Saturday 14/7 - HUARAZ (last day)
Hot Steam Caves of Chancos (natural hammams)
After the icy evenings, icy nights and icy breakfasts of the Santa Cruz trek, I absolutely needed a sauna or a turkish bath to push the cold out of my body.
Fortunately Huaraz offers the solution. Mother nature generally does the things well.
Simply take a collectivo to Marcara (30 minutes from Huaraz) and change for another collectiovo for Chancos (10 minutes). You will be dropped at a thermal complex offering multple options.
There you will have to find out yourself (the guy at the ticket office will repeat as a parrot always the same phrase, independent from your question).
Anyhow, we took the risk: we payed something to the guy (5 Soles each), we got tickets, and we could use the caves.
The caves are different in size, the smallest are the warmest (up to 54 degrees), and so the number of 'seats' of each cave is different. We had to wait outside for nearly one hour, two earlier arrived familieswent first.
We were five and filled completely the cave number 4 for nearly one hour. Big relief, the cold left our bodies!
We walked back to Marcara, took a collectivo, and decided to separate until dinner. We eat at the Belgian restaurant, discovered earlier in the morning. The cook is from Gent and has some Belgian specialities on his menu. Unfortunately no Belgian beers...
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Hot Steam Caves of Chancos (natural hammams)
After the icy evenings, icy nights and icy breakfasts of the Santa Cruz trek, I absolutely needed a sauna or a turkish bath to push the cold out of my body.
Fortunately Huaraz offers the solution. Mother nature generally does the things well.
Simply take a collectivo to Marcara (30 minutes from Huaraz) and change for another collectiovo for Chancos (10 minutes). You will be dropped at a thermal complex offering multple options.
There you will have to find out yourself (the guy at the ticket office will repeat as a parrot always the same phrase, independent from your question).
Anyhow, we took the risk: we payed something to the guy (5 Soles each), we got tickets, and we could use the caves.
The caves are different in size, the smallest are the warmest (up to 54 degrees), and so the number of 'seats' of each cave is different. We had to wait outside for nearly one hour, two earlier arrived familieswent first.
We were five and filled completely the cave number 4 for nearly one hour. Big relief, the cold left our bodies!
We walked back to Marcara, took a collectivo, and decided to separate until dinner. We eat at the Belgian restaurant, discovered earlier in the morning. The cook is from Gent and has some Belgian specialities on his menu. Unfortunately no Belgian beers...
Huaraz restaurant with Flemish Carbonnade (beef and beer stew)
and Belgian Waffles on the menu. But no Belgian beers :-(
The gringos trying to understand what formula to take.
It took us 20 minutes of discussions to make the right guess.
Choose your temperature and cave (sizes are different).
You can stay up to 15 minutes, or 30 minutes when you're more than one.
We made an intermediate choice, cave 4, 45 degrees waterdamp.
The facilities: people waiting their turn in front of a cave.
Our hot steam cave. Behind the outer door there is a shower and locker room,
and another door leading to the natural rock cavity.
After your hammam, you can get a lunch from these ladies.
Shop underway
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zo als de grotten van Sciacca in Sicilie! :)
ReplyDeleteInderdaad, zoals in Sciacca, maar meer artisanaal. Hier moet je niet eerst langs de dokter lopen. En het kostte heel wat minder, zowat 1.50€.
DeleteHet heeft erg goed gedaan!
cc,as-tu essayé les produits locaux???
ReplyDelete