| hi friends i´ve got some quick pictures and tid bits of the first four cities we visited . it´s a bit long, b-c i was unable to do an update earlier... i´ll keep it compact for you. LIMA: overcast with smog, right next to the ocean, but it doesn´t feel like it is, reminded me of nairobi, but not as dangerous or dirty... only stayed here the night we arrived (1 am) and 1 other night, wanted to get out as soon as could... stayed w- a family who picked us up from the airport, helped us get our cell phone going, drove us around to get bus tickets, fed us... 
we visited the fancy part of town, which was very modern. here´s the ´park of love´. it was a cool place to pray and felt like a key to the city itself.  
AREQUIPA - got there by a 16 hr overnight bus. a beautiful city, known to be relaxed, snow caps all around, 9000 some feet high and we felt it first night spent in a nice hostel - got to meet some cool people and visit with them 
plaza de armas - every city has a central plaza full of benches - a good place to read, journal, meet people, or just people watch 
stayed with a family - got to go to church with them, eat with them... definately a higher class family. so THANKFUL for these families to stay with! 
ëverything is a church¨ - quote from Amy Beth, which is true. most sights in these cities are churches or convents. there´s a lot of outdoor places to see, but we didn´t climb any of the mountains or visit the canyons. (i need to plan my next trip around climbing these mountains) 
CUSCO - an even more beautiful city. another 9 hour overnight bus. the busses are quite nice actually. the seats almost fully recline. the best seat is in the front w- the front window. 
11,300 feet in altitude. major tourist city. have to say ¨no, thank you, not buying today¨ every other step b-c everyone is selling to the tourists. 
everywhere are steps and hills! feel it at this altitude!  
visited the ´white christo´ over looking the city.  
ate with an art student who showed us his school of sculpture and ceramics - he even bought our lunch for us. cusco is the best place to study art. 
cheapest food is to buy a ´minu´ where you get a local soup, a drink, a main course for 3-5 s/. but we also go out for pizza´s and wine or the peru drink ´pisco sour´. we´ve actually both lost quite a bit of weight already - still figuring out how to eat. we go to the markets as well to buy fruits and breads. after 2 days in Cusco, we were up at 6 to catch our train to MACHU PICCHU. 
first day we were attacked by mosquetoes. it´s a lower city w- a humid, rainy, forest-y climate. very small. and All tourist based. AB got it the worst and she was freaking out so much that a man in the restaurant we ate at assured her that she wasn´t going to die. hehehe 
in the plaza we met a guide who sharred with us his people´s beliefs about energy points in the earth (like machu picchu), how they tapped into forces which allowed them to build and move massive rocks. everything is built by rocks fitted together. amazing! very mystical and interesting. he walked us around and took us to the market to buy cheap food. 
these are massive rocks - look how they are fitted together. 
AB and I are learning what it is to travel together... make decisions together... spend money... it requires a new level of communication and interaction, but wouldn´t have it any other way! sweet times of worship and praying for cities we enter... God´s been so sweet showing us stuff... sometimes i think He just likes to share what He enjoys and knows w- people who care. feel alive and content. it´s a different way of life- more relaxed, but also more intense b-c everything is foreign. people are VERY OPEN to the suppernatural here. many have had encounters and mystical experiences. healing is normal and everyone lets us pray for them if we ask. everyone has either felt better or stuff going on in their body when we do. okay, now for the mighty MACHU PICCHU day: got us at 3:30 am to hike up to the gate. people line up starting at 4 am. to catch the first buses. climbed up rock steps for over an hour. rainy and hot and cold all at the same time. we were 12 th in line. guess we were more hard core than we thought... it was SO COLD! and rainy and we both had so little on! it was so sad and we didn´t know if it would get warmer ever. these are the first 2 say pictures we got of this world wonder. you can laugh. we laughed and laughed afterwards when we saw these pictures. machu picchu is behind us...  
we left and went to a little coffee shop where were drank coffee and shivered for 3 hours waiting for the rain to stop. met a really interesting French traveler who´s had a lot of mystical experiences. so we talked about truth, reality... belief... God´s really jealous for him and is in pursuit of him. he was supprised that we were Christians. 
the weather did clear up and we actually had a PERFECT day. we got these crazy mystical clouds... then sun... for awhile we had to wear our ponchos to keep warm: 
lot´s of tourists, but you can still feel like you´re on your own... 
WHAT AN INCREDIBLE PLACE! felt like another power point. the inca´s were people who recognized a lot of truth. very mystical and impressive! what they discovered in science, sound.... astonomy... 
Amy Beth´s profound quotes from Machu Picchu ¨look at these wocks¨ (that´s rocks) then another ¨hey - but, where´s Che?¨  
we did not bring enough food. by 10:30 we had eaten our 1 1/2 breads and sharred apple and then the starvation began. AB did a lot better than i did w-o food. it was funny, but everything is either a hill or more rock steps. here´s the main gate entrance into the city: 
they would build paths across rock faces: 
we hiked up to the ´gate of the sun´ and looked down at the site:  
okay, that´s it for now... I already feel so changed and it´s not even been 2 weeks. It´s been intimate to feel God´s heart for these different cities... see how He´s pursuing people and the the truth people discover that fits so easily into the Gospel.... we leave tomorrow for Puno, Lake Titicaca and possibly crossing into Boliva. (pray for our visa crossing) Blessings - would love to hear from you sometime too! ciao - Heidi Ann | 
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