I wake up early again at 5am and I lie in bed listening to the loud dawn chorus here. There are things close by that I can hear like the dogs and roosters which roam free about the place. Theres also the sounds of birds singing and the Cicadas sound loud again like they did last night after the rafting. Its an undescrible sound, a cross between water rushing through old pipes in the next room and old powerlines starting up, a constant tinatus type sound which can be start slowly and become very loud indeed but also slowly fades away. I get up and pack ready for the new day and decide I definitely have too much stuff. The couple who I'm treking with have one set of clothes which they wash each night. I have at least 4 tops.... I was up early so I walk downstairs and sit at the breafast table waiting for the others. It's odd not having any wifi connection or phone reception. I try speaking to the cook to pass the time as I wait, but she doesnt speak English and I speak terrible Spanish. Paulo turns up and then the couple and we eat an omlette with peppers and bread and spread and jam. Theres a fruit juice and coca tea which I add a big sugar to! I tell the couple that I think I've bought too much and I'm seriously considering sending my bag ahead. They suggest I adjust my backpack to distribute the weight to my waist or back. The guesthouse gives us bottled water for the days trek. We set off in a small car which has wind down windows in the back and pass some of the people we biked with walking along the roadside. Paulo is right, this is a very boring part of the walk. We have a cicada in the car with us on the front window, but thankfully it doesnt move much! We get dropped off after about ten minutes and start the steep climb into the jungle after reapplying sunscreen and insect repelant. The path is narrow and winding and steep. I'm using my poles and my knee support today. As we walked Paulo would stop and pick fruits from the trees as we went along. What a feast we had! We saw and sampled some Lima, orange, papaya, avocado, cherry tomatoes and pineapple. We made it to the waterfall after about an hour and it was a welcome sight. There were so many beautiful big butterflies! It was just gorgeous! After a short break taking some pictures and feeling the calm of the jungle and the water we continued along the path and I saw many big insects, bugs, ants etc and what looked like a couple of big dead spiders, but I didnt investigate, as I'm scared of spiders..... I'VE SEEN ARACHNOPHOBIA! I was definately lagging behind the others and it was quite nice to feel a bit apart from the group, however I also reached a fork in the pathway and had to call out and follow the voices to bring me the right way! Paulo said if you get lost, you can't die here, theres loads of food all around us, just pick it from the tree, not the floor. I see signs for the Inka trail and after another hour or so we reach a place called Monkey House. Its a a pit stop where we can use a real toilet and we meet two monkeys and a blue and yellow parrot there and learn about the jungles offerings including, pure chocolate beans (which I dont like which is odd as I like chocolate bars!) and coffee and a plant called Urucum which has small red pips inside when you mix with a tiny bit of water make a red dye. We tried the passionfruit and a dark maise drink called Chicha Morada, they also have a tequilla with snake inside the bottle so we all tried that, at 9.45am! The lady there said my eyes were like stars. I think my eye colour is quite unusal here. Its already hot so we hang out for a bit and one of the monkeys starts playing with the selfie screen on my camera! I have a couple of hialrious photos because of that! We left the Monkey House and Paulo pointed out this tiny pathway on the opposite mountain that we were about to take. I'm always blown away by sights like this as from this viewpoint it looks impossible and a massive task to undertake, especailly as it seems so hot today already. However just putting one foot infront of the other and following the pathway after an hour or two we are there at a really incredible viewpoint so we stop and take some photos. Paulo has picked up some cocaine plant leaves and puts three together and blows on them and throws them into a small cave which is a sacred space to ask for a blessed passing on our trek. This miracle plant Coca is what I've been having as a tea every morning. Its illegal everywhere on Earth except Peru, Bolivia and parts of Argentina. That's because coca is generally best known for containing a psychoactive alkaloid called cocaine, the raw material for the drug snorted in nightclub bathrooms the world over. However, the amount of cocaine in coca is minuscule, and the effects are quite different. Coca is a mild stimulant that combats thirst, hunger, pain and fatigue, without the euphoria and psychoactive effects of cocaine. (And yes, coca was an ingredient in Coca Cola, but the version the soft drink giant uses today has been de-cocainized since the original recipe.) Locals usually chew the dried leaves, adding more leaves throughout the day to a wad tucked in their cheeks. It's the way they've done it here for 5,000 years. Coca consumption also has a religious and