Greetings from sunny Cusco

Hola! Here is my first blog entry from south of the equator in Peru. We have not had much internet access. Megan and Arthur, before I forget, Bruce brought his GPS with him. He is having a grand time with it. Checking our altitude every step of the way, even though our labored breathing belies the fact that we are currently walking around at 11,300 ft. It is beautiful and our flight from Lima flew right past a snow capped peak of about 21,000 ft. OUr B and B in Lima was perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. Our place here is just as lovely in a Spanish colonial courtyard sort of way. Lots of potatoes here, apparently 1200 varieties. No Guinness yet, but Pisco sours are typical here. We had quite a stressful day our first day in Cusco. We walked to the train station to pick up our train tix to Machu Picchu only to find out that the trains are going on strike the very days we were scheduled to travel. This may not seem such a nightmare at first, but there is absolutely no way to get there except by train. Well, you could hike the Inca trail if you were 20 and got a permit 6 months ago... So, the next three hours I spent trying to rearrange our schedule and communicate it in Spanish to the clerk. Needless to say, mistakes were made and unmade. We seem to have tix to Machu Picchu (Aguas Calientes) on Ocotber 5 and returning on October 9. We will be at Machu Picchu during the strike, or so we think. There were people who have not been able to see MaCHU IN THE PAST (i JUST DID SOMETHING TO THIS KEYBOARD AND CANNOT GET OUT OF CAPS). ANYWAY, MAYBE THAT IS ENOUGH FOR TONIGHT! aLL IS WELL! hOPE YOU ARE ALL WELL. lOVE, mAUREEN