I wrote previously about my trip to Machu Picchu when I visited Peru in May. Breathtaking as it was, it wasn’t the highlight of the trip. The highlight was seeing the work of the team at Kausay Wasi Clinic in Qoya. My father in-law has seen hundreds of patients with the team there over the last several years. The clinic provides basic health and dental care to thousands of Peru’s people who live in the rural Sacred Valley area.

“The Clinic treats approximately 10,000 patients per year, and US visiting medical teams perform approximately 300 operations free of charge in specialties such as ears, nose and throat, facial reconstruction, cataract, orthopedic surgeries for children, and gynecological surgeries for women.”

To visit was a life changing experience. The patients that we saw come through the clinic were overwhelmed with gratitude for the care they received. Care they would not have gotten if not for the efforts of the two sincere and effective founders Guido and Sandy Del Prado.

If you are traveling to Machu Picchu, or just want to make a difference, please sponsor a family. $200 will cover an entire family’s medical care for one year.

I’ve got more to write about our trip to Peru last month, but here are at least the pics from Machu Picchu.

We left Qoya at 4AM, taking a taxi to Ollaytantambo (about an hour). From there we caught the train to Aqua Caliente and a bus up to Machu Picchu. The view was breathtaking, Machu Picchu truly lived up to my expectations. As you can see from the Google terrain map attached to the Picasa album, this “village” is built on a ridge that is about 1000m (3000 ft) down on either side. We were glad to have visited early in the morning, as we were leaving, hoards of people started to arrive.

Oh, and I had taken so many pictures the previous day that the battery in our digital camera died. So these were taken with a 30 Soles ($10) disposable camera.