B-1.0 Agua de Hierro 2.0 km

Distance         2.0 km             (4.0 km return)

Time               0.45 hours       (1.5 hours return)

Altitude          1530m - 1650m

Ascent            125m

Descent          10m

Rating             Easy 1/5

Start               Vilcabamba tourist office

End                 Agua de Hierro (1650m)

Agua de Hierro is a small, natural spring, reputed to have curative properties, which attracts quite a number of local health seekers. Nothing special in its own sense, it’s a nice, easy hike along the shady, washed out Sunungo valley, with its steep, up to 8 meters high gravel faces.

Route: From the tourist office, head one block north on the cobbled Calle Bolivar, then three blocks east, where you find a dirt trail branching north again towards Rio Chamba. (Follow the signs to Rumi Wilco /Agua de Hierro.) The trail then crosses the river on a red concrete pedestrian bridge, passes the entrance of Rumi Wilco reserve (http://www.rumiwilco.com/index.htm) and continues into the rugged Sunungo valley. In the dry season, cars pass about one kilometer into the valley, where sands and gravel for local construction are being extracted. Past the barbed wire gate, the road narrows into a single trail in the riverbed. About four hundred meters further on, you find a trail with a wooden handrail deviating to the left. Following this trail for another hundred meters, gets you to the small mineral spring, dripping out beneath a moss covered rock.

After curing yourself of any illnesses, return by the same route.