Thursday July 12

First, an update from last night: I ate alpaca! It was delicious, sort of like pork only milder. The food at our hotel was superb. Did I mention that you cant get a bad meal in Peru? Today was a down day in Aguas Calientes. There is really nothing to do there, so we slept in, had a late breakfast, wandered around the town, had beer and pizza and watched some workers tear down a retaining wall in the river. Sounds weird, but it was quite interesting watching them use the back hoe. Warren would be horrified. Most everything there is done hand. The only transportation into town is by rail or on foot. There are buses that go up to the ruins, but there are literally no other motorized vehicles except for this back hoe, not even a motorcycle. As with everywhere in Peru, lots of dogs, no cats. I hiked out to the " Botanical gardens". sadly it is winter here and most of the orchids were not in bloom. The guide didn't speak much English except " no flowers" and "little flowers". Still, I'm glad I went. We came back to Cuzco on the Hiram Bingham train which is run by the Orient Express. Very swanky with a full course dinner ( no Guinea pig or alpaca). Our hotel in Cuzco is the ritziest yet. Fireplace, heated floors and towel racks, hot water bottles on either side of the bed.... I could get used to this! More tomorrow, our last day in Peru.