Overdoing the ¨agua¨ in Aguas Calientes

It´s been raining almost nonstop in Aguas Calientes (and Machu Picchu) since yesterday. It was nice at night when the sound of the raindrops lulled me to sleep, but not so nice when we had planned to return to Machu Picchu today. Since we also have tomorrow to go back, we decided to spend the day here in Aguas Calientes instead.

The hotel we are at (Inkaterra) has its own gardens with a walking path, so we set out in the rain on a short nature hike. There are 18 species of hummingbird here at the hotel and we saw about 5 or 6 of them. Taking pictures was tricky however, but I did get a few. We also saw the native bird of Peru perched high up in one of the trees.

After our hike we walked to the edge of the town to the Thermal Pools. It is 10 soles (about $3) to get in. You can rent suits to go in the pools, but we were more interested in seeing the waterfall that is located behind it. It had stopped raining for a bit so we hiked up the trail right up to the waterfall and back again. When we reached the pool area again we decided to stop at the Bar Paqcha Tarinakuy (located right next to the pools) to get something to drink before walking back to the bottom. It started POURING rain again so we sat and watched it from the safety of the bar before walking back to the town.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Aguas Calientes, which didn´t take long because the town is very, very small. Since the trains aren´t running today due to the strike, it was also very deserted here. We wandered around the marketplace again looking for ¨rainy day¨ deals since there weren´t many people shopping.

The rest of the day will be spent enjoying the amenities of our hotel...tea time from 4-5pm, pisco hour from 5-6pm, then dinner and back to the room. Our room doesn´t have a television (!) so it will probably be lights out at 8pm, just like last night. At least I can catch up on all the sleep I´ve been missing out on!

Crossing my fingers for a clear day tomorrow at Machu Picchu!!!

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