Advertisement
We had just two days left with Dave and Claire. They came up with a plan to visit somewhere they'd never visited before - Lares, so we'd all be on new territory. I didn't know what I was letting myself in for!
We started off getting the bus to Pisac, known for it's Sunday Market. The town was buzzing with locals and tourists alike. After coffee and cake in a small cafe we got a collectivo to Calco another small town that was much less touristy, from here we needed to get a collectivo to Lares. This proved a bit more difficult than expected but after some trekking around we found the one we needed. We established the 9 Soles fare and sat waiting for the bus to fill up. I began to get a bit nervous, most fares are between one and a half Soles and six Soles. If this journey was 9 it must be a long way. The bus was beginning to feel cramped and the woman sitting next to Stan and I had a small child on her knee who proceeded to devour a bag full of oranges, most of them ending up on the floor
or dribbled down Stan's trousers. Just as I was beginning to think I might want to abort this plan the collectivo set off.
The road soon turned into a dirt track but thankfully after a few hundred feet it turned back into a tarmac road and in fact was much better than the roads around town. That is until we climbed higher up the mountain and the road became so narrow the collectivo seemed to only just fit on. Thankfulyl the driver was nice and steady and we didn't meet much traffic coming in the opposite direction. Although there was one moment when I sat up and declared that I wanted to get off as we passed another vehicle and we were on the drop side our wheel just inches away from the drop.
The pass reached an altitude of 4,461 metres before dropping down the other side of the mountains to Lares. We discovered afterwards that we hadn't been far from the Amazon Jungle.
Once in the tiny town of Lares we quickly found a Hostel - only two in town to choose from, then set off to find the hotsprings. We were directed up a
dirt path that followed the direction of the road below us and, as we walked, hoped that we'd make it before darkness fell. We did - just about. By the time we were in our swim wear it was dark and with the dark comes cold but we soon warmed up in the hot natural spring water. Of course we did the only 'normal' thing to do - we ordered a beer! Most enjoyable, soaking our tired muscles in warm water as we sipped cold beer and gazed at the stars in the dark sky.
By the time we were getting out we didn't feel the cold at all and after getting dressed followed the road back to town lead only by the moonlight.
We spent an interesting time in a little restaurant in town waiting for our ' dish of the day' - roast chicken and chips and realised that this was the only 'happening' place in town as more and more locals piled in.
Next morning we re-traced our journey back to Cuzco , stopping off for lunch in Pisac.
Just one more night before we leave for Lima in the morning.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0512s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb