Adventures in Peru: Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca. I had heard of it, I vaguely remember reading some mission stories about it, but I really didn't know much about it at all. As we traveled towards the town of Puno, which is a main port city on Lake Titicaca on our tour bus, I learned more about it. It is 12,500 feet about sea level, making it the highest navigable lake in the world. It is the largest lake in South America and you can see it from space. As our bus climbed higher you could definitely tell the difference in the air. You breathed just as much, but you got much less oxygen. Just walking up the stairs to my hotel room in Puno put me quickly out of breath. Fortunately I did not get altitude sickness like some others.

The day after we arrived was Sabbath. Tickets for a boat tour of the lake had previously been purchased. It was a gorgeous day, nice and warm but not too hot, and I was excited for the day's adventures. We could look over and see the coastline of Bolivia from our watercraft...

Adventures in Peru: Machu Picchu

A friend of mine just got back from Peru and looking at her new Facebook profile picture of her standing in front of Machu Picchu brought back a flood of memories from the most memorable mission trip of my life.

We had finished our two weeks of evangelistic meetings, which were such an amazing and growing experience and now we were on to the touring part of the trip. On March 31, 2010 we flew into Cuszo which is the "official" city that you travel to Machu Picchu from. I love Cuzco, to me it felt almost like a European city, with narrow street ways and brightly coloured shutters (even though I've never been to Europe).

After settling into our quaint hotel room, with a toilet that sounded like a dying cow when it flushed, we prepared to head out very early the next day to visit Machu Picchu. Now Machu Picchu is not a simple place to visit.