We woke up before 5am this morning because we went to bed at 7 (Nita) and 9 (Sandra) last night. We decided not to try to do anything particular before lunch, but just take it easy, pack, read, and so on.
We met the gang at 11:30 for lunch at the hotel restaurant. Sandra is still coughing a lot and pretty dragged out, but she had an appetite at lunch, which suggests she might be getting better. After lunch, we walked to the train station to catch the train back to Ollanta.
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| The entrance to the hotel |
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| Sandra on bridge over Urumbamba River outside hotel |
The train ride was similar to the one out. We had coca tea served to us. But this time, they had a dancer come out in costume with a mask (sort of a jester outfit) and dance in aisle. He pulled one woman up and danced with her. And then he came over and danced with me. It was just kind of hop on alternating feet-type dance. We didn't get a photo unfortunately, but one of our group mates did, so maybe we'll post that later.
After the dance the train attendants did a fashion show for us, modeling some alpaca and vicuña wraps and sweaters. Afterwards they tried to sell them to us. The vicuña is amazingly soft and very very expensive. (Like a vicuña coat might coast $5000). But it was all very entertaining and we got to touch the vicuña.
We got off the train and then got back on our bus to Cuzco. That drive took a little over an hour and a half. We really enjoyed one last look at the beautiful countryside. As Sandra says, you know you're in a different country. We drove up out of the Sacred Valley onto the high country with patchwork fields and adobe houses, women in tall hats (a different type of hat for every region), and our last look at the snow-capped Andes.
When we got back to Cuzco, they were having the Octavo, which is when the saints go back from catedral to the churches were they come from. Some of the streets were closed off for that, so we had to stop further out and switch to a smaller bus that could get through the streets we had to get through and drop us off at the door of the hotel.
At the hotel, the bag we had to leave behind was already in our room, so we only had to collect keys. It was about 5:30 at this point. We said all our goodbyes to our tour mates and to our guides. Then we rushed to our room and ordered room service for dinner. I couldn't wait to get out of the pants I've been wearing for four days now!
Tomorrow we head to the Cuzco airport and back to the U.S. We have an overnight flight, so won't get back to Seattle until late Saturday. We're ready to be home now. I sure hope someone invents teleporters soon!
All in all, we were very pleased with our trip. We got to see a lot of the countryside of Peru, experience some of Cuzco's celebrations, and learn about the lives of the people of Peru. And of course we got to experience Machu Picchu. It was all really wonderful and we are very glad we came.
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