Baños del Inca
16 October 2005 (Monday) – Cajamarca, Peru
The bus arrived at 3:40am. At the first hostel where the taxi left me, I woke the night-watch person up only to discover it was full. The next hostel I went to was full as well. Argh… Here I was, walking around the city centre at 4am, carrying my entire house and all my money. Perfect target for robbery. But by the third hostel, thank goodness, there was a room available, where I collapsed down right away to sleep.
Cajamarca has an important part to play in the history of the collapse of the Inca empire. The ‘last’ Inca emperor of northern Inca was Atahualpa, based in Quito. He had broken away from the other Inca empire, run by his brother, Huáscar, who was based in Cuzco. So, there was already internal civil strife then. The Spanish tricked Atahualpa to come over to Cajamarca and then, they sprung a surprise attack on Atahualpa and his army and captured him. Naturally, thousands and thousands of Incas were killed. Although they were more in terms of numbers, they were overpowered by cannons and horses which they had never seen before.
Atahualpa tried to pay off Pizarro and the Spaniards by offering gold and silver in return for his release. The Spaniards agreed to this arrangement, although they had no intention of releasing Atahualpa. The scum-bags!! They were paid with up to 6,000kg of gold and 12,000kg of silver which were just melted down into bars for easy distribution amongst the troops. But, gosh… think of the artistic value of the intricate implements and over-the-top ornaments!!
Anyway, Atahualpa soon guessed what was happening (he was SO not getting released) and tried to arrange his own rescue. In the end, the Spaniards hanged Atahualpa in the Cajamarca plaza. With Atahualpa’s death, the Incas down south in Cuzco actually regarded the Spaniards as liberators and rejoiced at the news. So, with this, the Spaniards easily marched into Cuzco and conquered the Incas.
Not far from Cajamarca is Baños del Inca, an area with thermal water which even during the Incas’ days, the medicinal water was used for relaxation and cures. Atahualpa was said to have nursed a festering wound there. I took a colectivo (van) there.
Well, the colectivos to get to the outskirts of town deserve some small mention. In these colectivos, children DO NOT EXIST. But of course, they DO EXIST. Oftentimes, the adult could only afford to pay for 1 seat. If there was no one else sitting, the children could lounge anywhere. But the minute a fare-paying adult climbs onboard, the children go to the laps of the parents. I, a fare-paying adult, thus climbed onto the colectivo and a campesina shooed her two children off the seat. I sat down. But as the mother was already laden with a basket and a sleeping baby, these two children were transferred to my lap for the rest of the journey. You would think the bus was already full, but the fare-collecting guy would still shout the destination and gather more folks into the colectivos and we just do not breathe in there.
The entrance for Baños del Inca was 3 soles, 4 soles or 5 soles. I was confused and bought the 3 soles ticket. It turned out that the baths here in Baños del Inca were mostly private baths, not public baths that I had been to in other such facilities. The 3 soles ticket was for certain types of private baths and only for half an hour. I had a number ‘206’ and it was now at ‘180’! So, with more than 20 numbers to go, and half an hour each, I might have to wait for 2 hours just to get a chance for a bath. But the guy working there told me if I upgraded to the 4 soles bath (I just need to pay 1 sol more) which were located further down the facility, there were some private baths there available now. That was what I did.
Wow, my own private bath. The water was emptied each time the users leave the bath. I filled it entirely with hot water first just to kill off any germs, and then, I refilled the tub up with water of a temperature that I adjusted right to my liking. Perfect! The best place to sit and meditate good positive thoughts. Here, we were given about 1.5 hours before some guy came over to knock on the door to shoo you off. 1.5 hours was just fine.
I had a massage done as well, but the masseuse’s light fingers were too ticklish for me and I think I tensed up more than before. But when I left, a middle-aged guy who had just completed his massage stopped to talk to me. He is Jorge, from Lima, but now works in Cajamarca. He said his friends were in his car and offered me a ride back to Cajamarca. That was great! Later, he even drove all of us up to Hacienda San Vicente, which is a hotel located right on top of a hill. The way to the hotel was on horrible bumpy rocky road. But what was unique about the hotel was that the entire hotel was built on the side of a mountain and the rooms were all incorporated with the rocky surfaces. So, each little cave-room was uniquely shaped and styled. The location was fantastic and all the rooms and bathrooms were really lovely and cute. At US$45, it was expensive… and empty. I guess there was not much publicity, and gosh, just imagine to return to your hotel, you have to go through that horrid road each time. Purely for group tourists who never leave the hotel.
Well, it was very nice of Jorge and his friends, David and Martha, to show me a little bit of Cajamarca.
Tags: 08) Touch of Peru, Cajamarca
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