My Favorite Month in Cusco

October is my favorite month in Cusco!  We are out of the cold and heading into the warmer months, so that means the nights and early morning hours are not as difficult but we are not into the rainy months yet, so the days are warm, sunny and dry.  Oh, and there are less tourists around.  But not this year, it seems.  We are still seeing plenty although not as much as June, July and August.  All the Cusquenos agree, the tourism business has been booming this year.

Cusco in October

We started the week out with the second day of General Conference.  The talks were well done and inspirational.  I am anxious to start reading and studying them.  Now with the Gospel Library app, you don't even have to wait for the Ensign to arrive.  Within a day or two, you can download the talks and begin.

President Monson seemed so weak.  It was good to hear him speak, but my goodness, it was a bit nerve racking to watch him sink lower and lower towards the end of his talk.

Since we are an hour ahead of Utah time that meant we had until 11 am before the first session started.  So I decided to go out walking since I knew I would be sitting around most of the day listening to the messages of the living prophets.  The weather has just been too gorgeous to sit around inside all the time.

Well, it turned out to be a bad decision.  I was on my way back to the apartment and walking on smooth pavement (which is unusual here, actually) when I twisted my left ankle pretty badly.  It hurt so much I could barely walk.  I gingerly continued walking the rest of the way home.  The last few blocks, the pain was not as bad, so I figured I had simply stretched some muscles and had walked it off.  So I didn't bother to ice or bandage it.  Second bad decision.

My ankle continued to hurt during the day, but nothing too bad.  Monday morning when I woke up, however, my ankle was so swollen and putting any weight on it was difficult.

 Can you see how much bigger my left foot is?  Holy cow!  It looks like feet from two different people.  As the week went on the coloring around my ankle worsened despite my trying to stay off of it as much as possible.

It made for a very frustrating week, as I didn't feel like I was working as hard as I should with what little time we have left. Also being stuck in the house resting my ankle, rather than out and about in the gorgeous October weather!  I truly can't remember ever spraining or twisting my ankle as badly as this.

Dave once again had to hold down the fort a bit more on his own so I could limit my walking and weight-bearing on my foot.  By the end of the week I was doing much better, but still babying the foot and the swelling was still visible but not as pronounced.

We have been trying to nail down our return to Pleasant Grove.  The church usually likes to have that arranged three months out.  We have been shuffled around from one entity to another as we don't technically fall under the jurisdiction of our mission president.  We were sent to the area offices in Lima, who then sent us to our Self-Reliance manager, who then sent us back to Lima's travel department, who then sent us back to our mission office here in Cusco.  

We have indicated to them we would like to leave Cusco after the first semester of Pathway finishes up on December 17th.  We would fly out the morning of the 18th to Lima, have our exit interviews with the area manager, Carlos Fermandez in the morning and then we would like to head down to Paracas, Peru & the Islas Ballestras for a short two day trip.  We would then return to Lima and attend church on Sunday, Dec. 20th and fly out in the early morning hours of Monday, Dec. 21st.  We've been told our arrival would be sometime in the middle of the day the 21st.  As soon as we have definite details we will let you all know.

We are now committed as Speaking Partners with two Pathway students.  This means we spend 30 minutes a week with each of them practicing their English.  Pathway has a set topic you discuss with them during this 30 minutes.  Dave is doing most of this work since both students are male.  He enjoys it.

By Thursday afternoon, I was going stir crazy and needed to get out of the apartment.  We had a free afternoon, so we decided to visit the Inca Museum.  We figured we can't live in the Inca capital of the world for 18 months and never visit this museum.

No photos were allowed in the museum, but I was a renegade and managed to take a few photos without being caught.

 Theses ceramic vases were huge.  Below is the stairwell baluastrade art work.

 Above, the inner courtyard.  I really don't think it was outlawed to take this photo, just the artifacts.  Below is a photo from the top floor window, looking out on the main cathedral on the Plaza de Armas.  How do you like the column art?

Friday we attended our first Peruvian marriage ceremony.  We were invited by a return missionary that Dave has befriended, Calif Munoz.  He served his mission in El Salvador and has been home over a year and a half.  He is also participating in Pathway.  He married the sister of one of my piano students, Yeni Montanez.  So with connections on both sides we felt we needed to attend. 

It was typical Peru schedule however.  We were told 2:00 pm at the municipal building but it really didn't take place until after 3:00 pm.  

We had to do something to entertain ourselves, so we figured we couldn't pass up the opportunity for an official looking photo op at the Santiago district courthouse in Cusco Peru.  To the left is the Peruvian flag and to the right is the Quechua nation flag.

The courthouse patio had a huge poster announcing the third annual Guinea Pig festival the next day.

The members of the church have to be married civilly first and then they go to the temple to be sealed.  

Here comes the bride to join her husband to be - Calif, on the left.

Lots of photos were taken after the ceremony and after everyone filed by to wish the couple congratulations.  This photo shows my piano student, the bride's sister, Yeni with her son Dallin in front who is also taking piano lessons from me.

We were even invited to get our photo op in with the bride and groom.

 As the couple left the courthouse, it is typical to toss multicolored confetti on them to wish them luck.  They then took off on a tour of the city for wedding shots at the various famous landmarks and historical sites.

The family and friends headed over to the Santiago chapel which was only a few blocks away from the courthouse for the reception.

The cultural hall all decorated up, ready for the festivities.  Below is a photo of their wedding cake.

Our volunteer, Gladys Machado attended the reception.  She is Calif's aunt.  Doesn't she look bella?

We finally had to leave before the reception ever got started.  The bride and groom were taking too long to return to their own party.

Friday evening I facililtated an Education workshop and Dave taught the English class.

Saturday morning I got up early to buy local train tickets to MachuPicchu in anticipation of my sister and her husband's visit next week.  I was fortunate enough to not have to wait too long and I got on the trains I needed to go.  So I am going back to MachuPicchu!!  I had really hoped to get back to visit one more time before our mission ended.  Dave said he wasn't interested in seeing it again, so he will hold down the fort and keep the ball rolling while I play hostess to my family.

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  Thomas S. Monson, "Be an Example and a Light"  October 4, 2015.  

"You have come from His Presence to live on this earth for a season, to reflect the Savior's love and teachings, and to bravely let your light shine for all to see.  When that season on earth has ended, if you have done your part, yours will be the glorious blessing of returning to live with Him forever."

"I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."  John 8:12