the little bug expedition - day nine (pam)

Breakfast at McDonald’s! What could be better than that? We had a little free time this morning before our flight to Lima, so Wayne and I went to the city square of Cusco for a breakfast sandwich. (McDonald’s is kind of hidden in the colonial buildings of the plaza, so don't be too disappointed.) We were also looking for Jorge, a young man that we’ve run into at the plaza on our previous trips selling artsy note cards. Jorge has a great resemblance of Britt. He even has freckles plastered all over his nose. Imagine a Peruvian with freckles! Sadly, we didn’t find Jorge in his old stomping grounds.

The flight leaving Cusco for Lima was about 1:30 pm, so we arrived at the airport a couple of hours early. What a surprise it was to see our old friend and bus driver, Octavio, walking from his bus into the Cusco airport! It was a happy reunion.

We all made it to Lima. While the rest of the group went to visit the catacombs of the Iglesia de San Francisco (that we’ve seen many times), not far from the Palace in Plaza de Armas, Wayne and I went with Zarahemla (our tour guide) to the Museum of the (Spanish) Inquisition. I’m not sure that I know exactly what that was all about as the tour was in Spanish, but I didn’t like the feeling there as I walked through the tiny jail cells underground.

Everyone met at Don Juan’s for one last dinner together. I always have the flat-iron steak with the avocado salad when we go there. Wayne had the pork fried rice. Yum! Yum! This is where we said our goodbyes to the group – a great group, by the way. Wayne, Cameron, and I had an earlier flight to Ecuador, so we left everyone in the good hands of Zarahemla, our tour guide. She was going to make sure everyone got to the Lima airport.

The three of us flew from Lima into the Quito airport about 1:00 am. Dr. Zambrano, from Charity Anywhere, was waiting for us there, thank goodness. He took us to the Finlandia Hotel where we yearned for a goodnight’s sleep.
Sleep was at the top of my agenda, and it was at the top of Wayne's also.