cultural aspect. It was long a part of spiritual life among the Inca and, even today, locals bow to the mountain gods and offer a little incantation thanking them for this miraculous herb. Were very high up here and the pathways drop off so easily along the side of the mountain. Its very hot and in the direct sun its hot and sweaty. There is the loud insect sounds again and we pass a tree with lots of comotion in its branches, I can't tell if its big bugs or birds! We reach our lunch restaurant where there are decent toilets again next to a small shack with a covered area and tables and benches. We ate mashed avocado, Shredded spicy chicken, spagetti ("Sin" tomatoes for me!) and suddenly I'm really tired. There are hammocks nearby and we take a couple of hours siesta during the hottest part of the day. I properly fall asleep in my hammock and when I wake I feel refreshed and slowly gear up for more treking. We walked through the farm past pigs, chickens and a pineapple plantation passing many diffenent types of jungle scenery and thorney plants and aloe vera type bushes, and came to a suspension bridge across the Urubamba river. The path contined on for an hour or so and we crossed a few small streams and we scrambled a little bit to a fun little cable car which was basically a tray on a cable wire that the three of us sat on and Paulo stood on the back of to cross over the river. Then we went through a tunnel (built a few years ago for a train, but it kept flooding so is no longer in use for that). The tunel wasnt long, about 200 meters, but it became pitch black very quickly. There were bats above us! After the tunnel there was a strange alomst beachlike plateau which we walked through for a couple of hours to reach the Banos Thermales which was a welcome sight. I'm not sure when this place was built but its absolutlely beautiful. The hot springs of Santa Teresa are in Cocalmayo, and access to the spa is at kilometer 135 of the former railroad Cusco - Quillabamba, on the left bank of the Urubamba River at 1600 m.a.s.l. It was built on the slope of the mountain and on the edges of Urubamba River. The thermal water complex has a few pools of different sizes and depths, its medicinal water supply varies between 40 º C and 44 º C and has clear waters. These waters have medicinal properties to treat skin ulcers, bone pain and rheumatism. The pools run their overflow into seating areas where you can shower in the hot springs water, but also there is a cold waterfall that is next to it from the Uripata gaps. At the bottom of the pools there is soft sand and around there are rocks, vegetation, mountains and the sound of the river. Theres a tiny bath sized part cut into the rock, perhaps this is where it all started! Santa Teresa hot springs are fully equipped with restrooms, showers, and changing rooms. Is a nice place to rest after the long walk. Its nice architecture here so I get out of the baths to take some photos and after a couple of minutes I can feel the sting of a hundred mosquitos on my skin. They are like a black cover on my back, legs and arms! I bat them away but I know the damage has been done. We've been here for an hour and a half and the sun is setting now. We get changed and you can have a snack from one of the many vendors here if you wanted. Suddenly theres a huge bird that flies into the area and lands on a tree half way up the side of the rock face that leads down into the pools. Theres also a route up that side that leads to a camp site. Its a beautiful parrot, lots of red, and some yellow, green and blue feathers. I try to take a photo but it doesnt do justice at the distance I'm at. It sits for a few minutes and then flies off again, such a beautiful sight. We take a car for 10 minutes to the town of Santa Teresa which Paulo tells us is the party town. I showered at our new guesthouse, evicted a medium sized spider and a giant ant from my room, washed some clothes and chilled for a little bit before we walked over to the restaurant. We're one of the first groups in the restaurant. Paulo gives us a t-shirt each from the company he works for which I put straight on and we have a lovely meal of soup, Milanese chicken with chips and rice. Paulo showed us a huge bottle of tequilla with a big snake in the bottle and we had a shot as it was 4 for the price of 1! My bites are really uncomfortable now and so I hope the alcohol will help with the discomfort. Joep ordered a pisco sour and got 3 free! The place soon filled up with other people that we had seen from the biking and rafting but we were definitley the table having the most fun! Paulo bought over a big jug with a huge penis as its pourer and he put some evapouated milk on the end of itI We each had a shot of it but I had to cover my eyes when it was my turn! It was a fun evening. We were the last to leave and I played a guitar there for a bit as we chatted. Joep, Caroline and I went back to the guesthouse and bought a beer on the way back. We sat ouside with the noise of the party town around us. It was quite loud for a Sunday evening! We chatted together for an hour or so and again I was so grateful to be on this trek with these two wonderful people. How lucky I felt. That evening I put in my earplugs and was asleep by 11pm!