We have a leisurely breakfast this morning.  Gringo Bill’s has some of the standard breakfast food that we have seen here in Peru.  It also has wonderful fresh squeezed orange juice and great scrambled eggs with ham and cheese.  This makes up for the 9AM check out time, maybe….

 

 

We are a bit late for checkout, but they are understanding 🙂  This is a photo from the main square.  Gringo Bill’s up the path in the center of the picture.  We spoke with Mrs. Gringo Bill who told us that it was the first hotel here.  About 35 years ago.  Gringo Bill himself has moved on to the north coast of Peru as he is a surf bum now.

 

 

Here are some of the streets here in the shadow of Machu Picchu.  The steps for those who like steps and the ramps for delivery people and those who prefer hills.

 

 

 

We are on our way to the Hot Springs that Aguas Calientes is named for.

 

 

 

 

 

The path to the hot springs is right along the river of Rio Aguas Calientes.  This river then joins the Urubamba River in the middle of the town.

 

 

We arrived at the hot pools and I decided that I didn’t like the look of the water, so I paid my 10 soles and just watched these guys getting mellow in the pools, that they tell me were not very hot.

 

There are many sculptures in this town.  It seems to me that they have carved boulders that were naturally laying along the river.

 

 

 

I am not sure of the story behind this sculpture, but it appears that she has had a mastectomy????

 

 

 

There is basically no vehicle traffic in this town except for the buses that go up and down Machu Picchu.  Anything that needs to go anywhere gets hauled in carts and wheel barrows from the train tracks.  These guys really earn their money.  Everything is up hill!!

 

 

It seems that the “Love Lock” phenomenon is a bit more well known here.

 

 

 

 

Here is a statue of an Inca Warrior with the 3 sacred animals of the Inca.  The Condor, the Puma and the Snake.

 

 

We pickup our luggage at Gringo Bill’s and head to the train station to catch our train to Ollantaytambo.  Once there we will catch a bus back to Cusco.

 

 

The sun is shining beautifully.  We get this great shot through the bus window 🙂  Beauty!!

This was quite a scary bus ride.  It was a 19 passenger van.  The driver was driving very fast on very windy roads.  We were very happy when we arrived safely in Cusco.

When Greg and Leslie arrive we head out for our last dinner together.  We are leaving for Lima tomorrow and they are continuing on to Bolivia and other South American destinations.  We go back to the Andean Grill where Stu and I had a great meal a few nights ago.  Another good meal, with even greater company!!