And here I thought there was going to be a whole class! No one told me I was going to be coddled like a home-schooled child. Yesterday, I arrived in the lobby of my hotel ready to greet a group of fellow travelers.

"Benjamin?" asked a voice behind me. I turned to see a man who introduced himself as Manolo, a sixty-something year old Peruvian man who's been giving tours with Mountain Travel Sobek for 28 years. I wondered if I had arrived late, and the rest of the group was waiting outside.

"It's just you," he explained. "Meredith is coming too, but she's not landing for another hour--so we'll start the tour."

Just me? Oh, the rest of the group must be arriving tomorrow, when we leave Cusco.

"No, it's just the two of you all week."

Oh...

And so began my week of touring Incan ruins, which will hopefully culminate in a trip to Machu Picchu, the ultimate Incan ruin.

The most striking part of the last two days is just how many local tourists there are at this time of year. Maybe 90% of the tourists crowding the sites/sights are Peruvians. It's actually comforting. When the locals can enjoy the same parts of their country that tourists come to visit, it brings an authenticity to the experience that would be lacking were the ratio to favor the other direction.

So Manolo and Meredith (a pleasant Australian woman) are my companions for the week. And on Friday, we will say adios to Manolo and travel to the Galapagos to join 12 others. This time, I'm pretty sure there will be others.