So we left Machu Picchu pueblo on Monday night and took a train, then a bus to Cusco. We got to our hotel in Cusco at about 11:30pm. Tuesday morning we left the hotel at 9am to go to the airport - our flight left at 11:40am but we were going to meet Patti McDonald and a native worker, Flor, and have some time to visit before we left.

So it was cheaper to have Jordan leave on one flight 20 mins earlier and Elisa and I on another. But if there isn't enough passengers on one plane, they will change your flight! So we all got to be on the same flight.

Once we landed in Cusco, about 1pm, two native workers, Rogelio and Dicson, met us there and took us to one of the friends' house there in Lima. Salvador and Ana were very welcoming and had a meal prepared for us and the workers when we got there. We even got in a nap before dinner! This is the home where we spent Tuesday night. Salvador took us to the bus station Wed morning to catch our bus to a city called La Merced, where Sue and Veronica would meet us.

It was kind of interesting, because when we got on the bus in Lima at 8:15am, it was us 3 and then 4 other people on the lower level. So we thought "Great! We will be all by ourselves!" But oh no, we got quite an experience.

The bus left the terminal and went to another terminal in Lima. There we figured out that buses are allowed to park there for 20 mins at a time, and try to get more passengers on their bus! So there were about 7 buses all lined up, bus drivers standing in front of the buses fighting over passengers, and us sitting in an un-air conditioned bus tired and hungry!

But we finally got enough passengers after 1.5 hours and we were on our way to La Merced. Two hours later, we stopped at a sketchy little truck stop kind of restaurant and got to eat lunch. We had half an hour so we quickly ordered something. Elisa's soup was like a chicken soup, but came with about 10 chicken feet! Gross.

Anyway, we got back on the road and at about 2:00pm, we get stuck in traffic on a skinny 2-lane road going through the mountains. We waited there for about 20 mins and then our bus driver decided to attempt a u-turn (which turned into an 11-pt turn) and take another road down below the mountain. This road ended up to be a dirt road wide enough for one car (not one bus). Plus it had rained the night before so it was MUDDY. Eventually we made it to the main road again. But then one of the bus people come up and tell us "the main road to La Merced is closed for construction (even though no one is working on it right now). So would you rather wait until 9 or 10pm till it opens or pay 5 soles per person in gas money and take a different route?" Everyone voted on just getting there already. We didn't have to stop again until we got to La Merced. Thank goodness.

Sue was there to greet us when we got off the bus at around 8:30pm. took a taxi to Santa Ana (20 mins away) and Veronica showed us a great Pollo a la Brasa place. We were starving by the time we got there! We missed the wed night meeting we had planned to have with the two professing people in Santa Ana, but just planned it for thurs evening.

We had a hotel in Santa Ana and even though it had cold water for showers, it was refreshing after being sticky from the humidity! So we stayed at this hotel for 2 nights and two days.

More in another post.