I got up at five in the morning and waited by the SAS office for the bus to take me to the station.

It's a token of my state of mind (PMS? Travel Weariness? Bad hairday? Any combination of the above?) that I just shot withering looks at the taxidrivers instead of mumbling 'no gracias'. But, I mean, really: I was carrying a sleeping bag and standing outside a travel agency, where did they think I was going that I would need a taxi?

The bus picked us up to go to the station and I talked to Swiss girl Andrea. When we got there, it turned out the six o'clock train, which my tickets were for, had already left! I didn't find out if they bought the wrong tickets, if the woman had told me the wrong time of if the bus was just too late, because a guy pushed me into a taxi with a couple of Americans and we went to Poroy, to catch up with the train as it reached that station.

We waited at the station for about 20 minutes, during which time the American woman asked me all sorts of silly questions ('Do they grow wheat in Bolivia?') and I was glad to get onto the train. I sat next to a young Texan guy who was quite nice and we had a good discussion about how all the beautiful monuments have usually been built on the basis of inequality: most of the greatest churches and temples have been built by slaves or poor people.

There was a guide with a group who told them where the start of the Inca Trail was and I felt a pang of regret at not doing it. But considering my bad mood, the rain and the altitude, I would probably have been miserable for four days...

At the trainstation I was met by a fourteen year old representative of SAS and shown to the hotel, where I got a double bed, and a private bathroom, which was a nice surprise. I tried out the bed and slept for a few hours. I asked the guy at reception what was happening. After all, it is a tour, I was expecting to be sheperded from place to place.

But he was very vague about any sort of schedule and the afternoon was free anyway. So I went to find some lunch. Foolishly, I spurned the LP and took a chance, and I got spaghetti like glue for my unfaithfulness. It's the first time on this trip I've complained about the food, and she brought me a veggie sandwich but it had salt on the tomatoes, yug. And she still made me pay for the spaghetti!

I just wandered around, had a nap and went on the internet, because Aguas Calientes is not exactly a happening place. In the evening, I went for dinner downstairs at 7.30. They had placed me at the far end of the table, far away from the other people there, which made me feel soooo wanted... Luckily, Andrea came down and immediately rearranged the seating and sat opposite me. We had veggie soup, chicken, rice and chips and even a glass of red wine, all included in the trip.

Andrea was supposed to do the trail, she's very sporty and even ran the marathon in New York, it was the first point of her trip. Unfortunately she got ill, and the guide forbade her to come when he saw her on the info evening. Later, we got to talking to two Austrian guys, them speaking German, me English. As the wake up call was again very early, I went to bed at about ten.