18th July 2012: Aglias Caliente (Part 2)

Aguas Caliente (Part 2):
Wake up fairly early, and head down for breakfast, where I bump into some fellow Llama lover trekkers who had an extra night in Aguas. Breakfast is just forgettable, with only dry soft bread, bananas, and 1/4 cold omelette...!!! I ask for information on what was meant to be the hike of the day, Mtn Putucusi, and I'm informed that the track is actually closed for repairs. Some of the Wooden ladders leading to the summit had been damaged during the wet season, and repair works are being performed...Bummer...:(
With nothing else to do, we just go on to explore Aguas caliente. Shops, restaurants and hostels everywhere. Nothing really exciting. We drop Sarah off to a massage session, after having checked that the place was legit, and head off to get some freshly squeezed fruit juice where we can have free wifi.
Quick fb update on the first day of the Inca trail before my battery goes dead. All that write up in the middle of almost every morning at camp had just drained the life out of it.
Pick up a refreshed and hyper Sarah, and we find this really posh and nice resto, where we have just good food.

Head back to hostel, to collect our train tickets back to Cuzco, and train station we go.
At some point, the train slows down, and one of the crew members gets down to change the rail track direction, like in the old western films!!!! Didn't know that this thing was still done manually these days...!!!
Shortly after the train resumed its course, a man disguised in weird looking mask and bright colourful clothes pops out from the front and starts to dance around, to the tune of the local music. Follow a mini fashion show c/w cat walk (in this case more of a lane walk:P) featuring alpaca goods that are later presented for sale.

We stop at Ollantaytambo (start of our inca trail) and look for the travel agent people who are meant to take us back to Cuzco by coach, but they are nowhere to be found. Francis calls the travel agency, and he is told that the people should already be there. We must have waited at least 30 minutes in the cold before a dodgy looking woman came out of one of the stalls next to us, to direct us to a tiny packed mini van.
Quick dinner in Cuzco, and sweet sleep shortly thereafter.