I am in a small INCA town at the base of some fabulous INCA ruins. There are around 225 steps and as I have knee problems I want to save myself for Machu Picchu so I found an internet while the gang walks the ruins. Great time to post. I may type some then post then continue as I hate to do a big post and lose it if I get disconnected.

We had an adventure in Internet-phone last night. We decided to stop in town to just check email. We had an email from Kens brother that we needed to call American Airlines to confirm that we were approving him to use our miles to pay for his ticket to TUSK.

By the time this happened the reservation was expiring in one hour so we had to do it immediately. No time to waste or go back to the hotel.

Next challenge - how to use the phone. The young girl running the place (so tiny you would not believe it) spoke absolutely zero English. I wish I had Lindas video camera as Ken is trying to explain what he wants to do. It was quite comic. Why does everyone raise their voice thinking this will help the other person understand a foreign language. She got louder, he got louder eventually through sign language she got the idea. He kept picking up the phone and she was waving no. I think she thought we wanted to use the phone for the same fee as the internet because they had a phone that looked like it was to be used by clients. Eventually with much laughter that problem was overcome. Neither Ken nor I could figure out how to use the phone and neither one of us could remember the country code. What kind of Travel Agents are we not to know that!! We use email so much and very seldom call on the phone. Another total non comprehension time and then she produced a paper with all the country codes. We called and got disconnected several times then eventually we managed to connect and confirm with American Airlines.

Next was to pay. I think this little girl had no idea what to charge for the phone. Of course neither did we. We paid her in how many thousand of soles she asked just so grateful to have the problem solved. Later on we figured out this was all of about $4 to $5 for the internet and phone. At the hotel we checked the phone prices. $10 a minute!!!! We must have been on that phone for about 30 minutes. The people here truly are friendly, nice and very accommodating.

Moral of the story, have a good time, a few laughs and save a fortune - use the local phone!

I am going to post this and do another installment.