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After a heaving going day yesterday it was nice to discover that today would be pretty relaxed and very easy in comparison to our last 48 hours. The location we had spent the night in was just was unbelievable! Surrounded by rolling mountains up in the clouds with waterfalls on every turn and pools of hot springs it was a little taste of heaven. The natural hot springs had been channeled into five pools that you could swim in, ranging in temperatures with the hottest being around 44 degrees! The pools were filled with locals so happy to be splashing around in what felt like a bath up in the Andes.
We had a swim and then a yummy breakfast before having another couple of hours to relax in the springs. It was so lovely and warm and the sun had also made an appearance so with blue skies and in stunning scenery I was so extremely content. I had somehow managed to get sunburnt on my face a little the day before (in all the clouds and snow how British!) so we had a good laugh at that as I sat all red faced in a boiling mineral pool. Sad to say goodbye to this place it was time to move on and head onwards to Aguas Calientes, where Machu Picchu would be almost in sight!
It was a couple of hours drive to Ulubamba through the Andes, on cliff edges on mountain roads through tiny villages in the middle of nowhere! South America has so far provided such scenic car journeys I cannot even begin to describe them. It felt a lot like being in the Lord of the Rings the past few days! We passed more Inca ruins on the way which was fascinating as ever. We arrived at a local family's house for lunch and ate outside surrounding by all the mountains of the valley, and I seemed to make a new friend in a little 5 year old Peruvian girl who hugged me and talked to me for hours - all in Spanish so I just sat there smiling and saying "Si" but we seemed to understand each other.
It was so sad saying goodbye to Henry and our hiking crew as we boarded the train to Aguas Calientes. The train is itself was so nice, with glass windows even on the roof to be able to see the picturesque sacred valley we were journeying through. The train even had commentary in English to give some background and information on the places we passed. I knew I was going to love Aguas Calientes as soon as we arrived! A small mountain town with so much character, lovely restaurants, bars and markets and such a colourful place! We checked in at our hostel (luxury compared to camping), had some dinner and a shower (woohoo) before getting some sleep in preparation for the big day we had been leading up to in the morning!
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