Day 3 of the MP Trek

Day 3: We all arrived ready to be on the road again by 7am after eating our breakfast.  The tour guide (his name is Chavo) arrived at 8am looking frazzled after having to deal with some particular issues… We would not leave until 8:45, with a different group as Chavo would have to take care of some business. We were all a little annoyed that we had been waiting an hour before he had even informed us of this change, but, Hey?! It’s all right, we only have 6 or 7 hours left to walk until we arrive at Aguas Calientes.

 

So, we started our trekking for day 3, walking mainly along a mountain road following the river.  We then began to follow the railroad track to Aguas Calientes.  We walked approximately 3 hours of road and track until we arrived at the restaurant for lunch. 

It was a beautiful location that was set off the tracks.  One feels like they are entering a tropical forest as they walk through the entrance.  There were turkeys, ducks, flowers, hammocks, dogs, and of course food.  We stayed here for a good 2 hours in order to eat and rest before the last 3 hours of our trek to AC. 

We continued along the train tracks and finally arrived at Aguas Calientes around 6pm.  We went to our designated hostels (may I just add that being female and a lone traveler, I always received my own bedroom, and in AC my own bathroom and shower!)  The Brits and I hopped over to the hot springs which were a good hike uphill from our hostel, to relax and chat before the long anticipated excitement of the next day. 

 

We met for dinner and received the saddening news that we would not be permitted to climb up Waynapichu as the laws had changed.  Now you must purchase a specific ticket online in order to climb up Waynapichu (it is known for its steep, treacherous climb up stairs, which – before – people would arrive at 5:30 in the morning just to be the first 200 in order to receive a ticket to climb the mountain.  And now everything would change..)  The good news was that we would not be leaving at 3:30 in the morning, but rather at 5:30… *sigh of relief?*

The Brits and I decided to head off to a local bar and have a drink to celebrate what we had achieved and what we were about to conquer the next day.

I was asleep by 11pm.