Since China and Yeni had a birthday, Belinda decided to have one, too. This is her first birthday in Peru, which is special. Caleb and I threw around some ideas for things they could do to celebrate, but they asked if we wouldn’t enjoy coming along with them, which was fun.
We decided to go to the ruins in Ollantaytambo. The place is beautiful. We had planned to enter the main section, but that would have cost us over S/2,000 because they don’t all have their residency yet. We would like to go back sometime when everyone has their residency.
But there was another path open to us, which we all had fun hiking. Well, Steph didn’t get as much fun out of it; she decided that an expecting lady didn’t need to hike all the way to the top of the mountain. (Yes, we’re looking forward to a Christmas baby, Lord willing.)
Partway up the hike, several little ones decided they were in need of a bathroom. I told Caleb and Belinda they should carry on since it was her birthday while I took the youngest four children down to meet Steph and Willow.
We found a bathroom then later a restaurant for lunch. Steph ordered an alpaca burger, which tasted very good. The rest of us had hamburgers or fries.
Caleb’s and the older children joined us later. Caleb and Belinda went to a “Mexican” restaurant and enjoyed alpaca fajitas. We hadn’t seen many alpacas grazing outside; in fact, I saw only one. I guess they had all been made into food for us.
It was a fun Saturday family trip. I would definitely recommend Ollantaytambo as a point of interest if you ever get a chance to see it. The ruins are from the time when the Quechua people still had an Inka. Incredible buildings and terraces made right into the mountain.
Speaking of residency, the process for Caleb, Belinda, and China has all gone through, praise the Lord! I’m headed to Cusco now to make a handful of payments to various organizations at three different banks. Then tomorrow, they all have to go in to have their pictures taken and hopefully they will return with their residency cards!
That will make things better in a number of ways. I’m excited that we can now all go for our driver’s license test. We plan to try to do it together, Caleb, Belinda, China, Steph and I. Having a Peruvian license will be even that much simpler for traveling here.
Progress!
Juan David 