Back in Cusco, our host Bill decided to take his children to the park and asked if my children wanted to come along. Our kids had become fast friends. Maeve loved playing with the youngest 3 year old girl, and Liam and Tim had been having a blast playing with locally purchased plastic cap guns circa 1970.

Everything seemed older in Cusco, especially the parks. We spotted one large park from the taxi when we first arrived. Maeve and Liam immediately asked if we could go there. The metal slides were huge. You wouldn't spot anything like this in the states.

So off we went to the park. The weather looked questionable, but then again, it usually was this time of year. You never knew if it was going to suddenly rain. The best you could do was to be prepared.

It was about a fifteen minute walk. I would have never found it on my own and I was glad that Bill was with us. It was like we had a 'Day in the Life' experience with the expats living in Peru. We had to pay an entrance fee to enter the park. It was about a dollar for all six of us. We bought some popcorn from a vendor as we entered. The kids immediately ran to the biggest slide.

The slide was crazy. It was so tall that it required a spiral staircase to climb. Thankfully the staircase was protected with fencing so you couldn't just fall off the side. It was also covered to protect the metal from the elements. It had three sections at the top, so three kids could go down at the same time.

After filming slide one, Maeve wiped out. She scraped her knee and of course, we didn't have anything with us to clean it. So much for being prepared. She shook it off and was ready for more.

I suggested we move on to another slide. This one split in the middle. You could go down with a friend and end up in two different parts of the park.

I still thought it was crazy high, but that wasn't stopping the kids. The toughest part for Liam was climbing the stairs. He continued to face his fear of heights.

The kids moved on to slide three. This one split as well, but twisted back to center so you still ended up in the same area. Again, I filmed the kids going down the slide. When I finished, Liam wiped out. He looked okay until he said he had some pain on his side. It turned out he went down with a plastic cap gun in his pocket. It was completely crushed at the bottom and some sharp pieces bruised his leg. He was more disappointed that I hadn't captured the incident on film. Sigh.

I'd had enough of the slides and I wasn't even the one going down them. I already had two minor injuries, so I again suggested we move on to something a little safer. There was this metal Ferris Wheel that was shut down....phew. I knew that would have been an issue. So now the kids wanted to go on these metal animals and planes that spin around, well, if an adult pushes them. The sign indicated that it was for children aged 0-5. Not sure anyone would put an infant in these as they are about four feet off the ground. Needless to say, my 12 and 10 year olds crammed themselves in.

Liam and Tim then made their way to a sort of concession stand. They sold candy and super cheap toys. The boys needed to replace the damaged cap gun and get more 'ammo'. They tried rationalizing the purchase of two cap guns since Bill didn't have change, but he went back with them and made them return it.

All in all, it was a fun day at the park for the kids. We escaped the rain and broken bones...by our standards it was a good day.