Rumbo a Cajabamba!

Well, remember how I said that we were going to go to the Rock Forest? Well, César´s friend invited us to go to Aguas Calientes with them in his truck so we decided to go there instead! It was a bit uncomfortable with 5 people in the back of the cab but at least we didn´t have to pay to take the bus! It was raining so the bags got a bit wet even though they were covered with plastic, go figure. When we arrived to Aguas Calientes (natural hot springs) we ate some overpriced food and then went off to someone´s country house. The house was made of mud and very simple but it did have electricity which shows the mining influence in the area since we were in the middle of nowhere. The outhouse was a hole in the ground with a mud wall on 3 sides. The hole was super deep, you couldn´t even see the bottom, and I was scared I would fall down. I asked César if he thought anyone had ever fallen down there and I think that should be on the show 1000 ways to die. He just gives me that look in the moments when I come out with things like that. Anyway, we were just hanging out in the yard with lots of people who I didn´t know and someone got the idea that we should have duck for dinner because there were ducks in the yard. One man tried to catch a duck but just kept bringing back geese. Finally he caught a duck and MURDERED IT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES! Then he got told it was the male breeder duck and that it was worth quite a bit of money. But then one of the relativies of the people who owned the house said that it was no problem because somebody stole 200 guinea pigs from their house and they showed me where the creatures are raised. That was great. They didn´t end up cooking the duck until the next day at lunch but I didn´t partake in that as I still remembered the poor thing alive. The next day we went off together to eat the famous hen and head soup (I chose hen because I don´t like my food looking at me) and then had a couple of nice beers with inca cola in a relaxing village where I also had to use the bathroom and though it was just a hole in the ground it was feces free and therefore quite inviting. Then the girls and I decided to go swimming at the pool. I was wondering why everyone was lying on the side instead of swimming since the sun was out, that is until I stepped foot in the water and almost burned my skin off. Afterwards we decided to go to the private baths but unlike Baños Del Inca in Cajamarca they had no cold water so it was too hot for me to step into. As I left after 5 minutes an older lady outside asked what was wrong, and I told her I couldn´t stand the heat. She said it takes a few minutes to get used to it and that´s okay. I think it´s only true because all your neurons burn off and you stop feeling anything. I went to a hotel to have a cold shower instead-
Well, then César and I (well, more me than him) decided to go off and see Cajabamba, we walked a bit and then took a mototaxi to a small village where we had some kind of spicy meat concoction for lunch which was disguised as hen and then I used the most disgusting bathroom I have ever seen, I mean it was BAD and even my purse around the neck squatting while holding the wooden door thing shut with one hand and trying not to step in anything or fall down the hole technique didn´t cut it and I left with a dirty feeling. Luckily the lady didn´t charge me for using that...bathroom. Then we caught a combi and were off to Cajambamba. The views in the valley were marvellous but as it was raining and the windows were dirty my photos just don´t do it justice. When we got to Cajabamba we walked around the town which was really nice, the market was clean and organized and it looked really modern unlike the really dirty market of Cajamarca. Then we had to get back because we had left our suitcases in a hotel in Aguas Calientes so as to be able to travel lighter. It was also raining and we didn´t have any jackets. We were just returning when we got to a point in the road which was totally flooded by the river and the taxi driver told us to get out because he wasn´t going to cross. So everyone in the cab got out and there we all were in torrential rain watching a tractor pull another taxi across the road river it had gotten stuck in. We waited for a bigger truck vehicle to come and they luckily conveyed us to the other side. We got our bags and waited outside in the rain, me singing and dancing int he rain and César not amused saying the delay was my fault because I wanted to go to Cajabamba and I didn´t listen to him on the way saying that if the rain continued that road would get blocked. I didn´t care cause I was happy!
Well now I am working 41 hours of in class teaching plus preparation and marking so I am really quite busy and I get quite tired. César has just left for Huambos to get his mum´s birth certificate sorted out and I am going to bed right away! Have a good one dears!