Left Samana Wasi this morning and now we are in Cusco, waiting to catch the night train to Arequipa (I am so NOT looking forward to that) to see Johanna again (I am so looking forward to that), and then the next day catch another bus (16 hours) to Lima, to do a final trek with David, and thus end this Peruvian trip the way it began.

The day before yesterday we left for Aguas Calientes, the city near Machu Picchu. We spend the day and a (very bad) night there, and got up at four in the morning to hike (instead of bus) the last one and a half hour climb to Machu Picchu. The intention was to get there before the masses of tourists arrive. We arrived before it opened, but then had to wait an hour and a half for the mist to clear up - time that Heather spent nearly sleeping, exhausted from the hike and getting up early.

¨Mir kommen die traenen¨I heard a German middle aged guy reply to the question of his guide what seeing Machu Picchu invoked in him. I don´t think I am shy of shedding a tear now and then, but in this case Machu Picchu obviously left me less moved than the German. It was beautiful, splendid, without a doubt, but it is hard for this extremely hyped place to meet expectations. I mean, a visit to Machu Picchu is announced as a life-changing experience etc etc. Very beautiful, but let´s keep it at that.

As we rushed to the train back from Aguas Calientes to Ollantantambo (52 dollars, a case of pure tourist exploitation), I was - for no apparent reason and as the only one - stopped by the railguard, who took a critical look at my ticket. He pointed out to us that it showed the date of yesterday. We were dragged to the office desk and tried to explain that it was a mistake of the guy who sold us the ticket (which it wasn´t - we simply didn´t tell him we wanted to get back only the next day). After a lot of discussing (Heather was suggesting she would fake crying, but I told her not to as I would have to laugh then), they offered that we pay 7 dollars each to change the ticket and jump on the next and last train, which was about to leave. We had miscalculated the money we needed for this Machu Picchu adventure, and couldn´t find 15 dollars even among the two of us. We were five soles (one and a half euro) short and the railguard, a fine specimen of Peruvian beaurocracy, kept shaking his head. Then Heather found a five soles piece in the back of her wallet and we rushed to the train that was about to depart. If we wouldn´t have found the coin, we´d be, like, fucked, to quote Heather, cause in that whole town there was no ATM and we wouldn´t know how to find money anywhere (to sleep another night in the hotel too).
Once on the train, we realised we didn´t have money any more for the bus we had to take after the train. I was standing up and preparing to ask the whole train car for some money, but an American woman noticed our agitation and spontaneously said ´excuse me, do you need some money?´. I said yes! we need two soles! And that was the end of it. We kept fantasising a bit about how we would´ve gotten more money (sing, steal, sell our bodies, rent out our bathing suits for people who forgot them and wanted to bathe in the thermals...).

Oh yeah, I had a really good pancake with chocolate and banana in the Hare Krishna restaurant in Aguas Calientes. Which, by the way, is an ok city to eat. We ordered a pizza without cheese, and after a ´sin queso??? es horrible no??¨got a very delicious pizza, of which we asked one more (que?? un otro?).

So now we are in Cusco and just said goodbye to Marta, who is staying here for quite a few more weeks.

Exactly one month today and I´ll be back in Belgium.

abrazo a todos