Machu Picchu Day 2

Happy July 4th!
It was another beautiful 70 degree day in Peru. High temperatures have been between 70 and 75 each day though usually in the 40s and 50s at night.
We had another opportunity today to go back into Machu Picchu. We arrived up the mountain at 9:30a, perfect timing for our 10:00 hike up Wayna (also spelled Huayna) Picchu. Only 400 people are allowed to hike up this mountain per day, 200 at 7am and 200 at 10am. There's a picture below, of the mountain in behind the gate. We had read that the hike was harrowing and STEEP. Both were right but mostly the latter. The hike up, which took us 53 minutes, was made up, primarily, of stone stairs, some at a 75-80 degree angle. We took it slow though and most of it was manageable. Views from the top were, once again, spectacular. It took us 38 minutes to descend.
After that, we left Machu Picchu and took the bus back to Aguas Calientes. We walked to our hotel, Inkaterra, and cleaned up. They allow use of their showers even after check out. Lunch was included at the hotel, so we had a delicious lunch there. We took a walk through the hotel's Orchid garden though the flowers are, disappointingly, not in bloom this time of year. Still, a pretty walk and we did find begonias! Lucky us. 😉
We walked the 5 minutes to the train station and left on the 4:22 train back to Ollantaytambo. They had a man in costume dance in the aisles and then had an alpaca wool fashion show by the train attendants. Flight attendants have it easy!
Once we arrived, we were met by our driver from several days ago, Cero and another, English speaking guide. We drove nearly 2 hours to Cusco where we checked in at the Costa del Sol (a Ramada hotel). The hotel looks very charming and our room is nice. We walked into the city square which is beautiful and very European. We found a small trattoria to eat in and had some good Italian food.
On our drive in to Cusco, I was reminded of an interesting thing about Peru. There are dogs EVERYWHERE! Our guides have told us they all belong to someone thought it's difficult to imagine. They all appear to roam the streets at will. What is fascinating is that you don't see dog feces anywhere nor have I seen any dog urinating. Not sure who is cleaning the streets as we haven't seen that either! Maybe these dogs don't require this bodily function?
Off to bed - hope the fireworks 🎆 were great for you tonight!Read more