We slept great and had a not-so-great hotel breakfast. We felt mostly fine. A little light-headed and off, but definitely no serious altitude sickness. We agreed to take it easy and just go to see some museums for the day. We walked a couple of blocks to get a “boleto turistico”/tourist ticket which will get us into most things while we’re in Peru.

We walked on to the main plaza and Millie got her Friday ice cream. Here she is looking 30 years old with it.

We sat on a bench and people-watched while deciding where to go next.

We decided on the Regional History museum because it was close and we could get in with our tourist ticket. When we arrived it was closed, with a small sign on the door saying it was a national holiday.

Plan B: the inka museum. We walked to this and it was also closed for the same reason.

So, museums were off the table. We decided to walk to a set of ruins called “Saqsaywaman”. Nick suggested this without a hint of humor in his voice “we should just go to sexy woman”. Okay.

Our plan to take it easy was thrown out when we realized this walk was straight up hills for 20 minutes. Usually this wouldn’t be a big deal but the altitude made us feel very out of shape.

It was so rough that we stopped at a cafe halfway through to get a coffee and a snack. We took breaks every 50 yards or so. We took one on a square where we couldn’t resist taking a tourist photo with a llama and baby lamb.

We continued to walk up, up, and up. Every time we passed someone on their way down Millie said “I can’t look at them! I’m too jealous that they are going down.” Eventually we made it to the sexy woman.

These was a large compound of Incan ruins. Nick has spent the last week listening to an extensive podcast about the history of the empire and acted as our tour guide. We continued to take lots of breaks.

The highlight for Millie were these natural stone slides. She spent about an hour running up and going down them.

We walked through tunnels and were astonished at how anyone moved these huge rocks to the top of the mountain. We could barely get our bodies up there.

After exploring the whole site, we became the lucky “going down” people.

It was only about 4 but we were hungry. This set off an annoying evening of trying to find dinner. First, we went to a restaurant that only had spicy food. We ordered some corn thinking it would be a good snack for Millie. We loved it, but it was not the style of corn she is used to and she didn’t like it. Then, we tried to get a seat a different place overlooking the plaza. They said one would be ready in 10 minutes and sat us in the back. We ordered and appetizer and drink, and an hour later there was still not a seat available. We decided to leave and went to a new place where we faced a similar fate. So in the end we went to 3 restaurants and ordered 3 appetizers that Millie wouldn’t touch.

Boring story, I know. But something worth remembering when I’m feeling nostalgic for this trip: eating meals felt extra complicated sometimes.

We walked back to the hotel along the cobble stone streets. I started to get an altitude headache and immediately regretted my Pisco sour.

We all played Set for over an hour, and Millie continues to improve. I’m hopeful that someday she will beat the reigning world champion (Nick).