The trip to South America began on March 17th with an early morning rush to the airport. As Usual I was running about 15 minutes late, to which my arrival at my moms house almost caused a mini-stroke. But somehow we all made it alive and well to the airport. The first leg of my trip started with most of my family members, for the Kindness in Action (KIA) dental mission. Traveling together was my Mom and Brian, planners and head-hancho's of the group; my dentist brothers Justin and Jared, their wives Kira and Amanda; my sister Jamie and I, gophers to the dentist professionals as we were to go-for this or go-for that; two assistants from Jared's office, 2 assistants from another dental office, Harry, a dentist and seasoned pro to the KIA missions; and Cam, a family friend and handyman extraordinaire.
After an arduous day of travelling we arrived in Lima for a quick sleep, to an early morning met with another plane trip and day of travelling. Fortunately the flight was quick and the travelling was broken up with a tour of the city of Cusco.
Cusco is a city most commonly thought of as the gateway to Machu Picchu, but is a city with a history and heart within itself. Nestled within the Andes Mountains, Cusco, quoted from my travel book, " sits at a daunting altitude of 3,400m (11,150ft). The air is noticeable thinner here, ...leaving even the fittest of travelers gasping for breath". Many people in the group experienced symptoms such as tingling hands and/feet, shortness of breath, air difficulty paying attention. I myself could have been out best by a gnat for an attention skill award. The poor guide who had the responsibility of doing our tour of Cusco city must have felt like he was hearding cats.
For those of you at home who are like me and doesn't really get how high that may be I looked up the altitudes of other cities.
Cusco: 3,400m (11,150 ft)
Calgary: 1,048m (3,438 ft)
Kicking Horse Mountain top elevation: 2,450m (8,033ft)
Denver: 1,609m (5,280 ft)
Tucson : 728m (2.389 ft)
Our biggest folly on our tour of the city was not putting sunscreen on for the 1.5 hours we were wanted reign through the city. We all ended up with random patterns of burns, bested by Kira, who while wearing a headband/bandana to help keep her hair off her face didn't realize she was burning all of her face but a 2 cm strip of forehead along her hairline.
The city was beautiful with Colonial style buildings that had utilized the base of old Inca temples at the foundation of their structure blending the old with "new" of the times. The Plaza del Arms is what I recall best. It is the focal point of Cusco with intricately carved wooden balconies, of the colonial buildings sitting upon the large granite stones that fit together seamlessly. Two of Cusco's foremost churches, surrounding a garden square with a large fountain and benches lining the green space.
We were brought to other areas and told histories of many of the places, but I do not recall much of it. After our tour of Cusco we boarded a bus to head to a market in Pisac, about 45 minutes outside of Cusco to do souvenir shopping, and the finished through the Sacred Valley to Urubamba, where we would be spending the next 4 days volunteering with KIA..
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