"Home of the Flying Eagles"
Lima, the capitol of Peru, is a surprise, as we do the last leg of our trip. My only reason for being here is that it is the only way to get to Machu Picchu.
The city is modern and nice. I have heard more English spoken and have seen more Americans here than anywhere on this trip. From here we have a short flight to Cusco, which is the nearest city to the famous Inca ruins. We still end up spending two nights in Lima because of the schedule.
Some old-timers I see while in Lima and in Cusco, who have spent their lives in these Andes Mountains, had skin like mummified faces. Their skin gives a pattern of their lives like lines on a roadmap. As in many Latino countries, Peru has little or no middle class, which is the main group in a population that pays the taxes and supports any country. The thing I see, in too many of the faces of some of the poor, is hopelessness. I have decided hope is the gift that can heal most of the things people do not have. The darkest nights often show stars at their brightest. Maybe the deepest kind of hope sometimes comes from life’s hardest lessons. But, hope has to exist to be “the gift”.
Frank Heatherly
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