Typically, I’ve tried to keep this blog in order of events, the chronological order of our trip. However, I’m breaking this self-imposed rule tonight to jump forward in time as I just got back from dinner and wanted to share how I’m feeling right now. We’ll be back to regularly scheduled blogging tomorrow!

I have been near tears, wanting to cry, twice in the past two days. Why you ask? Happy tears, I promise, happy tears.

Since we have been on this trip, it has felt so normal, so comfortable, so right. Yes, I have been amazed at the places we have gone and the sights we have seen. However, at times, it all just feels like one more trip to me – something common and expected. Because I love to travel and make it a priority in my life, I will admit that sometimes it becomes normal and I need to remind myself to pay attention and enjoy the moment. Yesterday and today, I have been brought almost to tears thinking about how lucky we are and how special this time is for us. Allow me to describe these moments briefly for you.

Yesterday, we woke up early and spent our morning at Machu Picchu. Of all the places we have visited on our trip thus far, this is definitely one of the largest, most popular, and well-known. Everyone has asked us if we were going to visit Machu Picchu and it has always been one of the big landmarks on our trip. We have thought about traveling here and it was never a question that we would visit Machu Picchu while in South America. Yesterday, we finally had that chance. We spent two and a half hours in the morning with a Peruvian tour guide, Jesús, walking around the lower part of the city and learning about the Incans. At one moment during our tour, as we were walking in between buildings on the mountain, I paused for a moment to take a picture (not uncommon this day, or any day really). I looked up from my camera at the terraces in front of me, with my husband following behind, and had a moment of “wow, I’m really here!” I stopped walking and just stared at the scene in front of me, trying to take it all in so that I would remember that moment forever. I was near tears, seeing a scene I have only read about and dreamed about, finally in reality in front of me. At that point, I felt so lucky to be living my life and having the opportunity to partake on this grand adventure.

One of the many pictures that I took at Machu Picchu and a memory that will stay with me forever.

Today, we had a ‘rest’ day in Cusco. We got back from our two-day tour of Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu late last night and have another tour scheduled for tomorrow. We rested, ran a couple errands, and then rested some more. Even though it felt like all we were doing was resting, we still needed to eat. One of the dishes that Jon has been wanting to try ever since we arrived in Peru is cuy, otherwise known as guinea pig. It’s a common dish especially here in the Andes Mountains and is offered at more than half the restaurants in the city. He decided that tonight was the night that he wanted to try cuy, so we went to Pacha Papa located near our hotel in the plaza of San Blas. Since cuy takes an hour to cook, we had a cocktail and appetizer while waiting for our dinners. Finally, our meals arrived and after the obligatory pictures, we dig in. Jon was so happy with his meal and my dish was delicious as well! Mid-way through our dinner, a man came into our part of the dining room with a harp and proceeded to play for the next 20 minutes. From classical to the Beatles, we enjoyed his music as we ate our dinner and sipped our wine. It was such a perfect meal and evening that I felt near tears at one point, so happy to be there with my husband doing something with our lives that we have always dreamed of doing.

Jon loved his cuy dinner! And I loved having such a special dinner for the two of us.

We just got back from our dinner and are sitting on the bed in our hotel room. The Simpsons is on tv (in Spanish, of course) and Jon is eating a bar of chocolate that we purchased in Ecuador. As soon as we left the restaurant, I knew that I would come back and write this article. I wanted to capture how I’ve felt the past two days and share my memories with everyone who is following along with our trip. We have had tough times and down days, but these two moments struck me with the clarity of how right this feels to me and serves as a reminder of how lucky we are right now. I want to remember these moments forever and by writing about them, I hope that I have encapsulated what I’m feeling and thinking right now.