Aquas Calientes, Peru

We arise very early this morning to catch the train for this town at the entrance to Machu Picchu. We pack an overnite bag for the trip here and the cab picks us up on time to the train station. Meet the travel lady at the train station with our tickets. We have everything but the return train ticket to Cuzco. She will have it delivered to our hotel in Aquas. The train leaves the station and it soon starts backing up, then goes forward, then backs up again and I finally figure out that the train is actually climbing the mountain by traversing. This goes on for awhile and then the train finally reaches it´s point where it begins to travel forward along the river. The river is very muddy and unbelievably fast moving and the train is at it´s bank and in some spots hanging over. It is a little scarry when you see the swiftness of the river. Our seatmates are a fellow from Lima and his friend from Dehli, India. The fellow from Dehli spoke very good English and is a Spanish speaker in India, rare indeed!!!! These fellows have visited each other´s countries and have become very good friends. The countryside is pretty with agriculture abounding and also herds of cattle, sheep, pigs and some donkeys. The Andes are topped with clouds and we are riding beside this fast moving river that is the red color of the mountain dirt. The train attendents come along a serve coffee, coco tea & croissants that you pay for, of course. They are very good and also welcomed. The train makes a stop in some little town and I guess Aquas is still about an hour away. As the train moves the terraine begins to change becoming very lush, green and jungle-like. We are still traveling along this swift moving river and about 10 a.m. arrive in Aquas Caliente. It is raining and has been around the time we came into the jungle terraine. Get out our umbrellas and head for the hostel. A fellow actually picks us up at the train station and brings us to the hostel. We have a very nice room right on the river and you can hear the loud noise of this wild river when you enter the room and all night long!!! You can see it panoramically from the windows in the room. The glass goes right to the corner and the whole 2 sides of the room are glass. We are literally hanging over this river that is racing downhill. Now we have the day in Aquas to explore this cute little town high in the Andes. We have actually descended about 7,000 feet though to get here from Cuzco. I never realized that Machu Picchu is about 8,000 feet, where Cuzco is around 14,000 or more. We go for lunch sitting right on this river again and have a very nice lunch so decide we may come back here for dinner. We wander thru this cute little village with many shops and I break down and buy a silver bracelet, earrings and ring. Will I ever stop????? By this time it is pouring rain, I wait for Janeen while she goes back to the room for her suit as we want to go to the hot springs. There is a miscommunication between our meeting place and I finally find her at the top of the hill and she is drenched. She returns to the room while I go onto to the hot springs. Again, walking along this river on a path that hangs from the side of the mountain. The hot springs are very simple and the water is a muddy color. There are only about 2 or 3 pools and they are small and not marked with the temperature of the water like Baldi was in Costa Rica. I change, put my things in a locker and descend to the pools in the rain. I go into the first pool which is empty and about 85 degrees. The bottom of these pools are gravel. Very strange and a bit uncomfortable to me as I like to see thru clear clean water. All of a sudden a young German man with his 2 young children who had been in the pool next to this one, jumps in and splashes me. His wife who had entered the pool silently, quickly smiles at me and appologizes for their behavior. We talk a bit and then I move to the other pool which is a bit warmer and more people. I am not feeling totally comfortable with the sanity of these pools. This one too appearing to be muddy and not exactly to my clealiness standards. The young German woman returns to the pool I am in, smiles at me and shortly ¨spits in the pool¨!!!! This totally disgusts me and that was it for me!!!! I got out and waited beside a very noble-looking 3 lion-faced shower heads of hot springs water coming out of a concrete wall below these 2 pools. Finally a spot opens up for me to shower off in the clean hot water that the local people where bathing in. There was a sign above this area requesting you to use the shower for a maximum of 4 minutes. I think this may be a daily function. The walk to and from the hot springs is very beautiful and tranquil, even in the rain. I stop by a shop and the man, Sari, welcomes me with a hug on my left and right. He is very Indian-looking with long black hair and a band around his forehead witht the Inca cross in the middle. We talk a bit and he invites me upstairs to his sanctuary, has me sit down on pillows that he stacks and leaves to get incense. His upstairs has a view of the river up towards the springs and down towards the town and the mountain on the street side. There are oil paintings in the room on canvas of Machu Picchu and the jungle with rock-like people bathing in the river. Woman naked in the falls and men´s faces in the river like rocks. He returns with the incense and has me hold the lighted incense and encourages me to relax (tranquilla are his words). I enjoy the space, incense and his presence. Take some pictures and he runs downstairs to get his colorful coat for the picture. His shop is full of crystals, ritual items and lovely jewelry. I prepare to leave and thank him for his hospitality but belore I leave he hugs me again very passionately and gives me a flute pin for me and a string instument pin for Janeen. Go back to the room to hang my wet things and prepare to go to dinner. We walk around town a bit but return to the first restaurant as Janeen as talked with the waiter of us returning for dinner. We order guinea pig which is a popular item on the menu here and we are curious. I also order wine. We are the only people in the restaurant on the river and a little off the beaten path. The waiter first leaves for my wine. We sit for quite awhile and eat the garlic bread he furnishes. I get another glass of wine and Janeen is getting quite aggrevated at the time it is taking to get our meal. The waiter leaves the restaurant several times and makes several phone calls. He appears to be trying to get our meal from another restaurant. He keeps telling us just a few minutes but has an uneasy look on his face. We finally decide to leave but also leave what we think we owe him on the table. We are alking down the street and on the bridge when I see him and a small boy each running in the dirction of the retauant carrying foil-covered plates. It is evident it is our meal!!!! Janeen decides to go back and talk with him and calls me back to eat the meal. Well mine has no head, flat with the small feet out in four diections on the plate and a dark-black-roasted color. Janeen´s is smaller, light brown, spread out on the plate the same as mine but with a head looking at me, the front teeth springing out from his mouth and very evident of a guinea pig. Oh boy, I don´t like the looks of this!!!! They weren´t bad, kind of chicken tasting but too cooked and dried out. The veggies and potatoes are good and they serve a separate salad, give us each a free beverage. We finish our meal, I eat only half of this thing and go back to our rooms I am getting gun-shy of food and want to see it first!!!! We go to sleep immediately with the river wildly rushing below.........Wake up call at 6, have breakfast and take all our stuff with, small backpack, camera, water bottle to board bus. A gall and a guy pick us up and take us to the bus stop at the end of the street. Now we´re headed for Machu Picchu....... .