Cajamarca

Donna and Phil came down from Canada to visit us and also Peru. What a fun time! We took advantage of the opportunity to request permission to leave our mission boundaries and met them in Cajamarca, a beautiful mountain city full of Inca history. It brought back memories of the good old days when Donna and I had our adventures together around the world. And let's not forget the romantic adventures of Ken & Linda back in '74.

Street dancing in Baños del Incas 

So kind of them to put this on special for us

Ken and Phil really worked up an appetite hiking the hills all day. They paused to sample papas rellenos, stuffed potatoes, in Baños del Incas. 

At the Windows of Otusco, an ancient masoleum cut out of natural stone, with Miguel, Donna and Phil

This bridge leads to the cemetery at Otusco. 

They wash the clothing of the deceased in the river below the bridge, and they wear it for a year. 

You can see them herding sheep all over the mountains. 

Really this is cow country, famous for dairy products. 

They make lots of yogurt, ice cream, manjar blanco, and delicious cheese.

In Baños del Incas, this is Atahualpa's private bath. The water comes out of the ground hot and is piped into all the houses here for less than a dollar a month. 

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this is the largest adobe building in the world since 1950.

Little boy blue come blow your horn...he sings a song and plays his instrument to call the cows for milking. 

Vintage carriage at the dairy farm

Beautiful gardens at the zoo in Granja Porcon

This is Donna's favorite activity. 

The waterfalls where we turned around on our horseback riding adventure

The horse whisperer

Standing on top of the world

This is the lady who took us horseback riding. She says she works this job to help support her son through university. 

The ransom room in Cajamarca where Atahualpa filled this room with gold up to the line, and then filled it twice more with silver. After paying this huge ransom, Franco Pizarro and the Spaniards took the riches and killed him anyway. 

Atahualpa in the plaza de armas of Baños del Incas

Infant tomb at the museum

Petrified forest at Cumbemayo

Ken with Stake President Barbosa at the petrified forest.

One of many petroglyphs we saw, this represents a puma in ancient pre-Inca mythology. 

Yes we really did walk up the steps to this church above Cajamarca. 

Amazing cathedrals in Cajamarca 

Beautifully crafted by Inca artisans

Standing on top of the world above Cajamarca with our tour guides Miguel & Sandra.

...from Donna's photo archives, 1974

Farewell to Elder Portillo. He's going home to Texas after a successful two years. We're so glad Elders Ortiz, Rokovitz and Harper are staying, even though he sticks his tongue out for fotos. 

Farewell to Elder Hart as he looks forward to his new assignment as zone leader in Chimbote. We forgot to take the photo until the pancakes were gone. We're glad Elder Ricse gets to stay.

Ken just got back from the hardware store to get parts for the missionarys' apartment upstairs. Hope he remembered to get all the parts he needed.