Farewell Santa Teresa, Peru

TRIP INFO BOX
Location	Aguas Calientes to Santa Teresa
Ticket Price	n/a
Return Trekking Time	4 hours, (+30 min by taxi)
Retun Distance	20Km walking, 16Km by taxi
Terrain	Easy, level trek in lush river gorge
Flora	Lush jungle/forest
Fauna	Various, butterflies
Tips	Get fruit from sellers on the way

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Before our return walk from the Puente Ruinas campground we visit the adjacent butterfly sanctuary.

It costs peanuts per person for a tour and it’s quite interesting. They tell us about the reason for this effort and the conservation status of local butterflies and show us various butterflies at various stages in their evolutions. Really interesting to see and sure to sharpen our visual senses for future trips through the greenery.

The little drinkies place at Puente Ruinas is attracts us like bees to honey and we just cannot leave this place without making a beer stop. Two for the road please!

Our journey on slightly sore feet from the previous day is in no less enjoyable than the way here.

Ebru putting a coin on the rail track to keep as a souvenir…

Beautiful flowers and insects abound.

The valley is wonderfully green and the trees and the nearby river offer relief from what is a pretty hot day.

Back at Auberge Municipal (40PEN/dbl) in Santa Teresa we get cleaned up. All our luggage which they kindly stored for us during our Machu Picchu excursion is accounted for.

We head out again on the bike, to the splendid thermal baths down the track. Following a hard trek this has to be the best remedy to our aches and pains. A cool beer bought from the on site vendors washes away whatever pain is left and we feel like a million bucks. An itchy million bucks though, as the sand flies here are inescapable. Nevermind.

We visit our “local” in Santa Teresa again for dinner, Mijuna Wasi. There we’re fed good food and kept fun company by the little girl who is a daughter the family.We chat with her and have a good laugh. We return for more the next morning for our farewell breakfast.

Nothing much here in Santa Teresa, but a lot of charm. We say goodbye to the Mijuna Wasi crew and promise to send all our friends here. It’s funny how some otherwise unspectacular places you visit on your journey can become treasured memories, just because of a few friendly people and some good food. This is what we’re after. Santa Teresa, stay as you are. We hope we will see you again!