A sea of colors worn by the youth participating in the ceremony.
I got a decent nights sleep – primarily due to the fact I took a Benadryl caplet as a sleep aid (and a second one four hours later).
After breakfast we repacked our bags for the three-legged trip home (CUZ-LIM-EWR-MSP). I managed to pack my hiking boots into my checked bag, stuffing them full of dirty laundry.
We left our bags at reception when we checked out and went to walk around the Plaza de Armas. We found a rather large civic ceremony in progress that involved a large number of high school students in various school uniforms. We watched the proceedings from a colonnade fending off street vendors until we found ourselves surrounded by a school marching band forming up behind us.
We returned to the hotel to take advantage of the free WiFi in the lobby (the room WiFi was $8/night!). We had lunch at a restaurant a half a block away that I spotted on our meander around the square. We both had the passion trout (trout filet bathed in passion fruit sauce served with quinoa and vegetable ragout) after splitting quinoa sticks appetizer (deep fried cheese and quinoa sticks served with guacamole dip).
Alexandra showed up at the appointed time with Romulo and escorted us to the Cusco airport. Then we said goodbye to Romulo at the curb, and Alexandra with a hug as we ascended the escalator to security and the gates.
The flight from Cusco to Lima was delayed about 40 minutes along with some confusion about its departure gate. But the flight was uneventful, and after collecting our bags at the luggage carousel, we went to the United counter and check the bags again. Passing through security we had dinner at a restaurant on the concourse with a final Pisco Sour. We are currently waiting for the United flight (also somewhat delayed) to begin boarding. We filled out a single customs form instead of the usual two now that the U.S. government recognizes our marriage, thanks to the Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Windsor.
A sea of colors worn by the youth participating in the ceremony.
I'm guessing these are representatives of all the youth organizations.
A broader view of the ceremony in front of the cathedral.
An ángel arcabucero in silver. The winged warriors of local folklore made a the transition to armed angels.
The statue of Pachacuti - the ninth ruler of the Kingdom of Cusco and later the Emperor of the Inca Empire.
Our penultimate Pisco Sour - the last one was in the Lima airport.
Quinoa sticks: deep fried cheese and quinoa sticks served with guacamole.
Evidence: passion trout, trout filet bathed in passion fruit sauce served with quinoa and vegetable ragout.
Pippin assists with the unpacking.
Dick Ottman, our greeter at White Bear UU Church, is known for his collection of sweaters.
The return to Saint Paul was uneventful. We both got upgraded on the flight from EWR to MSP as the plane was over half empty. That's a rarity these days.
When processing my photos, I found that the camera had been using a fixed ISO of 1000 rather than the usual 'auto' setting. I had been playing with the camera to take some night sky shots in hopes of getting one while in Peru (alas, no luck) and had neglected to set it back.
As a result of the ISO setting, all the images are rather grainy (except for those taken on the iPhone or the waterproof), so I found an app 'Noiseless' that has a nice set of algorithms that smooth things out with a minimum of detail loss. Given that I reduce these images from ~3600x2700 to 640x480 for this site, I don't think the detail loss is noticeable.
Before noise reduction
After noise reduction.
