protect our bodies. The ground was just shaking. Window rattling and the whole 9 yards. After it finished we loaded back up and headed to the airport. Toby and I were obviously in shock while the others were used to the Earthquakes. All the neighborhood children ran outside for cover it was very strange and scary for us.

We arrived at the airport 20 minutes to boarding. To say the least we lost Eduardo, Gina, and Jean Jaime. We ran and ran and some how we made our plane. We arrived in Cusco feeling pretty good the elevation here is horrible. You walk 2 steps and you feel like you walked 2 miles. It sucks! We waited and waited for the family but they never arrived. I finally called the hostel and they told me one minute please and Eduardo got on the phone. We had to get our own taxi and that was not fun, Mr. Toby Gringo causes may money trouble here. LOL They see the big tall gringo man and think they can charge us rediculous rates. I talked the taxi down from 20 soles to 6. Not bad huh?

We arrived and went for a 2 hour tour. We have eaten and now everyone is getting sick except for me (Star). Toby is breathing very heavy and has a headache the rest all have headaches and fevers. I am crossing my fingers I will stay strong.

We leave in the morning 5 am on the train to Machu Picchu. After today, I think we can handle just about anything. But I pray the Lord continues to send us good faithful people during our travels.

Love you ALL!!!!!

Just Checking In

We it has been a weird two days. Yesterday we went to the Jockey Plaza which is a huge mall with a movie theater, bowling, grocery store, it has everything. It is about 2 miles away. We got a taxi there and found some cute stuff for Brooke, Brianna, and Nattie. We decided to walk home and when we were about 5 minutes from home, Star twisted her ankle. Her two smallest toes are numb and she rested all day today while elevating it and ice. I heard today that my dad got hurt at work and he had surgery on his foot.

Toby went to the store today by himself. He picked up some good movies and some fresh bread.

Lazy days... Tomorrow we leave to Cusco and then to Machu Picchu.
We will write again soon.

Check this Out

Well we had a nice lazy day. We woke up about noon and went out for Chaufa. It is like fried rice, and had a side of chicken and pineapples in a sweet and sour sauce. MMM MMM GOOD. We bought a few more movies and returned home to watch them and clean up a little around our room. We washed our laundry. Check this video out. Sure makes us appreciate things at home.

San Francisco Church

The last place we went today was the San Francisco Church. It is the church that has many bones underneath. The church was built by the San Franciscans in built. It was founded in the XVI century. They would not let us take pictures inside so we only have a few from the outside. It is one of the most famous churches in Lima.

The ride home was fun too. The taxi took us the wrong direction, but thank the Lord, he was kind and took us back the correct direction and didn't drop us off in the middle of a bad, bad part of the city. We got home safely and it had just turned dark outside.

More adventures tomorrow!

San Cristobal

From the center of Lima, we bought tickets to go see San Cristobal (The big cross on top of the hill in the center of the city) From San Cristobal you can see a 360 degree view of the city. We loaded on the 20 person bus, and were waiting for more people to fill the bus when we heard the bus driver yelling at someone. We looked out the window and the driver was getting a ticket from the police for being parked in the middle of the street for too long. We then had to drive in a circle around the main square for about an hour until they sold enough tickets to fill the bus. Now the fun began, as we traveled through one of the poorest areas of the city. Then we started climbing the hill to the cross, It was about a 10 minute ride up the hill on one of the scariest roads on earth. there is a 100ft sheer cliff about 12 inches to the left side of the bus tires and a cliff to the right of the bus as well. Star was praying the whole way up the hill. We videotaped the way up to the cross but it is too big to post on the blog. We got to the top and had about 20 minutes to take in the view and see the big cross. On the way down the hill we had to stop so another car on its way up could back up a few hundred feet so we could get past. When we got home the family told us that we were crazy to drive on that road, and they would have been scarred to death.

