Peru: Spanish Intensive and Cultural Immersion

Last night my traveling party and I went to Santa Teresa´s famous hotsprings.  It was like something out of a James Bond movie, with a cabana atmospher and olympic-sized hotspring pools.  Pool chairs and grass-covered huts permeated the ¨spring¨side, and it was a mesh-pot of South American and International atendees.  I wonder if we all paid the same entrance fee…

My friends camped in a field just outside the hotsprings.  I opted to stay in a hotel close-by.  The next morning we met up for breakfast, and then began our hike.  One member of our party, the only Peruvian among us, went to arrange for the heavy camping gear to be put on a train to Aguas Calientes, and was planning on meeting us at the hydro-electric plant, the halfway point of the hike.  When we arrived, halfway, she was nowhere to be seen, and my friends grudgingly waited for her, while I decided to carry on.

Santa Teresa, Peru

The second half of the hike was beautiful, the route was along the railroad tracks, with a rushing river parrallel the entire time.  When it began to rain violently, I ducked under the shelter of a tin-roof ¨shop¨, basically a lady selling soda, gatorade, and chocolate to hungry tourists.  I talked to her for a half hour, complementing her on the paradisical location of her house, the United States, and how much further  I had until Aguas Calientes.

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When the rain stopped I continued on, and after a long day am finally in Aguas Calientes.  It´s a scam of a town, ripping tourists off at every corner, flanked by the masses because of its proximity to Machu Picchu.  I spent $13 on a very nice room, which seems lucky for Aguas Calientes, and I plan to wake up at 4:00 am to start hiking into Machu Picchu.

School resumes Monday, I head back to Cuzco tomorrow afternoon.  It has been a whirlwind of a weekend, with the catalyst being Machu Picchu tomorrow.