Yanque Doodle Dandy
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2008
1
34
125
Trip End
Mar 23, 2009
Yanque, Peru
Thursday, November 13, 2008
On the bus and back up to 16000ft but not for long, thankfully. Instead we drop rapidly, far too rapidly for Lizaīs comfort, down to Chivay where about 500 people get on our already overcrowded bus. Total madness. Chivay is where all the tourists are. We have chosen the next village along to try and avoid them. This turns out to be a supremely sensible decision.
Ten minutes later and we push our way off the bus at Yanque. We are the only two people to disembark. It immediately has the feel of a spaghetti western town but without the spaghetti or the western. A Peruvian dressed in a cowboy hat riding a donkey does not have the same menace as Yul Brynner. We love it here. Itīs one heck of a sleepy village.
We find a hostal (El Tambo) but canīt find anyone to deal with except an Alpaca munching her way through the lawn in the courtyard. Eventually we wake up a friendly Senora who gives us a key to a lovely room with mountain views before heading straight back to sleep. It is three oīclock in the afternoon after all.
We head straight for the hot springs. The village is surrounded by mountains and a river that bubbles up volcanically heated water. We are the only people here, sitting in 35 degree water enclosed by pink peaks. Liza is in heaven. It is pretty close to paradise. Just down the road from Yanque.
