Aguas Turquesas - Feliz Cumple Ella!

We celebrated her birthday the evening before with a cake and presents :) 

Well, this trip was NOT for the feint of heart 😳  We gave Ella a few different options of places we could go for her birthday and she chose the Aguas Turquesas.  It wasn't what we were expecting (in some ways), and, in true Peruvian fashion, the tour agency didn't disclose that the main road leading to the AT was closed so we had to take a detour!  The 3 hour trip took 4 hours and 45 minutes to get there!  The car ride wound around the mountain pretty much the entire time.  Imagine the curviest road you've driven on.  Now, imagine that curvy road on the edge of a mountain...that is over 5,000 meters (1,000 meters higher than Pikes Peak).  Now, imagine that curvy road has no shoulder, is basically one lane and you have various animal and people obstacles to look out for.  Oh, and then imagine that it's a dirt road 🙈  Yeah, my thoughts exactly.  Luckily, our driver was awesome (even though he loved looking at the scenery while he was driving).  I did not partake of the beautiful views as looking over the side was terrifying! lol  Here's just a little taste of the drive there.

Because of the curvy road, the lady in front of Noe got sick about an hour and a half into the drive.  The driver was able to pull over in time.  Paul, however, did not get so lucky! 🤢  He's never gotten car sick before and it came on so suddenly there was no warning.  Good times.  I had already asked to sit up in the front seat because I was nauseous.  So Paul joined me.  We felt much better in the front...but it also gave us a front row seat to all the "curvas peligrosas".

Once we finally got there (such relief!), we hiked the 1/2-3/4 miles to the top of the mountain to look down on the Aguas Turquesas.  At 5,200 meters, I had to take a few breaks on the way up.  The kids and Noe seemed fine lol.  Gemma was also quite content the entire trip!

The view from the parking lot was amazing.  we were very high and could see down (a looong way) and we could see miles and miles in most directions.  

hiking up!

If you look closely you can see the yellow stair handles.  They go all the way up (see my red circle).  I took multiple breaks to catch my breath while the kids and Gemma ran up ahead lol.  

on our hike, we saw a few of these along the way.  The guide explained that this is a very poor (and remote) area of Peru.  Indeed, we were VERY far from any large town.  so, they built these to store the water from the river (which is pretty clean), and then stocked each one with fish.  Pretty smart.  Since the main road was closed, one of the locals said that fish was basically their only meat option (unless they had their own animals)

So this is the view from the top.  Beautiful!

I've heard two explanations as to the color of the water and they are very different.  One website claims that limestone is brought in from a nearby cave which make the water turquoise.  Our guide said that it is copper sulfate which changes the color.  I'm thinking the guide may be right - as the rocks and bottom of the river were covered in white...which I think is the copper sulfate (but correct me if I'm wrong).  The sun that reflects off the minerals (whatever they are), creates the color. 

This is the bottom of the waterfalls as the water changes into a regular color...

we hiked down to the water once we finished at the top and got to see everything up close.  All the rocks and stones are white.

They no longer allow people to get in the water because the oils, dirt, and run off from people was destroying the color.  If it is in fact turquoise because of copper sulfate, this is probably a good thing - as that isn't something you want to bathe in!  plus, the water is freezing, so we had no desire to get in anyway  (although we originally thought we could and Ella was disappointed!).

Paul and Noe continued with the group to the very, very top to see where the water originated.  Ella and I hung back because she wanted to look for cool rocks to take as a souvenir :) 

That's Noe inside that little blue circle :) lol

This is the top where the water starts and falls down to the pools.

I was dreading the ride back home.  I knew it would be dark for part of the ride, and I realllly wanted to get through the curviest part before that happened.  I even told our nice driver - if you get us home safely, I'll give you a tip :) lol.  The poor guy was so exhausted by the time we arrived!  We stopped a few times along the way and Ella always found dogs to play with 💙  When we stopped for lunch/dinner, we even got to see and hold a 3 week old baby sheep!

She's like the pied piper with dogs :) lol

Overall, it was a nice trip...but I wouldn't do it again.  When the main road opens up, I think it'd be worth it...but the fact that we couldn't get in the water (and it was so cold), and the trip was so long, made it not really worth it.  This was one of the things on our Peru bucket list to see though. so I'm glad we got to do it!  It will definitely be a birthday Ella remembers! lol

En Cristo,

Laurie y la familia Juarez