Santa Theresa, Santa Maria & back to Cuzco

Santa Theresa, Santa Maria, back to Cuzco

After our busy day in Machu Picchu, we slept very soundly while it rained and rained. In the morning we gathered our things an set off just as the skies cleared. We've been so lucky with weather!!

We had planned to hike out "the back door" of Machu Picchu. This entails walking the railroad tracks from Aguas Calientes to the hydroelectric station. It's a 2.5 hour hike, all along the tracks, following the river the whole way. It also circles around Machu Picchu, which was above our heads the whole time. It was a very peaceful walk, but with all our bags, we were ready to get there after 2 hours. From the hydroelectric station, we took a taxi to the little town of Santa Theresa. 

We had planned to stay in Santa Theresa that night, but it was not to be. We read about some fabulous hot springs, where you could camp and soak our aches and pains away. The ride down to the hot springs took us through areas that had clearly had recent landslides. It looked like a site where they had dumped the spoils of some giant construction project, but there was nothing around. Through this wasteland we drove until all of a sudden we stopped and there were a few little thatch roof hits where a couple women sat waiting to take our money for the hot springs. The hot springs themselves were still really nice, but all the land directly around them had been washed away. Another hostel we read about, Hugo's lodge, we were told did not exist anymore. So camping here was out of the question. Instead we soaked for a couple hours and then continued on to the next town of Santa Maria. 

Santa Maria is an adorable little town that also looks like it's suffered from recent landslides, but it's in much better shape than the hot springs!  We found an absolutely charming little hostel run by the sweetest couple ever. We had some delicious pollo ala brasa (rotisserie chicken that was divine) and then had the best sleep in a long time. (A bed with pillows!!)

The next morning we hopped on yet another bus to head back to Cuzco.  We got lots of little things done like laundry, grocery shopping, emails answered, etc.

Tomorrow night we will try to head to Copacabana in Bolivia and continue our adventures in yet another country!!