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We kicked off Sunday with a true early bird start at 3:30 am! After a night of packing and repacking, the team energetically (?) loaded onto the bus and headed for the airport, where, after getting checked in, some of the group strayed in search of agua, banos, etc.. After rounding us all up again, our fabulous team leaders herded us through security to the proper terminal, where, again, the group got separated when a bus came to shuttle us to the plane. Fear not! All boarded the aircraft safely.

The flight to Cusco, up in the clean air of the mountains was only 1 hour. Cusco will be our center for ministry for the next week. Compared with the smog, dust, and crowds of Lima, Cusco is fresh. After reaching the hotel, the team leaders sent many to bed, taking a few brave sleep deprived and altitude sick souls with themselves to church. It ended up being an eventful church service – one of our team members fainted! After reviving Angela the sleeping beauty, the group returned to the hotel for sleep, sleep, and more sleep, which nobody protested. It was a quiet afternoon.

Later in the afternoon, those of the group who were awake headed out to the town square for a late lunch of soup with pineapple juice (pineapple juice is a common dinner drink). With our tummies full, we headed outside for some sightseeing!

Cusco is an amazing old city, with a mixture of Inca and Spanish architecture. Everything is so quaint. It was chilly, but we delighted in our picturesque surroundings and spending some quality time with each other. We took so many pictures!

When our dripping noses were sufficiently blue and our camera clicking fingers tired we headed back to the hotel. The team immediately went into a war council to prepare a party for the birthday boy and girls.

When all the preparation was complete, the three with birthdays (Elizabeth, Nate, and me) were called in, and thoroughly doused with silly string! After a few laughs and a lot of cleaning up, the trio was presented with personalized birthday balloon crowns designed and styled by Ben.

We topped the night off with a delectable chocolate cake and a crazy game of picture telephone which kept everyone laughing. We actually had a fairly early bedtime - about 10 pm. This horrid lung congestion that has affected most of the team is slowly improving, but still you can still tell which rooms our team occupies by the coughs echoing down the hallway.

Katherine, for the team

Sightseeing in the central square of Cusco

The architecture of this city is completely different from Lima.

One of the beautiful old cathedrals in Cusco.

Tres Amigos in Cusco

Even though it is cold here, this is actually their warm season and flowers are in bloom all over the city.

Christie and Elizabeth

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 12:03 am and is filed under Blog, Peru Trip 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.