0701 On bus. PEN28.06 (and oh yes, they charge that 0.06, it's actually 28.10 with rounding) for single. Return is only fractionally cheaper at something like PEN53 so I didn't buy that. Modulo spider terror I intend to walk down, and I am hoping/assuming you can buy a bus ticket at MP if desired. You can't buy an admission ticket to MP at the site, there are signs about it and guy checked I had a ticket before letting me on bus.
Didn't sleep great but not too bad, bed bit short even for me, no eight-legged friends joined me there to the best of my knowledge though. V overrcast but not raining. Dragged myself out of bed 623 after snoozing on alarm and it disappearing; I think my current alarm clock program is buggy. Still, am probably OK for time so next hurdle is getting into park with bag...
0755 Phone GPS refusing to work (with some apps, i.e. the ones I care about to take a log) despite having rebooted the useless crock of shit. Fearsome looking insect on stairs as we came up to have tickets checked.
1253 At Sun Gate, met Peruvian family (iirc Gaby mother, Carlos & Diana 18-22ish children) from Lima on walk up - they spoke great English. Waffle more later, just wanted to jot down names while remembered. Also spoke to chap from Durham while admiring view. He said Inka trail itself is prob closed this week. I went about ten metres down it just so I can say that technically speaking I have reached Machu Picchu by the Inca Trail (after all, I'm here now again). I was going to walk back down road but Durham chap said there is a footpath which doesn't follow the road's repeated curves, we will see. I am intending to leave the site 1430-1500 then I should easily be in town by 1700, probably earlier, and can have food there before getting train back, I have to be at stn by 1830. Frankly leaving even at 1500 is perhaps a bit early but better safe than sorry.
1316 He's right, back on the Inca Trail and fiddling with OSM (which has v good coverage here) I can see the footpath back down the hill.
Oh, the views from up here are very cool, perhaps more so than being on the central part of the site. Also did the 'Inca Bridge' walk earlier which was cool and like up here hardly desolate but not as busy as main site. Quite evocative to imagine the Inca messengers running along these paths, esp with the vertiginous drops at places.
1556 Nearly in town. Come into practically first restaurant I've seen, but price not too insane. Having medium chorizo pizza and since it was an included option a beer, though it's only small (330ml Cusqueña). Bit weak but fuck it.
Trouble with GPS, I do wonder if in part being in such a deep narrow steep-sided valley causes problems. Has been spitting very slightly but despite ominous rumbling have escaped dry so far. Hope I'm not going to get soaked or forced to open my disposable poncho just to get to the train station...
Walk down slightly taxing on feet and I did slip over and fell on my back but caught myself with hands at one point. The surface is generally stone and it's not that bad. Not monstrously scenic and I tended to have my eyes on the path but glad I walked it.
Think I saw most of what was on offer (discounting the two 'special limited ticket' needed peaks) at MP, perhaps an extra hour might have been nice and as it turns out I probably could have stayed an extra hour, but I was getting a bit tired and I had to allow a safety margin and also slightly concerned to get down before weather turned if possible. I probably actually left the site about 1450.
Sustained myself until now entirely on 100g of chocolate-coated raisins, some guzzled discreetly inside site since no food is allowed.
1605 There's a ginger and white cat here, it's come and sat a couple of chairs down from me, though doesn't seem particularly responsive to my attempts to get it to come to me.
1629 Pizza OK if decidedly nothing special. Should perhaps have hung on but f it, it's not raining yet so let's pay and go find the station then can always go somewhere nearby. Bill 27 plus a 'tax servicio' making it 30, I guess that's OK as it's what I would have tipped anyway.
1651 While I think the guide today even said Aguas Calientes sprang up around the tourist trade, I am sat in the centre (well, the place is tiny) by the river and it really isn't so unattractive here. Seriously tempted to go and have a beer but probably resist, if nothing else if I have one (well, another, but the one with food not quite the same) I'm more likely to go out tonight, and if anything if I am going out tonight it's more important that I don't drink now. So better to be firm now and if, which I probably won't be, I am tempted later then at least I've shown a bit of abstinence here and lowered my consumption by that much.
I'm still a bit hungry, I might compromise and buy a snack, I dunno. But then maybe I'd be as well holding off and going out for dinner back in Cusco. But then that might tempt me to go out for a drink. Meh. It all comes down to boredom really.
1658 At station. It appears to be completely surrounded by market stalls.
1708 Come to some cafe restaurant place for cafe cortado.
1716 They have wifi, so infer place is La Payacha. Paid, PEN6 so making it 7 with tip.
1738 Was interested earlier to note that while getting lots of advice off that Peruvian family, they consider pollo a la brasa (sp) a classic Peruvian dish. I suppose just because it's pretty common elsewhere doesn't make that wrong, but stil interesting. I have a vague idea Valeria told me the same thing at some point.
Finished coffee, will use bog then go hang around at station. Not having another, it's just a smidge pricey and it will probably make me want to piss when I can't. Tis OK, at least now it's 'only' 50m til I have to be at stn and 1h20m til the train goes. I note I am in economy on this trip.
1751 In station waiting room. There is a cafe bar here, I flirted with a ham and cheese bap but it was PEN10 so I didn't even bother asking about mayonnaise. Could have a drink, alcoholic or otherwise, but as per above neither option is ideal.
