Peru 5 AND THE LAST ONE!!

Coming down from Machu Picchu – once again doing the serpentine route – we saw a bunch of little gaudily dressed kids waving excitedly at the bus as we made the first turn. At first it didn’t make any sense to us since the bus would never stop. But then one of those kids (in sandals yet) darted down a very steep foot path, going directly down hill instead of the zig zag the bus had to take. Every time the bus route crossed the trail we’d see him dartig across the road in front of us and then waving as we went by. To make a long, fast run short, the kid beat us to the bottom of the mountain. He raced across the bridge leading into Aquas Calientes before us and as the bus then came along side, the driver opened the door and let him aboard for his well deserved reward.

Below is a photo of our hotel that night in Aquas Calientes – we’ve come a long way from the Marriott in Lima!! If we had had a window in our 5x8 room, we would have taken a photo from that.

The streets in Aquas Caliente were extremely steep and lined only with touristy shops and places to eat. Waiters from the restaurants stand in the streets (no cars in this town) and solicit business. So now we have people hawking not only Incan stuff, but also food and drink. This is also the street Rance had to hike down to answer Amy’s frantic earthquake phone call – ½ mile down and up, fighting both aching knees and bubbly tummy. Rance was a bit curt with Amy, but on reflection we really appreciated all’s concern.

Next day we were back to Cuzco arriving in time for dinner, repacking, sleep and guess what? Up at 4:00 a.m. to be at the airport by 5:00 a.m. – and as we finish up this blog, we’re spending a bunch of time in the Lima airport waiting for our KLM flight to Amsterdam.
Peru is a beautiful country with lovely people. A great country to visit, but as first stop on our world adventure, we still have to say that nothing beats the USA.