aguas termales, caminando en el cañón, y pachamama (domingo, 12 septiembre)

I walked to the hot springs at Calera, which was about a half hour walk from Chivay. The landscape along the road was really pretty. The hot springs themselves were great, maybe a little bit too hot especially since the sun was extremely bright in the skies above. I had thought it would be a natural hot spring, but there were three man-made hot springs there. It was nice and relaxing, but there wasn´t enough space to swim around like I´d wanted. I back floated around the pool for a while before drying off, taking a taxi back to Chivay, where I showered and packed my stuff into my backpack.

Lunch was okay. I went to a traditional Peruvian restaurant which served rather bland food. I asked for salsa de ají and the lady came back with a plate of ketchup. She never did bring the tea I ordered, and she added up the bill wrong, but at least she undercharged me.

I took a taxi to Yanque, a small town on the way to Cabanaconde. There was a museum there dedicated to canyon life. Although it was small, it was pretty interesting. However, there is absolutely nothing else to do in Yanque, so I took a walk along the canyon, which had really pretty views. I wanted to walk around more, but the person I was travelling with was having altitude-related problems so we turned around and went back to Yanque. Since the bus wasn´t coming for a while, we took a combi (bus) back to Chivay. The combi was more like a van, but with twenty something people stuffed into it. At first I thought this was amusing, but the ride was bumpy and dusty, and some of the people in the van smelled awful.

Then we took the bus to Cabanaconde. It was about a three-hour bus ride, and at first there weren´t enough seats so I had to stand up in the aisle. I didn´t really mind that much since half the time I have to stand on the micros in Iquique to get to or from school. I was able to read for a while. When I finally did get a seat, I talked to a Peruvian guy and a girl in the Peace Corps in Spanish. It made me think of how I´ve always wanted to join the Peace Corps and how someday I probably will.

It was night when I arrived in Cabanaconde, and it seemed like a really quiet town. Again, I felt a little confined in such a small town. Although it was beautiful, there wasn´t a whole lot to do there. The hostel seemed okay, and I found a restaurant called Pachamama (mother earth), which was advertising a vegetarian menu. I ordered a plate of chips and guacamole, which was awesome. The chips were more like pita chips than taco chips, which was kind of strange but not bad. We talked to a French guy, Mateo, at another pub in Cabanaconde. Apparently there are lots of French travellers in Perú. Mateo said that lots of people are leaving France either permanently or for extended travel, and that South America appeals to them because it´s so much cheaper.

However, tomorrow I have to wake up insanely early to catch the bus at 6am to go to Cruz del Condor for some birdwatching. Early mornings are never any fun, but I hope it´ll be worth it.

written by  Sara Florecita on September 12, 2010 from Chivay, Peru
from the travel blog: año de dos inviernos (Chile 2010)
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