Center of Lima

This morning we went to the Center of Lima. We got our first taxi and it cost us 12 soles with us about $4.00. It is about a 30 minute drive from the house. Even with glow in the dark white Toby we got a good taxi price. We met 2 older ladies from Missoula, Montana. They were here and spoke not one word of Spanish. We thought it was very cool. They were so excited to find someone else who spoke English. We gave them a few pointers and sent them on their way.

*The building behind Toby is the House of the President of Peru. It is like our White House but it is on the main street were all can see.

~ Our Late Night Adventure ~

Well of course it is hard to get to sleep here as we are sweating constantly. But last night we got to sleep okay and then about 2 a.m. Star was woken up by the mom and Gina screaming to answer the phone and when she answers the phone to say the password.

Star flew up from the bed, ran to the light, answered the phone and started shouting the password over and over. The guard on the phone started asking many other questions in Spanish and as she was in the middle of a near stoke being woke scared to death, she couldn't follow the questions being asked.

She asked the guard to wait and she went to the door. Gina came flying in and she got the phone. This is when Toby finally woke up and as his eyes were blood shot in the light and laying there in only his boxers he instantly covered the jewels and ducked under the covers.

We all got back in bed and about 5 minutes later the guard called again. Toby answered and the guard asked in Spanish for the password. Toby told him the password and then the guard started asking Toby other questions in English. Toby answered them all and hung up.

After that we layed there shocked and and our hearts pounding for at least one hour. Then our regular snore pattern continued through the night.

Pictures!!!

Happy Late Easter!!

Hello everyone. We had an interesting Easter. Of course nothing like the states. We tried to make it to church. Their is a church here very near the house, but when we were walking, we never found it. We got lost, but we could see the cross on the top of the church. We found the church today and went in and said a special prayer for Grandma Ramos.

Yesterday we also went to a park that was just put in the Guinness World Records for the largest water fountain in the world. They had 9 or 10 fountains altogether and one very very tall one. It was nice. Many of the fountains you could walk into and get wet or just a sprinkle depending on your preference.

After we went to the water park, we went to Mira Flores, a cute little town. Toby had a unique Peruvian dinner called Pizza from Pizza Hut. I hate the pizza here so I had Chicken Fingers from Burger King. We are really adventurous!

When we were in Mira Flores at the park there was a very entertaining street performer (Talking Statue). When you drop a coin in his bucket he will come to life and do something funny for you. Star was video taping when it was Toby's turn. Sorry the video is a little dark and sideways.




Toby also was very excited we bought a few movies that are still not for sale in US. We bought them for $1.50. We watched the New Rambo and Bucket List. We still have 10,000 A.D. to watch tonight which just came out in the us movie theaters this week.

Today we walked to a nice park and walked miles and miles around the house here. We also went to the school and Toby got to see all the students. They were very excited to see Miss Star. We had a very nice lunch, and we were the guests of honor for a singing contest in the first grade music class. The school wants me to stay and teach, but I told them Betty and Jackie would probably come hunt them down LOL.

We are having some trouble loading pictures, but will try to get some to load so you guys can see.

Welcome to Peru!!!

We are finally to Peru. We have been planning to come back to Peru ever since 2006. We have finally arrived. Getting here was took a very long time, but so far it is worth the wait and the many hours of travel.

Upon arriving here, our host sister Gina took us on a drive. Toby was quite shocked! Peruvian drivers are kinda scary!

After arriving to the house, we got settled in and unpacked. Went for a 3 mile walk. It is about 85 degrees here, but it is also 80% humidity. So after 3 miles, we looked as though we took a shower. To say the least we were drenched in sweat.

We went shopping today for some sandals, and we are just relaxing and trying to stay cool.

Most Exciting part of the trip so far: Toby went out for a late night smoke, and he had no idea the house has an alarm. The alarm blared through the complex and the police called to check if there was someone breaking in. We looked outside to see Toby standing there with his cigarette, looking like "what did I do?"