After 4 days on the Inca Trail we were very excited to get to Aguas Calientes to check into our hotel and take a hot shower. We were very disappointed to learn that our reservations were at a hostel instead of a hotel. Conditions were worse than anything I have ever stayed in, dirty sheets, mold on the walls and boarded up windows. One word to the wise – Make sure you are in a minimum of 3 star hotel in Aguas Callientes. Peruvian Hostels are worse than any other countries hostel I have stayed in. The city was sold out so we made the best of the accommodation. The showers were hot and the location was within walking distance to the town square so we enjoyed our time outside of the hotel,  slept in our sleeping bags and looked forward to our hotel room in Cusco the following night.

Once we were clean we went and had amazing massages at a salon recommended by Elio our Inca Trail guide. It was 60 minutes of bliss!

From there we went to dinner in a restaurant overlooking the square at a restaurant called Ylla. The food was great and the view of the town square was awesome as we sat on the balcony.

View from our restaurant

Statue of Pachacutec in the main square of Aguas Calientes. In Quechua Pachakutiq means “he who overturns space and time”. During his reign, Cusco grew from a hamlet into an empire that could compete with, and eventually overtake, the Chimu. He began an era of conquest that, within three generations, expanded the Inca dominion from the valley of Cusco to nearly the whole of western South America.

 

 

We called it an early night because we were going back to Machu Picchu to enjoy it clean and with refreshed eyes.