The culinary highlight of our visit to Lima, was our dinner at Central Restaurant which was recently voted number 4 in the world and number 1 in South America. I was surprised that we got a reservation at all because of the World Bank meetings, but we did, and we weren't disappointed!

While in Ollantaytambo, we stayed at the "Pakaritampu" which is a lovely garden hotel with its rooms divided among several buildings, and which is located right near the Ollantaytambo train station. This makes it very convenient for those on their way to Machu Picchu, which is just about everybody who visits Ollantaytambo. It’s literally a 1 minute walk to the train station. It’s a bit farther (and uphill) to get to the center of town, but it’s easy and convenient to take one of the “tuk-tuks” which are always waiting by the train station. It’s a 5 minute ride and costs less than a dollar.

In Aguas Calientes we stayed overnight at the "Tierra Viva". This is a beautiful hotel, which seems brand new, and still suffers from all kinds of little technical problems. While we were there, we experienced several things which didn’t work properly, and during the night we were there, the water was shut off in the hotel for several hours to make some sort of repair. The hotel is perfectly adequate for a one-night stay on the way to Machu Picchu, but one big disadvantage is that it is located downhill from the bus stop for going to Machu Picchu. That means that you have to trudge a long way up the hill to get to the bus stop, and then another 100 meters or so to get to the end of the long line waiting for the bus.  The first bus is at 5:30 AM, and the line at that hour is already about an hour.

We spent 3 nights in Cusco at the San Augustin Eldorado, which is located  just a few- minute walk from the main square – Plaza de Armas. It's a lovely hotel, with an "adequate" breakfast  but nothing special. We had several technical problems in the bathroom, and most were dealt with promptly. The lobby staff seemed somewhat indifferent, although on our second day, we met Marta, who seemed sincerely interested in taking care of everything properly. I got the feeling that she was part of management or ownership. The Wi-fi was problematic and worked decently only in the lobby. The hotel has a connected coffee shop, and an upscale shop selling local Andean garments. All in all, our stay here was satisfactory.

ALFREDO 100: We had a lovely lunch at Alfredo’s. This is one of the few restaurants which can rightly claim a connection to the inventor of the original fettuccine Alfredo, Alfredo di Lelio. The name of the restaurant was changed in 2014 from "Alfredo's" to "Alfredo 100" to honor the original recipe made by the original Alfredo in Rome in 1914. 

SMILER'S GOURMET DELI: There's more than one Smiler's in Manhattan, but the one at the corner of Madison and 54th was right near our hotel, and we were familiar with it from our previous visit 2 years earlier. We ate lunch there several times during our stay. We’ve eaten at several of the “gourmet delis” which now are all over Manhattan, but this is the best we’ve found. The buffet is large and varied, the food fresh and tasty, and there’s also a sandwich grill which will make hot sandwiches of all sorts to order. Best of all, there’s lots of neat and clean seating upstairs where you can eat. Since we were there 2 years ago, they have completely renovated the upstairs, and today it is a really pleasant place to sit and eat and have a nice view of 54th street below.  And, it's open 24 hours a day!