Advertisement
Published: October 16th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Day 3 of the hike started right when the Roosters woke up… which I found out occurs about 2 hours before sunrise. Needless to say it was a rough start to the day. Everyday getting out of my tent was getting harder and harder, the ground seemed lower and lower. Not only was my body sore it hurt to move and both of my knees were swollen.
Our hike today was going to be through the jungle so to prepare we covered ourselves in sunscreen and mosquito spray. While the weather started off a bit chilly it quickly warmed up and the mosquitoes came out in full force. Our guide promised us that the hike would be flat but it turns out he lied and the hike involved a lot of small hills.
Our hike started along this beautiful river. We saw this man-made pool that was being feed by a geyser so the water was so warm. It took all I had not to jump right in and relieve all my aches and pains. Our next stop was a popular spot with all of the groups. It was a flat grassy area and by the time we had
gotten there, a soccer game had broken out. Our guide bought us local passion fruit which is very different than the passion fruit we get in California. The fruit were about the size of a small orange and the insides were light colored, the taste was not as sweet as well.
Hiking through the jungle was beautiful but in a completely different way than the previous days. We were surrounded by green with the occasional bright colorful orchids. Peru is home to more than 3,000 known orchid species, but it is estimated that only about 50% of the Peruvian species have so far been discovered! Trying to spot the occasional orchid became a fun way for me to pass the time during the 6 hour hike. Luckily all the trees provided some shade which helped cool us down, it was about 85 degrees the whole day.
During the hike we went through a lot of areas that had been affected by recent landslides. Entire mountain sides had fallen off and we had to walk on narrow pathways to cross them. A lot of these mountain sides contain this mineral that looks like silver, but much like California’s fool’s
gold this is not real silver.
Along the path there were wild strawberries which our guide said we could pick and eat. They were a lot smaller than our strawberries, about the size of a raspberry, and their flavor was very tart. Our guide also showed us these other berries which given their bright burgundy color were used to dye clothes and to paint faces. Kelly and I volunteered to have our faces painted so for the rest of the hike we looked like Incan warriors. Also during the hike we would see these huge clusters of butterflies resting on the path. There were usually around 10-20 in each cluster and unfortunately due to their poor resting location many of them had been stepped on. At one point along the path a local family we selling huge avocados for a few cents. A lot of people in the group brought them because they said that the avocados they get in Europe are not the same quality and are much smaller. I didn't have the heart to tell them that in California these delicious avocados are available to us year-round. Reason number #100 why I love living in California 😊
Finally at about 1pm we made it to our destination. Since this place was such a long time coming I treated myself to not only an ice cold water and diet coke, but also a beer. After that hot long hike I cannot tell you which one of these beverages I was more excited for. Here we had my favorite lunch so far, it included avocado with guinea pig cheese (not really but our guide told us that and we believed him), quinoa salad, potatoes (always potatoes), and then a chicken with spring vegetable salad. From here we got to take a car to Santa Teresa which was about an hour away. We were all so exhausted from the hike that we slept the entire way.
Our campsite in Santa Teresa was a lot different than the other ones. There were a lot of groups there and a 2-story building had been constructed (without walls or windows) and this is where we ate all our meals. Shortly after we arrived the daily afternoon rain shower began but this one lasted far longer than any previous ones. Our group huddled around the unlit campfire which was covered by a
metal sheet. Soon the wind became so bad that we were all forced to hide next to the edge of the building. To pass the time the boys in the group started sword-fighting with wooden sticks and taking turns jumping over the hot coals from the fire.
Luckily our tents were already up when the rain started but that didn’t prevent everything we owned from getting wet. Unfortunately our bags had been placed on a tarp while the tents were being put up but when the rain came it took a while before someone threw them in a tent. Thank god we were going to be in a hotel the next night because I could only take one more day with wet smelly clothes.
Before dinner we went to the Santa Teresa hot springs. Located on the banks of the Urubamba these hot springs were amazing, the water was warm and crystal clear. While much of the original infrastructure was washed away in the floods of 2011, the 3 hot pools were untouched. Before we could get in the water we had to shower which in itself was amazing! It felt so good to wash all the dirt
and dust off. The 3 pools get increasingly warmer and warmer. We decided to skip the “cold” pool entirely since it was still rainy and we were freezing, instead we started in the middle pool. The water was so clean and refreshing…. I could have stayed in here for hours. The bottoms of the pools were made out of stone and one entire wall was made of rock, the spring water flows from here which fills the pools.
In the pools we played with my GoPro for a while which was a blast, best purchase ever (thank you mom and dad). Then the Aussies and I had a beer and just sat and talked in the rain. Next we moved on to the hottest pool for another hour. The hot springs were even better than I could have imagined them to be. The water was so calming and exactly what I needed at that moment. The hardest thing ever was having to leave that magical place to go back to our gross smelly tent.
After dinner there was a “party” around the fire pit with all the groups. A DJ played bad European techo and we tried to
dance along. Soon the group decided to do our own thing and we went upstairs and played cards. A couple of beers later and it was bedtime.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.092s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 13; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0572s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb