Ruben had set his alarm for 8 am with the thought of going back up the mountain to climb Wayapicchu, but his blackberry wedged and his phone never made noise. At 8:30 Lauren woke up with a pressing need to use the bathroom. Something she ate the day before was definitely having it's revenge. She climbed back into bed miserable and didn't much feel like leaving the room for breakfast.


Ruben and Elias went to breakfast by themselves and instead of the intended buffet, they served them off the menu since there were so few patrons in the hotel. They brought back some toast and jam for Lauren who was still in bed. Ruben also got our check out time extended from 10am.  All had to admit the slow start was what they needed, although this was not the way they expected it to happen.  After a bit of a discussion, Lauren did decide to break out the ciprofloxin in her kit, took a pill and then a nap. By noon she felt not quite normal, but maybe like she could venture from the hotel long enough to get to the restaurant for their pre-payed buffet.

Today's slideshow is here.

The buffet was at Toto's house which overlooked the raging water. We had a nice long leisurely lunch (and even Lauren found some really bland food, including the best tasting banana). Ruben even found an espresso from a cart outside the door. We all three tried Inka Cola, which looks obnoxiouly yellow like Mountain Dew, but doesn't quite taste like it. We couldn't quite place the taste in fact. Elias liked it, but the adults are not sure it was worth the Soles, particularly given how sugared up Elias got after drinking it.

Aguas calientes is a nice town in a beautiful setting, filled with dichotomies. One was noted while we were eating we watched as the men doing the construction work on the street would dump the extra rocks and building material right into the beautiful rushing river.

After lunch we wandered the town for a while, first into the town square where we saw a christmas tree made of green plastic sprite bottles and a coffee shop called Discovery Coffee who's logo was designed to look awfully familiar.

Then we walked up the street to the hot springs - the other place we had wanted to visit if we been up for it and remembered to bring our bathing suits. You can rent bathing suits and towels, but we'd rather use our own. As we walked up the street, we were approached by every restaurant owner telling us about their food. Ruben responded "Ya comimos" and they would back off.  A few of the shops up near the hot springs are actually spas that offer massages and Ruben wondered about their authenticity. When Lauren asked about that, he mentioned (another dichotomy) the sign at the front desk of our fancy hotel that had a picture of a small child hugging her knees that said that said basically that child prostitution is wrong.

We walked back down the street, then into the market and got some ideas of the things we wanted to buy once back in Cusco. We saw a lot of very young kids with their mothers at the market - some just playing with rocks and empty milk crates. We had seen slightly older kids coming home from primary school on our earlier walk up the street to the hot springs, but I didn't really see many kids Elias' age (Part of this I realize is that the kids here are mostly smaller than Elias, and a kid who looks Elias' height may really be 12 or 13).  Just before we got on the train we bought some ice cream and then were followed by a very young girl, who didn't seem to have a parent around) who looked longingly at Elias eating his.  When we approached the train station there were two waiting platforms, and it appeared that the tourists went into the covered waiting area but the locals seemed to be going to a more open waiting area.

The train ride home was similar to the train ride to Aguas Calientes, except that as we were getting our tea service we had to stop at a train crossing. Small children climbed down next to the train to beg as we were eating and an announcement specifically said for us not to toss things out the train to them. The other item of note on the train was the "fashion show" that was put on by the man and woman porter. The guy, a seemingly shy, bespeckled guy, got dressed up in these beautiful baby alpaca gorgeous sweaters and looked adorable. The woman was this skinny almost model like woman who really showed off the women's clothing beautifully. We were also treated to a show by a guy in a traditional garb wearing a very odd white mask.

We arrived in Poroy and were picked up by Ismael and taken back to Cusco and our hotel. By this point, Ismael explained, the Plaza De Armas was closed down so that they could mark the various stalls for the Santuranticuy market which is on Christmas eve. We had to take an even more circuitous route back to the hotel. Ismael explained how we'd be picked up for the next day (8:25 in the lobby for an 8:40 pick up) for our tour of the Sacred Valley.

After a quick stop at the hotel (and more oxygen for Elias), we headed back to the plaza to find some dinner. The place road up to the plaza was a madhouse, filled with people just waiting to go set up their spots. We did a circuit of the plaza and were again approached by people from all the restaurants trying to get us to come try their food (free pisco sours! happy hour!)  We finally settled on one that appeared to have a few people in the balcony. Unfortunately it was yet another buffet, but they did have some food Lauren could eat off the menu (Ruben and Elias got the buffet). Elias thought the rice pudding was just simply excellent.

On our way back to the hotel we made one final stop at Jack's Cafe where our friend Hannah had worked for a time when she lived here in Cusco a couple of years ago. Honestly? We should have taken her advice and eaten there instead of where we did eat. Next time we know...