Bus journey to Agua Caliente

I woke up an hour before my alarm because of an intense pain in my stomach. As it turns out, I had been hit by a bout of travelers food poisoning. Of all the days!! I immediately took all of the prescriptions I had with me in hopes that thy would make a difference but since our bus was supposed to pick us up in an hour, I was pretty much screwed. Once Alyssa woke up, I told her I wasn't sure that I would be able to go. I didn't want her to have to go by herself but being stuck on a bus with no bathroom for 7 hours didn't seem like a great plan. Finally after much debate, I decided I was going to go and I would just have to figure it out. Alyssa had gotten me a Gatorade and some ritz crackers since there was no fluid left in my body but I couldn't bring myself to drink a sip. Luckily, I got a window seat on the bus which meant that I could control the air circulation. It was freezing outside but the air blowing in my face was the only thing that kept me from puking (much to the dismay of the two girls freezing behind me). We stopped two hours into the drive at Ollantaytambo for a very welcome restroom break. I basically felt like I was dying so I sat in the grass and basked in the sun for a while. When I'm sick I tend to like to lie on the ground- something about being more connected to the earth that makes me feel better. While we were there, I watched the locals plowing their field using oxen and a plow. I know they obviously can't afford a tractor but I was still fascinated that they were doing their farming this way.

We continued the five hour drive to Santa Theresa where we would stop for lunch. As we climbed in elevation, we were completely covered in clouds and couldn't see out any of the windows. Our driver was absolutely insane, going much faster than he should have been and passing trucks as we were rounding corners. It was a very narrow one way road with no guardrail and an incredible drop below us (if you've ever driven on Fish Creek Hill in AZ, it was way worse than that). I kept averting my eyes as we neared the side of the cliff so that I wouldn't make dramatic gasping sounds, lol. We finally made it to Santa Teresa and the group piled into a restaurant for lunch. The idea of eating or drinking anything was revolting to me so I sat with my head on the table while everyone ate. Finally we piled back into the van to complete the 40 minute drive to the hydroelectric station.

Once at the hydroelectric station, we needed to walk two hours to Aguas Calientes. I had done this walk two years ago so I knew it was an easy trail along the train tracks and I was confident that I could do it even in my condition. We had assumed that a guide would be accompanying the group but they dropped us off, pointed in the direction we needed to go and were gone. The group was astonished. Some of the people hadn't even been told that they would need to walk so they were really confused. Seeing how uncomfortable everyone was, I assured them I had done this before and led the way to the train tracks.

As we walked, we got to see the train that takes the passengers with money to Aguas Calientes, lol. It was a slow moving train but in my delirium I was desperately wishing they would offer me a free ride.

I knew it was a two hour walk and that since the driver had dropped us of at 4:30pm, we would be doing the last part of this walk in the dark. We had been told that we would arrive in Aguas Calientes before 4:00pm and I had been looking forward to showing Alyssa some of the city but since it was dark, I knew that would be a lost cause. Alyssa and I were the only people who had brought flashlights, so we led the group through the dark jungle path which was wet and treacherous without proper lighting. Overall I felt ok but the last part of the walk to the city is all uphill and that was my undoing. I fell behind the group and struggled to take each step. When we arrived at the hostel, Alyssa insisted that our guide give us our room first since I was clearly not ok. Of course, they saved us for last and then told us that we were in a different hostel than the rest of the group and of course ours was way across town. The guide walked us to the hostel but she didn't know exactly where it was so we circled around town, walking up and down the same steps countless times. I was on the brink of losing it when we finally arrived. I told Alyssa there was no way that I was going to the dinner where they would give us information for the following day, so she went without me. I got into bed, forced myself to eat a few Ritz and prayed that I would feel better in the morning.

 

Posted with Blogsy