We woke early, opened the front window of the tent and watched the stars and moon as they waned over the mountains; the first light caught Mt Veronica and just after 6am it burst over the mountains infront of us. Lucky we were awake as Dan, enroute to the loo tripped over our guy ropes - all we could see was the light of his torch heading towards us! All packed up we headed to the tent for breakfast but as it was so warm we sat there while they lifted it off for an alfresco breakfast of quinoa porridge and apple crepes. We then said thank you to all the staff and handed out the tips. The chef we would see again as he was cooking lunch for us later in a restaurant in Ollyantaytambo.
At 7.15 we set off down the mountain side to the quarry where all the stones were gathered and honed for the inca site in Ollyantaytambo - you could see several in the process of being moved and which didn't reach their final intended destination. We continued down the path, carefully negotiating the slippery scree which took one victim - Lainey's nice white top had a brown hue after she took a tumble. We then met Virginia, aged 9, with her white pony and dog, she was heading home and had set off at 5am - later we could see her high up on the mountain trotting along and singing to herself - with the donkey who had been eating too much enroute running after them to catch up!
We passed young bulls and goats foraging and then met two young boys Franklin aged 6 and Rocky aged 8 playing with a plastic horse and a robot on a road they had made at the edge of a sandy path. We gave all the children fruit ( a plea before we started from Bobby - 'no sweets') - the boys had apples and Virginia a tangerine.
We continued slowly down towards the river and walked alongside until we came to a foot bridge which we crossed before climbing steps beside the terraces into town. Bobby met and chatted to the wife of an old Inca trail friend and not long after his son chased after us and invited us back for corn beer - which as we had 20 mins before lunch we did. We sat in the court yard of a very simple house with outside washing facilities- we noted that as it had been the wife/mothers birthday the day before and the celebrations were continuing today that only two guinea pigs were left running around! As we re-emerged we saw the horses with our bags trot into town. After a much needed lunch Bobby negotiated with the restaurant owner that we borrowed his showers - 10 sols a shower - what a bargain after 4 days without one - it also meant we could really enjoy our scenic Perurail trip to Aguas Calientes where we would meet the others and stay the night. Today's photo are fellow train travellers - we first saw the the alpaca on the back of a tuk tuk!
The train trip was excellent - we saw where the Inca trail started and looked for spectacled bears in the cloud forest - no luck sadly. It was a short walk to the hotel where after dumping bags we met the others and were soon swoping stories.....over a not very nice pizza....the conversation was buzzing and the food relatively immaterial. Up tomorrow at 0445 as we need to be at the buses before the Machu Picchu masses.