I should say when I keep writing eg Owhatsit, it is in part so it's obvious I am not sure how to spell or can't quite remember place name. I should probably just have a go though, Future Steve (should he care) is likely to find it less irksome to correct an approximate name than a pretty unhelpful first letter only version. (Though I am sure consulting a travel guide and/or the GPS track would always allow them to be resolved.) Owhatsit is something like Ollaytantambo. IIRC the 'tambo' suffix indicates somewhere founded mainly as a rest stop between two more important places (in this case Cusco and MP) - this is based on what I remember guide saying yesterda at Owhatsit.
2252 At Norton Rat's. Train didn't get into Owhatsit til about 2050, about 2110 by time our minibus left Owhatsit and we got to somewhere not far from plaza in Cusco about maybe 2200. Times v approx. Walked to hotel, no probs but they are painting 'my' room (1) so I've been put in 13, which is a twin but has a sloped wooden beamed ceiling which just screams 'spiders' to me. Still, close inspection showed none and it's a million miles better than last night. I had a brief chat with woman on reception about heating, there is no heater but if I want one I can have one but she thinks it's a warmer room, and she could well be right.
Had quite good chat with F&F on train back, they seem very nice people (not that I ever thought otherwise, my avoidance of them last night was a reflection of my own mood). We spoke in Spanish this time, I understood about 70-80% of what they said. They didn't like the hotel either, they also didn't get a bus ticket included (so I may not go complain), they paid same as me. Apparently the reason it's so expensive is the train is USD50 each way - the tickets did show this. The USD100 trips are by bus and according to them it's 8 hours on a really bad road. Anyway, they basically agreed with me (hotel and buffet sucked, silver market waste of time but guides good and MP itself well worth all the hassle).
As I said wasn't going to come out tonight but I was feeling weak about it and the room and blah blah made me think I'd give it a go. It's not amazing here but meh. Will probably only have a couple barring social interaction and I'm pretty sated so I'm unlikely to go out of my way to initiate anything.
2309 "Jeremy" playing. Not that busy. Did occur to me earlier that given how tourism-oriented Cusco is (at least these bits), is Saturday really any different from any other day?
2322 Strange version of "Born to run" playing. F&F live in Santiago, she is from there, he is from Temuco. They reckon it's pretty safe in general, though as always slightly hard to follow the exact names of the regions (eg never quite sure where Providencia is). Will have second beer. They gave me some advice on Ecuador and we chatted a bit generally re travel.
Think have bit of sunburn on head, I did apply cream but only realised when reapplied it pretty late on it says to reapply every 2h, and it was pretty sunny at times. Don't think it's mega serious, it's not as if I was completely unprotected.
2347 F&F did say locals probably tended to say Santiago was more dangerous than it was. I keep dropping these little bits in as I feel up to the effort of writing them. Might jog my memory of the conversation in future. Didn't make any (slightly pointless really) effort to eg make facebook connection with them or the Peruvian family earlier. F&F did suggest we meet up if I was in Lima when they were but they are flying there and leaving (by bus to Tacna then cross to Arica and internal flight to Santiago since international flights are more expensive) Thursday and I am not going to be there by then.
Think my neck has sunburn too, oh well. Shouldn't take too long to recover, as said before not as if I was totally unprotected.
2356 Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians playing. Title eludes me but the lyrics go "What I am is what I am". Busy but not absolutely rammed in here. Probably have a third then maybe go. Is it called "What I am"?
0004 Yes, third. *Not* intending a repeat experiment but having had a few people tell me about the healing effects of pure/thin air re benders on ski holidays, I do wonder if the altitude could possibly be responsible for apparent lack of major ill effects after definitely six and probably seven pints of 5.5% beer on Wednesday night. I don't drink anywhere near as much as I used to and that was a pretty heavy night in theory, even if it was over a moderately extended period. Probably nothing in it but mention it FWIW.
0040 Let's head home. My total consumption this week is a bit high but I take comfort in the fact I can decide to go home after three, it's not as if I'm compelled to drink just for the hell of it when it's not fun. (Not a *bad* night but I am a bit tired and not really in the mood for staying out.) Going to walk home, probably OK but fingers crossed.
0049 Back at hostel, quite a few people in street except right near hostel but even then not deserted. Couple of dogs investigating rubbish bags but they didn't show any signs of being arseholes, minute or so wait to be let in but all good. As per above only Wed was a bit OTT and personally I see nothing wrong in cutting loose occasionally, as long as it is only occasionally.
I don't fucking believe it. This room is even worse provisioned with sockets than the other. The *only* one, including the bathroom, appears to be the one on the wall for the TV which is sufficiently recessed my plug adapter won't work in it.
No, I tell a lie, there's one low on the wall hidden at the foot (not the head, natch) of one of the beds.
0058 Delighted to see the wifi signal is super ropy here, worse than in other room, phone struggles to maintain a connection at all. Not tried netbook yet.
0107 If didn't already say this room is on UK 2nd floor, prev was on UK 1st. Had shower, thanks to wanky electric heater in showerhead had to turn water flow down super low to get more than lukewarm and then if anything it was a bit too hot but unable to find compromise. Could have been worse I guess. I have a hand towel to dry myself on, which is really OK but bit sucky. Going out to bar meant missed chance to buy water/snacks at nearby shop but I'm not really hungry and can always indulge myself tomorrow. Be good to do city tour but esp given need to sort out onward travel doubt am doing it tomorrow even if I get up early. Since checkout is 9am I guess I can maybe do that Monday before getting bus on to Ica in evening. Phone is on charge, I switched battery in minibus so need to get both charged but it appears for some reason to be crawling excessively to charge now, never mind that I'd like to use it to read myself to sleep on.
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