Aguas Calientes

Feeling strangely invigorated and excited to be back to normal life

after living on the Inca Trail for 4 days,

we had arrived at our given destination in Aguas Calientes. 

The last meal to be eaten with our new "Inca family". 

We will miss them, but will always have Facebook :) 

I want to own these adorable little salt and pepper holders.
Someday, I will have them. 

Peruvian Pizza. Different but not too bad. 

Aguas Calientes is a really quaint town. 

So beautiful and full of culture,

while a bit on the touristy side as well. 

If you were to take the train to Machu Picchu,

 instead of the trail, this is where  you would pick it up. 

So it is kind of fun to see the Perurail pass through town every so often. 

Always scattered puppies about.....

We decided to go check out the Hot Springs

since Aguas Caleintes means Hot Springs in Spanish.... 

How could we not check them out. 

I was a little obsessed with the decor of the gift shop/lobby area.
Love it!!

So the above picture is pretty much it. 

Nothing too luxurious. 

But they were warm

and they certainly felt relaxing compared to hiking all day long. 

After soaking for a few hours

we had a couple cervezas and just shot the bull for a bit.

Felt good to not have too much of an agenda for once...

Except for the fact that we had to be at the train station in exactly 

2 hours or we would be stuck here forever :) 

Playing with panoramas again....

sorry for the creepiness of this one. 

But I kind of like it. 

I look like Two face...

It's finally time to go back to Cusco. 

The train station was sort of a mad house. 

Apparently everyone wants to leave Machu Picchu at the same time.

I was pretty exhausted, so I tried to sleep.
But everyone was playing cards
so I eventually decided to join in.
Then we found this cool moth
and decided to give him a hard time for a while.
Made the time go by.

There was a little confusion with our driver once we got off the train.

There were two different men holding signs with all of our names on them.

It was awkward and confusing. 

Not everyone speaks Spanish... or English. 

But eventually it worked out and we all crammed into a van 

for our long ride back to Cusco. 

I found it so exciting that our names were on a list held up for us.
This was a first for me! 

On the way back,

I got really car sick. 

Didn't think I was going to make it for a minute. 

But I was determined to not repeat the "vomiting on the bus" incident

from on our last trip in Europe. 

I do not want to be known as the girl who loves to spew in public. 

And I am not a great spewer (I know that isn't a word, but it's happening) either. It's ugly... 

I cry, and cry... and then I cry some more. 

People think I'm dying. 

Thank God, I could save them from the ugliness

and save my self the embarrassment

We hopped off the van in Cusco

went straight to our motel, took turns showering,

and went straight to bed. 

We had yet another early morning of travel ahead of us. 

Non-stop FUN! 

Stay tuned for Brazil posts!! 

If I can ever get them finished. Hopefully it's not another 6 months from now.. :) 

April 19th