Peru Day Six- Cusco

This morning we flew to Cusco. It is the largest population living at the highest elevation in the world. It is at 12,000 feet above sea level. They warned us all week to be aware of altitude sickness and to hydrate in order to prevent it. I used my inhaler regularly to open my lungs to the fullest capacity but the moment that I stepped off the pressurized cabin of sea level to 12,000 feet, I felt dizzy, light headed and could not catch a deep breathe. In the airport I almost fainted flat out but lucky maid to to the hotel with out embarrassing myself. There a little old peruvian man wheeled out an old oxygen tank and provided me with a clean mask to aid in my breathing.
Cusco was like a dream after the gloomy sky of Lima in winter, here the air was crisp, the sky brilliantly blue with fluffy clouds.

This afternoon we visited the Buen Pastor Home for 55 girls ages 6-17. Winded from walking from the bus to the meeting area, no one was really ready to be enthusiastic with these girls. We were tired, sick and missed our Lima translators so much that I for one was having a hard time bonded with anyone else. What were definitely not ready for the was the vitality that shone in these girls spirit. They opened their welcoming with traditional Incan and Peruvian dances. 

I worked as the memory verse leader for a person who opted not to go on the Cusco portion of the trip. I had so much fun reciting the verse alongside the girls, we were learning together both foreign to this particular verse in memory and language.
Fitting them was a breeze, they loved to play sports the the plainer the shoe the more they like them :) Who new volleyball was so popular in Peru?
We spent more time at this home, since it was the only one we visited it that day and despite our physical health and mental weariness, my connection to the girls was deep.

That night we ate a traditional Peruvian meal and there was a band and performance dancing, it seemed that everywhere we went some one was sing to us or dancing for us. It reminded me of two verses, Psalm 149:3 "Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp." and Psalm 30:11 "You turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sack cloth and clothed my with Joy.". Here were people living in a world filled with injustice, orphans with out anything and yet they were dancing with God's joy.