Day 115: Santa Teresa

4:45 AM. Breakfast in 15 minutes. We get dressed, pack our small backpacks, spray ourselves with mosquito repellent, and leave the hostel. Half-asleep, we stumble with the rest of our group, like zombies in search of meat, through the darkness to the restaurant. There is a sufficient breakfast and some information about the day ahead. Today, we will hike approximately 24 Km through the jungle in an estimated 8 hours, gaining about 2,000 meters in altitude, and end the day with a visit to 38°C hot thermal springs. 5:30 AM, we set off. We leave the road and switch to a small trail through the densely overgrown jungle. After five minutes, we take off our sweaters and vests. After ten minutes, we exchange our long pants for shorts. The landscape is exceptionally beautiful as always. Green overgrown mountains on the left and right, a small river in the middle, and at the end of the river, a blue mountain with a white tip. Our jungle tour is more like a roller coaster ride, going up and down and up and down again. Our guide calls us 'sexy llamas' and tries to draw a smile on our bright red, pained, and sweaty faces. He shows us coca, cocoa, pineapple, and coffee plantations. We pass by some small huts with locals who hope to sell us something. We then make a longer stop in a very beautiful jungle area. Here, we are introduced to the local products of the jungle. There are several things on the table. Fruits, cocoa beans, roots, chocolate, juices, and a bottle in which a dead snake has been preserved in alcohol. Probably for decoration. Wrong! Disgusted, we twist our faces into the most impossible grimaces, but our guide is good at persuading. Each member of our group drinks a glass of 'Inca Tequila.' This strengthens our group cohesion and is said to promote health. We eat and drink some more, play with the animals in the area, and then continue. We reach the highest point of our hike. We have ten minutes to enjoy the view, relax our legs, smoke a cigarette like me, or drink a beer like the Australian guy in our group. We continue hiking along the narrow path along the edge of the abyss and arrive at a family's house for lunch. They seem to prepare food for adventurous tourists here every day. Quinoa soup and pasta in tomato sauce. Afterward, we place our sore and full bodies in the fourteen colorful hammocks by the river. It takes about five minutes for everyone to fall asleep. This peaceful moment is interrupted after 20 minutes by our guide, who announces that it's time to leave. From now on, we only walk on a flat surface, making hiking with the backpacks on our backs in the humid jungle much more bearable. After a few hours, we reach a small cable car that we are supposed to use to cross the river. However, the staff of the makeshift transportation is nowhere to be seen. That means we have to wait. After 20 minutes, we see a man on a moped in the distance on the other side of the river. In groups of two, he pulls us across the river on the gondola. Now we just have to walk through the tunnel, and we finally reach the thermal springs. We pay the entrance fee, change clothes, take a quick cold shower, and position ourselves in the pleasantly warm water surrounded by nature for the next 45 minutes. Just what we need after a day like this. When we arrive back at the hostel, we have an hour to relax before dinner. Dinner quickly turns into the party that was already announced due to the cheap drinks and the number of travelers. The lights are dimmed, the music is turned up, and the alcohol is flowing. After a few hours of drinking, chatting, and dancing, we finally go to bed completely exhausted. After all, we have to get up very early tomorrow.