Confessions and exhaustion

I am sorry it's been a few days since we put anything on our blog but I have been plucking up the courage to tell you what I ate the other day-it was Alpaca (sorry Lizzie). It was quite tasty but a bit tough!

The other day we went up to one of the local tourist attractions, Christo Blanco which sits high up above where we are staying. We decided to take it easy and go up by tourist bus, (Jean loved the journey along narrow, cobbled streets and the windy road up the hillside - not) but we were persuaded to walk down which proved not to be that easy. We saw some Inca ruins while we were up there which were very interesting.

The following day was the church's fifteenth aniversary which was a real experience!!! For more information it would be best to read our church blog as I can't begin to explain it all.

On Monday we all went on a coach trip to Pisac to see some more ruins (although Jean can see all the ruins she needs when she looks at me in the morning!!!!). On the way there we decided to visit an animal sanctuary for endangered species, amongst these were a magnificent pair of Condor which were quite tame! Unfortunately we were unable to see the ruins due to a misunderstanding over the prices, but we did spend our time doing retail therapy, Peruvian style, in a local market.

Yesterday we started doing the work we had come to do, as well as sightseeing, which has proved to be a bit of a challenge due to the altitude - more on this later, but we are having great fun as a group!

Peru and its challenges

We have arrived! The journey here was a bit traumatic as we travelled for 24 hrs door to door, some of the flights were changed and redirected. One of these should have been direct and take an hour but we went by two other stops and it took over four hours. So, what with travel fatigue, sleep deprivation and Jean is suffering with altitude sickness, not a very good start to our stay here! Hopefully from here on in it should get better. This is our home for the next three weeks - our room is the one with the balcony, but it's not big enough to sit out on. Today we are eating out and sampling some of the local delicacies - will let you know what I had later.
There is another blog running about all the actities we are doing as a group, the link is http://kingsinperu.blogspot.com/ if you would like to follow that as well.
Will give you an update soon.

A moving experience and moving on

We have just returned from a trip to Ground Zero, what an experience! We went on a tour around the outside of the site given by two ladies who have very personal stories about that day. It was only by being there that we really understood the magnitude of the attack just over nine years ago. The tower 1 is now at 40 floors and still has long way to go. A trip we will always remember - awesome!
Today we move on to Cusco in Peru where we will be meeting up with 11 others from our church and helping with some projects that our friends Roland and Jenny are already involved with.

Washington DC

We have just returned from visiting Jean's uncles grave in Arlington national cemetery. We took this picture of the Iwa Jima memorial to the Marines while we were there (just for your benefit - Alan!).
We also went to the Washington National Cathedral which is amazing considering it was only completed about twenty years ago. Weather great, have now got over jet lag, spending a few days with Jean's aunt before more adventures at the weekend.

First leg!

Now in New Jersey with cousin Andy - jet lag in tow! Arrived in sunny weather but raining today! Went shopping for food for the family welcome party last night. Jean's aunt was particularly pleased to see us. Off to watch Alex play soccer today and then to Washington DC tomorrow to see Ashley at Georgetown Uni and uncle's grave at Arlington cemetery. Many thanks to all of you who rang and sent cards just before we left!

We're almost packed

No this is not the mode of transport we have chosen!!

Our church had a Big Party at Fort Fun on Saturday and there were about 670 people doing silly things like this.

The farewell parties have now finished and the arrival ones will soon begin!

Our home is almost ready for our house-sitter to move in.

For some it's "see you soon" and for others it's "see you next year"!