A sweaty, happy birthday

 When Chey turned 26 he was in Huaraz (with me!), and it was the day after that unbeatable awesome secret valley of amazingness.

He had a birthday while traveling South America, though, which I still think is pretty epic.

That morning we got up at a normal hour, had a nice breakfast and decided to visit some ruins not too far from town.

He was relaxed about birthday fun, sice he said his Australian birthday (the day before) we had had a great time, so now we could relax and do whatever.

We bought some snacks and then took a cheap taxi towards the ruins.

Our taxi driver was really nice and chatty, and he told us about Huaraz history, Andean food, and plenty of things to do and places to go to (all of which will have to wait until our next visit).

Huaraz born taxi driver.

He dropped us outside the ruins (can't remember the name, Perú has way too many!) and left.

But when we made it to the entrance, the caretaker lady told us that it was Perú's "National Museum Day" or something of the sort, and therefore all of the ruins and museums were closed.

Right on the day we had decided to go visiting ruins (insert frustrated face emoticon here).

Part of the ruins we only got to see from behind a gate.

We didn't let it affect us too much though, and after sitting down to enjoy the view of the surrounding farms and sharing some crackers with a friendly puppy, we decided to walk down to the closest village and take a bus to the hot springs close-by.

A nice farm next to the ruins.

It was a lovely, sunny day.

Eeyore looks for shelter from the sun.

 That thing people say, "it's not about the destination, but the journey" keeps proving to be true in every step of our trip. And it was just like that here.

The walk downhill we were surrounded by tiny farms, tall gumtrees (the smell of them keeps reminding Chey of home), and the cutest farm animals.

 Sometimes I get the feeling that Perú is mainly made of countryside, and I love it.

A pretty green graveyard.

More cute donkeys.

So, we got to the village, took a bus and then a taxi. 

Turns out, the famous "hot springs" of Monterrey are man-made, a bit dirty, and too crowded to be relaxing. Instead of going there, then, the taxi took us further away from town. And further. All the way to Chancos.

Stuff we saw on our way to Chancos.

More stuff.

 We ended up driving down a dusty gravel road, it was a long way.

We managed to get a RIDICULOUS (cheap) price for such distance.

And finally we arrived to the community baños termales (thermal baths) in Chancos. A super local place, where they built sauna-cave-rooms carved out of the mountain, and the thermal water is fully natural. And it's crazy cheap.

Locals wait for the baños, or sell food outside them.

 It's basically a natural sauna, where mostly local old ladies (but some families as well) take their own medicinal herbs and spend 20 minutes getting rid of toxins and just relaxing, which sounds really foreign in a place where everything seems to be hard-work-culture.

They also have hot water pools, but it was way too sunny to enjoy them.

At the entrance.

 We patiently waited for our turn to get into one of the most tame sauna-cave-rooms. Only 48° C.

 I didn't really know what to expect, but it ended up being a great experience, kind of like a spa but without the pretentiousness.

I was guessing the rooms would be a communal space, but luckily every spot is private for you and your family group, so we had our 48° room just for ourselves.

There will be no photos here, because the cave darkness of the place doesn't really allow photos to be taken.

 And also because nudity.

Twenty minutes in there flew, and after a cold shower to get fully rid of all the toxins and bad stuff your body expels with the steam and the heat, we headed outside feeling lightheaded and light-muscled.

Local lady sells crafts outside the baños.

We stayed at the community place for a while, hunting for a place that served any non-meaty meal, but had no luck in that regard so we ended up heading back to Huaraz for a birthday dinner.

Which we had at an AWESOME place called Chilli heaven.
Please disregard how awful I look in this picture.

It ended up being quite a good birthday for Chey, and altogether another beautiful day in Huaraz.