Thinking Allowed: In hot water

From the Sacred Valley we took the train to Aguascalientes - which was like day and night compared to the sleepy village of Yucay! Tourists swarmed like fish all around us, massage parlours abounded, all the prices had doubled. Our spacious house was replaced by a single room with six beds in it (which, admittedly, all the girls loved). We only had a day and a half in Aguascalientes, and while that may have felt like enough it was a rich experience nonetheless.

Our part of town revolved around the soccer field - a huge glorious stretch of green in an otherwise dense neighbourhood. It was lined with little stalls selling guinea pig, sandwiches and slices of cake. There was a clear gradient of prices leading uphill towards the touristy area - we were grateful to be in the more local, affordable, 'real' part of town.

There was also a playground right next to the soccer field, which the girls eagerly ran to. Zadie instantly injured herself on the slide, which was made out of bare steel bars welded together in dangerous ways. Remarkably, the next day we found the other playground on the road to Machu Picchu, on which Tova hurt herself first time down the slide, for exactly the same reason. Not exactly Australian safety codes.

The crush of people had its ups and downs. Tova made friends with diminutive kids every time she went to the playground, and everyone adored Levi - she would sit on the play structure surrounded by sloe-eyed Peruvian children who stroked her pudgy hands. But a beefy tourist spilled his beer out a second-story window directly onto Tamar and the girls, then just sort of grinned and waved sheepishly. So they all smelled like hops for a day and resented it.

Everything is expensive in Aguascalientes, so after splurging on Hare Krishna vegan food (they're usually so cheap!) our entertainment was limited to a walk along the train track, sitting in the rain throwing stones, and a visit to the (admittedly very instructive) Machu Picchu museum. I also noticed that cars here often have Transformers decals, and I think I know why: Autobots look like Peruvians! The sharp features, the hooded eyes - I hope that doesn't come across as racist, especially since I'm quite fond of Transformers and some of my best friends are Autobots.

We all went to bed early Saturday night, eager to wake up in the wee hours and hike up to Machu Picchu. Unfortunately I'd messed up the booking and put expired passport numbers on our tickets, though, so it was anybody's guess whether we'd be allowed in... but that's a story for next time!