Finally, a morning where we can start with relaxation! After breakfast today (pancakes, eggs, and more pasta.. yes I said pasta for breakfast at 7:30 AM!), we caught a tuktuk to soothe our muscles + strained knee.
We were hoping to enjoy the Cocalmayo thermal bath the previous day. But this morning worked out better. We arrived at about 9:00 AM. And there were barely any people, it felt as if we had the hot springs to ourselves.
The irritating thing that started at the hot springs, were the sand flies. These flies would constantly latch onto your skin (back, legs, arms, etc). If you attempted to wave your hand to scare them away, the flies wouldn’t move. They would just bite and cause you to bleed. The skin would then turn pinkish/purple with a splat of blood.
Check out was at 11:00 AM, so we returned by tuktuk and continued our trekking journey.
This day you have multiple transportation options:
- Option 1: Take a collectivo/taxi/tour van to hydroelectrica and hop on a train to Aguas Calientes
- Option 2: Take a collectivo/taxi/tour van to hydroelectrica and walk 3 hours on the railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes
- Option 3: Walk to hydroelectrica and walk 3 hours on the railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes
Tim and I decided to walk the whole day. I was confused for awhile because the road to the entrance of the railroad tracks is only dirt, rocky roads, no trail + many construction sites, and when cars passed you, you would be caught in the dust cloud. For a long while, it was just us two under the direct sun, most of the time walking an incline.
During our walk, we noticed the mountain on fire. Tim and I were shook, witnessing the mountains turn green to black. When we told the locals about it, there wasn’t much they could do, other than to let it burn out.
Once this sign appeared, we knew we were getting closer step by step, inch by inch.
Next, we stumbled upon the drop off point, where many backpackers hop off their initial transportation to either take a train or to walk on the railroad tracks.
The walk was quite interesting. There are many shops for meals, sandwiches, snacks and beverages. You cross a bridge, you walk next to the Urubamda river and at times, you literally have to walk on the railroad tracks over the water. Unfortunately, you also have to face more annoying sand flies..
Tim and I were once again, exhausted. Each day was creating a compound effect. Again, we have never trekked before. Once the trail ended and the city was near. We felt like zombies. It didn’t help that the city was all incline too. We continued to move slow. We got cranky, we felt icky from the sand flies & blood splats on our arms. Tim got blisters + a knot in his trap/shoulder. My strained knee worsens later in the day. All this caused our brains to be scattered and it took more time to find our hostel.
At least, out of the our all our stays this one was my favorite. It felt like a hotel. We decided to upgrade to a private room so we could just lay out our backpacks and not be concerned about other people. We had a comfy bed and our own shower. The hostel even provided soap and shampoo. Once we washed up, we grabbed dinner (fake Chinese food) and went straight to bed for our early Machu Picchu reservations!
Day 4 $$ Breakdown:
Please note: PP = per person
- Breakfast 32 soles (split)
- Tuktuk to hot springs 8 soles (split)
- Hot springs 10 soles PP
- Tuktuk back 8 soles (split)
- Powerade, water x2 , coke 21 soles (split)
- Accommodation 145 soles (split)
- Dinner 29 (split)
The current exchange rate: $1.00 USD is equal
to about 3.84 Peruvian Soles.
Total spent: $428 Soles = $111.45 USD PP
Beyond Rose 
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