This morning was bright blue sky and the best start to the day I have had since being here. I checked out of the hostel and went to the Plaza to watch the action for a while. My train was not leaving till 8.53 so I had time to waste. The walk to the train station is about 1km but all down hill so pretty easy. I bought breaky at the station, fried egg in a roll 1 1/2s. The Peru Govt know how to charge. I´ll fill you in tomorrow when Ive got all the prices. Lets just say there is no competition and if you want to go to Machu Picchu you walk for 3 days or pay the bucks. I watched the Vistadome take off with 8 carriages then the next train came in with 1 car and hooked up 3 that were there. That was the backpacker special, my train. I got a great seat, R/H side front facing, so I had perfect view of Veronica. Veronica is the local volcano at nearly 6000 mtr is always covered in snow. Unfortunately the high cloud wasnt having any of that. I did get glimpses and the train wasnt full so we all got a good view af the Rio Urubamba next to us. The whole trip was pretty spectacular. I am at a lower altitude now and the area is a lot more tropical. I looked around town and found the IPeru office who gave me a good map. I found the right places to get the tickets I need cos you have to get them here not at M.P.. Lonely Planet says the museum outa town is free with entry ticket for M.P. and short walk out of town. Well I went there, 2km down hill and it cost 21s to see a bunch of models and sign boards in spanish with little english. That means 2km up hill to get back. They know how far you have come and how much it cost so you are going to pay to not miss anything. Lonely Planet also bags this town as a hovel and says it is the worst place on earth. I think they should come here before they bag the place. It is not as bad as Urubamba. (guess who doesnt like Urubamba) There map is wrong, the bus station is on the wrong street, they have the wrong river. The town has a lot of building going on so not the prettiest town but I have seen worse. The place is dominated by markets, huge markets. Then eateries and hostels. Everything is double the price of elsewhere. There are no street venders for food. Last night I had a burger in Ollant for 2 soles at the back of the markets. Burger bun, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, soggy chips (yes IN the burger) and some sort of meat, cant beat that. Here cheap lomosaltado is 8.50, I paid 3.50 in Puno few days ago. Went for a walk this arvo and some guys from one of the 5 star hotels were walking a barrow of luggage down the railway tracks. You guessed it a train came along, you should have seen them jump. I saw my first Macaw today. Couldnt get close enough to be sure. Tomorrow Im on the 5.30 bus to Machu Picchu then back to Ollant for the night. The hostel I stayed in was terrible. There is a row of shops and hostels between the railway and the river and they are all as bad as each other. The place is OK but the location is a problem. I should have realised yesterday when the woman was showing me the room and we had to shout to be heard. I read a book for an hour yesterday and didnt notice. At bed time the river sounded like a jet engine right next to the window. It was relentless and consequently I got about an hour sleep last night. I finally got up at 4am to go to the bus station; I thought I could sleep there, and was locked in. I had to wait for the woman to wake up at 4.45 so I waited for breakfast. Tea or coffee, no milk, lemon juice, unsweatened, and some old bread roll toasted. Nedless to say I would NOT recomend this place.