Peru 5
My trip to Lima and Machu Picchu was so wonderful! I'll tell you about some of the highlights of the trip. It started out with a 17 hour bus ride to Lima, and then we went on a plane to Cusco. Once we got to Cusco, we went searching to buy our tickets to Machu Picchu. This was quite the adventure! Everywhere we went they told us to go somewhere else. Finally, we thought we knew where we needed to go, but we had about 15 minutes until they closed, so some of us decided to take a taxi. Sadly, none of the taxis would stop for us. There were 3 of us left trying to get a taxi, but the only vehicle we could get was a normal car. We had been told to not take unmarked taxi, but it was dark outside, our group was gone, and we needed to get there...so we took the unmarked car. And, all three of us thought of the movie Taken on the car ride. The guy took us along dark corridors, and just as we thought we were done for, we arrived at the shop. Thank goodness! So, we got our tickets and then found a sketchy hostel to stay in for the night. The next morning we got up early and went to church, and then we left to continue on our adventure. We saw a bunch of different things, and kept traveling the next few days to get to Machu Picchu. One of my favorite adventures was riding down a mountain on a bike. This totally freaked me out at first, because there was no gravel, just dirt and tons of rocks. One side was a complete drop off, and throughout the bike ride, people herding their animals were coming uphill towards us. After riding for a bit, I loved it!!! I am so glad that I had the opportunity to do that. It was a pretty long bike ride, and I was glad because it was awesome! That night, five of us walked from our hostel to the mountains and found a place to star gaze. Wow are the stars beautiful!! I have never seen so many stars; it felt like I was in one of those globe things that show you all the stars. The world is so amazingly beautiful! The night before Machu Picchu was pretty fun. The group split up, and I stayed with some girls that went shopping. I bought a chess set, and then we went to dinner. It started raining that night, and I really enjoyed the rain. I hadn't realized how much I love and had missed the rain. That night I tried to go to bed early, because we were getting up at 4 am, so that we could get to Machu Picchu and see the sun rise. That morning of Machu Picchu was a nightmare! There was more than one occasion where I almost didn't get into Machu Picchu that morning. It started by me leaving my ticket in the hostel, so I had to run through the center and up the hill and stairs to our hostel at 4:30am. And, the hostel was locked up, so I stood there banging on the door, yelling, hoping that the owners heard me and would open the door for me. Thankfully after about 5 minutes they did hear me, and I got my ticket. I am not a person that normally forgets things like this, and so this whole situation totally scared me. Another thing went wrong and I almost didn't get in, but all I'm going to say is this: Getting into Machu Picchu was an answer to my prayers!! So we got there super early to see the sun rise, and it turns out there was fog. We actually weren't sure that we were going to see it at all, the fog didn't start to leave until 11am, but the fog finally went away and it was amazing!! 5 of us started our own boy band... and we sang, danced, and recorded One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful song. Yes, we sang that on Machu Picchu!! It was so much fun! After Machu Picchu, we headed back to Cusco and did some shopping. The second to last day I was able to go to the LDS Lima temple. This was by far the best experience of the whole entire trip!! Right as I walked on the temple grounds, I felt home again, and I couldn't stop crying. It was exactly what I needed.
So, after I got back from that, we had our grand opening for the bakery, and then it was time for me to leave. Saying goodbye to everyone that I met was so hard! I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be until the time came to leave. I met amazing people, and gained so many friendships while I was in Peru. It was a trip of a lifetime, and I am so grateful that I was able to experience that in my lifetime. Viva Peru!!
