The walk to the city of Aguas Calientes was a long one. A cool breeze and shade from the trees made the temperature bearable. Chris and I had long sleeve shirts and pants on to keep the bugs at bay. I wanted to tell you about the collage photos in my last blog, “The Walk to Aguas Calientes.” The photos show Chris walking on railroad tracks, which we both did to pass the time. He made up a game of how long we could stay on the tracks hopping from one section to the next. The rails were super slippery and I did not last long but we think he made it to 40 in a row. We had to jump off when a train was coming of course, so this hindered the game a bit, or made it more exciting. We did this for a long time so several of the miles. I love that we always invent new games to play depending on our surroundings and try to fully immerse ourselves in every situation we find ourselves in.
It was fun watching for trains because our injured friend had to take the train into the city instead of walking the last 19 miles. She had hurt her leg and could not make the journey until it started to heal per the doctor’s orders. Stitches are nothing to mess with especially on a trip in another country. As we walked and had to hop off the rails, we would wave and wonder if she was in the train. After several hours passed we actually saw her in one of the train cars and waved. She did not see us but we saw her and were super excited!! I had taken a picture of this exact train as it was coming and then she was on it! What are those odds, we thought? So when I got home, back to the States, I did a little watercolor of the painting to always remember the moment. I later created a watercolor of that same picture for the world to enjoy and I hope it brings much enjoyment. Trains are a wonderful form of transportation and bring to mind so many happy memories for me of the winter season. I often drift off to think about the Polar Express or the Hogwarts Express. It was cute watching Chris wave and hearing, “Do you think she saw us?”
Another thing Chris did that was super sweet was to carry my wet clothes. He tied them to his backpack so they could dry in the sun. He said he would be my clothesline. So sweet! I had taken a shower before we left for ziplining and put my clothes in a plastic bag to dry them later. My sarong acted as my towel for everything this trip. I always carry a sarong after a trip taken in Barcelona, Spain with my cousin before I met Chris. Maybe I will blog about that one sometime as it was just as interesting. Back to the moment of wet clothes…Basically, he got several looks and heads were shaken, to all of this he just smiled and carried on. He is full of wonder and great ideas. My clothes dried by the time we reached Aguas Calientes which was good because it was getting dark. We arrived at dinner time and met up with Papi for room assignments. I will share more about this on Wednesday and the ice shower.
Happy Monday and have a great start to your week. Thank you for reading!
-Karen Hilliard