Hey all!!

Cusco is a very exciting place to be right now!  Our futbol (soccer) team is doing very well in the national championships and last weekend, Liza and I went to our first game.  We loved it and have vowed to go to every game we can.  The week got particularly busy once we decided to head down to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, for a few days. 

We returned this morning at 6:45AM from our trip.  Last Wednesday we left on an 8PM bus for an 11-hour bus ride to Arequipa.  Arequipa is a colonial city not quite as high up in the mountains.  So, we arrived there on Thursday morning around 6:30 and were picked up by some friends of the family that live there.  We went back to their house for breakfast and some rest time.  We walked in to find that we had separate bedrooms, which was a big shock considering we have slept in the same room since mid-January.  I´m not going to lie, it was weird being alone.  Anyways, we had a pretty plush living situation.  My room had a bathroom and we each had cable TVs in our rooms.  Liza even had a DVD player.  But don´t worry, we didn´t watch TV all week. 

After we took a little nap Thursday morning, we headed out into the city.  Arequipa is supposed to have the best weather in Peru.  Always 70º and sunny.  But obviously for us, is was cold and rainy all week.  We didn´t have a lot of rain at first, so we were able to walk around.  We walked over to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, which dates back to the 1500s.  This place is an entire city block and you could definitely spend an entire day in there.  We only spent about 4 hours.  Then we moved over to the main Cathedral.  After that was the museum that had mummies and artifacts from the old Incan human sacrifices.  Then we went over to the oldest church in Arequipa and had a chance to light candles for loved ones who have passed.  We were leaving at midnight for a tour of the Colca Canyon (Peru´s answer to the Grand Canyon) so we headed home and slept until midnight.  Then, we took a 3.5 hour bus to Chivay, the town right at the base of the canyon.  There we joined a tour group and started our tour of the canyon.  On the way up we had lovely views, but when we finally got to the top, it was too foggy to see anything.  But it was worth the trip.  Once back in Arequipa, we walked around town a bit and took in a movie.  This was a real treat because there are no movie theatres in Cusco. 

 Saturday, we walked around a bit more and just tried to see as much of the city as possible.  We had another night bus back to Cusco so we rushed over to the bus depot at 8PM.  We arrived home in Cusco this morning around 7AM!

 Tonight is the Oscar party and this week is just spending time around Cusco.  Last week while we were gone, Thursday and Friday were two HUGE strike days.  Hopefully that won´t carry on into this week.  Saturday is the big group birthday party at the orphanage and we are getting excited for the kids.  We have presents for them and hopefully it will be a very special day. 

We will keep you posted!