Our flight left Lima at 7am in the morning (by the way, we spent the whole night in the Lima airport and I don't recommend it!). We flew over the beautiful Andes early in the morning and marveled at the breath-taking beauty of these incredible rugged mountains. I was amazed at the fierceness of the mountains and how they towered so greatly over the green valleys below. Because it is the wet season, the areas of (relatively) low elevation are lush and green and contrast starkly against the jagged peaks of the mountains.
Given that I am from Colorado, I am used to seeing beautiful, tall mountains, but the mountains around Cusco would make my lovely Rocky Mountains look like little hills. In Colorado, we boast about our 55 fourteeners and the tallest, Mt. Elbert, stands an impressive 14,433 feet above sea level. Here in the Peruvian Andes, they can boast about their 37 peaks that stand above 6,000 meters, which is about 19,700 feet! The tallest peak in Peru is Huascaran Sur with a height of 6,768 meters, which is 22,200 feet tall! Wow! I can't imagine trying to breath at the top of that mountain!
Here are a few of the many photos I snapped while my eyes were glued to the window of the plane, taking in the outstanding views.
We also had a beautiful view of the city as we flew into Cusco. I am thankful that the skies were clear enough to see everything instead of cloudy and rainy so that we were able to take in these incredible sights!
