The rest of the group woke up with massive hangovers but I woke up feeling much better and ready to get to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. We had a short ride in a van which took us to an amazing waterfall. After the boys went for a quick dip in the Rio Urubamba to try to shake off their hangovers, we started walking. With only 6 hours of walking ahead of us, it felt like a much more achieveable goal and knowing that we would be so close to Machu Picchu made us put a little pep in our step and get there as quick as possible. The second half of the days walk was along the train tracks, which guided us right into Aguas Calientes. It rained lightly all afternoon and by the time we arrived in town it had changed into a downpour. We were again soaking wet once we reached our final destination. But this time we were pleasantly suprised to see we were staying in a real hostal and better yet had a private bathroom in our room!
After showers and some free time we headed out for our last group dinner and this time we got to choose what we ate, and pizza was on the menu. Although the pizza was pretty terrible (no tomato sauce and very funky cheese) it was better than another meal of llama!
Although extremely touristy, Aguas Callientes is a very nice little town. Pretty much every person who goes to Machu Picchu stays here for a night before they head up to the sacred city. The streets are lined with over priced cafes, mini marts and hotels. At the end of the main road is a thermal hot spring for relaxing in after days of climbing. There are also seveal bars and half of our group decided to go out for another night of drinking. However, knowing I had to be awake at 3:30 for the final climb to Machu Picchu I opted to make it an early night and was in bed by 10pm!
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