Day 343, 12 June 2013, Aguas Calientes and the train back to Cuzco. And, once more, we packed. It was a shame to leave Aguas Calientes today - such a shame I've included another photo as today's shot. Normal check out in this town is 9 am - to allow for early checking in and on the assumption you will be heading up to Machu Picchu. Much hard negotiation meant we could stay til 10 am. Then we set up camp in the restaurant/reception area. We could not have timed our visit any better - it started raining yesterday evening and has continued on and off since then. We've been sitting, writing, editing far too many photos and watching the world go by. Local ladies carrying babies wrapped in colourful textiles walk by often. The hardest working Peruvians we have seen however are the trolley men. Because Aguas is car free, the vast majority of supplies come in by train at the bottom of the hill - then the gas bottles, 10 at a time, are loaded onto trolleys and run up the hills and through the alleys to their eventual destinations. Today in the rain the work was even harder - everything had to be covered - food, bags of cement, rice - the works. The hostal, like most, is right on the train line. From the tables at the front you couldn't quite reach out and touch the trains - but it was darn close. They chuff past every so often accompanied by whistles and we take joy in waving at the passengers arriving into Aguas. They won't be the first to think we're nut cases. As is often the case with white faces ensconced near the door, they've had a full house for lunch today. I'm sure we should be on commission... It is time to head off to the train for our return to Cuzco. As luck would have it, our seats are on the opposite side of the carriage - so the view will be completely different for the return journey.
Update... The trip back, officially, took forever... left on the train at 3.20 pm and arrived back at 7.30 pm. The train trip was a ball - especially when we had a surprise dancing visitor in traditional festival costume followed by an alpaca fashion parade. Strictly speaking it was the cabin attendants wearing fabulous alpaca garments - but you can visualise alpacas on a catwalk if you want! It was the final two hours in the bus in the dark that took it out of us. Mind you we were on the edge of our seats the whole way - apparently it is a national duty to overtake (2-3 cars/trucks/buses at a time), if you find yourself with a vehicle in front of you. Stunned that we passed only one accident in two hours where a van had run off the road. Packed (again). Sigh... spent the best part of an hour checking in for tomorrow's flights and getting the boarding passes printed. Eventually, we slept. Just for a change we're getting up early tomorrow....