Salkantay Trek Day 4

So hot last night, down in the valley is much warmer than up on the mountain. Lisa and me got up around 7:45, packed, and breakfast was at 8:30.Started hiking around 9:30. Sunny and hot today. It was about 2.5 hours hiking on a road to the train station at a hydro-electric plant. On the way there, we saw a massive waterfall coming out of the side of the mountain, we suspect the runoff from the hydro-electric plant. Also along the road, we entered the Machu Picchu park border. As we were registering, there was a massive boom and the ground shook beneath our feet. Dynamite in the area!We had lunch at a restaurant at the train station, then hiked along the railway fro 2.5 hours to Aguas Caliente. Nice walk up the valley, steep canyon walls on either side, and a roaring river. But walking along railway ties is hard on the legs and feet, so that part of it wasn't particularly pleasant.We got to Aguas Caliente around 4:30, checked in to our hostal, at 5:20 we went to the train station to get our baggage. The horses turned back last night, so all our baggage they were carrying had to be brought here via bus and train. The cooks brought them up on the train.I showered and used internet, then at 7:30 we all met at a restaurant for our last supper together.Aguas Caliente is a massive tourist town. It's the town closest to Machu Picchu, and is very much like Banff, huge expensive hotels, expensive restaurants, shops selling everything that are hugely overpriced. Some of the lodges here are like the ones you'd find at ski resorts in Panorama.Tomorrow we're getting up at 3:30am for a 4:00am hike up to Machu Picchu. The mountain that you see behind Machu Picchu in all the typical photo's of Machu Picchu is called Huayna Picchu, and they only allow 400 people to climb it every day. You have to get to the top early to get a ticket to climb it, and we all want to.