I do not know the difference between a Llama and an Alpaca.

This is what I discovered during our trip to Cuzco and the famous and historical Machu Picchu. We saw a lot of llamas or alpacas or both, and frankly I could never tell the difference! Our trip was so much fun, and once again I am praising God for the simple blessing of familiar faces. My friends and Jason arrived at 1:00am last Saturday morning and three hours later we were boarding our flight to Cuzco. After catching up on some sleep, and enjoying the Indian market (who knew that alpaca hats, scarves, and mittens were in such high demand!), we made our way to the small, slightly touristy town of Ollaytaytambo, which is a mandatory stop for all that want to travel to Machu Picchu. We spent two nights there, hiking the mountains, visiting ruins, eating delicious food and taking a lot of pictures (see below!). Finally our day to see Machu Picchu arrived and we took a morning train to the base of the mountain, then took a bus to the entrance of the park. We bought our tickets and saw what turned out to be one of the most incredible views I've ever seen. I confess that I wasn't way excited to see Machu Picchu, thinking that it was a cool thing to do but that it couldn't be that cool. I was wrong. Seeing the structures that were built thousands of years ago, still standing and in good condition was surreal. Earlier we had received some advice from a 20 year old, pot-smoking tour guide that we should climb one of the mountains called Wynapicchu - which turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip. Apparently the park only allows so many people up the mountain each day, and by the time we arrived, they were refusing to let through. Fortunately for us, the guys at the gate were perfectly willing to accept a bribe, and pretty soon we found ourselves making our way up the trail! It took us an hour and a half to climb to the very top - and the view was breathtaking. We could see all of Machu Picchu and the surrounding areas. Getting back down the mountain was a little trickier, as there were plenty of opportunities to go plummeting off some cliff edge :) But we made it back down, safe and sound, and started the process of getting back to Ollaytaytambo. Our last night there was beautiful; we shared a delicious meal, and talked about the top 10 days of our lives. For many, our day at Machu Picchu was included.
Jason was able to stay one day longer than the rest of the group, so I enjoyed taking him around certain parts of Lima, giving him a tour of our apartment, and introducing him to new foods. It was so much fun to have my first visitors in Peru, and I am looking forward to more in the future!
God Bless.