Day 6 - 4th of July

Saturday July Fourth

      Happy Independence Day! It's weird to think that no one here even knows that's happening today! It reminds me how far away I am.

      Oh god was it hard to get up at six after staying out so late last night, but there couldn't be more of a motivator than knowing I was going to Macchu Picchu! I got ready and scrambled the last few things together just in time, that is a common trait with me, if it can be done last minute, I'll do it last minute.

       I had booked my trip through an agency that covered everything from my transportation to a tour of Macchu Picchu, and so was picked up by them promptly at eight. Me, Hunter, and Tommy were going in this trip and both of them had left even more to do last minute than me, which never happens to me, and the person who came to pick us up was quite mad at all of us for holding him up. We then rode in a van for one and a half hours, which wouldn't have been that bad if it had just been the three of us, but it wasn't. The lovely Chelsy joined us, and by lovely I mean annoying.

       I mean she was very nice, and a good person but we just didn't get along very well and therefore I found her a little annoying. There was also another a broader view volunteer on the same trip, Cecilia.

One of the many spectacular views from the car ride.

       Then after the hour and a half bus ride we had an hour and a half train ride to a little town near Macchu Picchu where we would stay the night before going up to see the ruins tomorrow. It was also crazy because it was Hunter's first train ride, including Subways! How crazy!

From left to right, me, Hunter, Tommy, Chelsy, and Cecilia drinking hot chocolate at the train station as it was freezing!

          After we arrived at the small town called Auguacalientes, or in English, hot water, named for it's hot springs, we decided to go for a hike to a botanical gardens, however the hike there turned out to be far more interesting than the gardens! First of all we went exploring on some giant rocks in the river that were just gigantic!

Cecilia, Chelsy, and Tommy

Hunter, Tommy, Cecilia

Gorgeous picture of Hunter

So many amazing photos!

    Then we hiked along a little more until we found a butterfly pavilion, which was way less fun than the river rocks and we had to pay! 

This baby just..,hatched?! What is it called when a butterfly comes out of its cocoon?!

      We walked along some train tracks...

Hunter

Tommy, right after we took this picture we saw a sign telling us not to walk on the train track to which Tommy yelled 'I don't want to be part of your system!' Then literally two seconds later we heard a train horn and a train screamed around the corner! After it had gone Tommy said 'Ok I want to be part of your system again!'

       Then we happened to notice a little path on the side of the tracks that lead down to the river, and we thought would go check it out. But we weren't prepared for what we saw.

It is the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen! The rocks look metallic, and if you look closely you can see two wedged together in the middle, how majestic! Chelsy had kind of wandered off in front of us at this point which was weird.

      Then after all that we finally reached the botanical gardens which were nothing compared to the walk!

At the end of the botanical garden hike

The surrounding mountains, I'm in the Andes!!

      We had to walk back in the dark as since it's winter here the sun sets at like five which is really disorientating coming from summer in the U.S.! Then back to our hostel where we decided to play cards instead of going to check out the Hot Springs because reviews of it on lonely planet said things like, the dirtiest hot springs I've ever been in, if you want to smell like pee go right ahead, and I would get checked at the hospital after going in these waters.

The amazing view from our room!

Playing cards