Huaraz, Peru

16th August – 19th August 2017

We didn’t have to be awake as early when leaving Huanchaco, but we still had a long drive ahead of us. Tents and bags needed to be away at 7.15 and we were having breakfast at 7.30. Rianne and David put on breakfast with all the leftover food we had because it was our last camping session of this leg of the trip, so we had to use up all that was left. We left the campsite at 8 and set off on our 10 hour drive to Huaraz.

I tried to sleep on the first part of the drive but I didn’t have much success. I was sat at the front of the bus, just behind David and Rianne; it was a much better view of the road and I could stretch my legs a little more. We had to make an emergency stop for a toilet trip for some people but our first coffee and actual stop was about 2 and a half hours after setting off.

After a short break again, we set off. We hadn’t been driving very long when we got pulled over by the police because we drove down a road not designed for heavy vehicles – which of course we are. Rianne spoke very nicely to the police officer and we were let off and could carry on.

At about 12.30, we stopped for lunch in a little town, just before we started the drive up into the mountains towards Huaraz. I got a sandwich from the leftovers box on the truck, but others went out and bought stuff. We set back off just after 1 and started to drive up into the mountains with 147 km to go.

The drive up was very interesting. It took us a while because the roads were so bumpy and just had big chunks missing out of them – not as bad as Chugchilan but it went on for a lot longer! Once the roads got a bit smoother, I fell asleep. Apparently I missed some beautiful scenery but it was still pretty cool when I woke up.

We got up to about 4200m above sea level and stopped for a scenery picture. The views were spectacular! We could see Huaraz down in the valley and ice capped mountains in the distance. It was weird though, that just sitting on the truck I was finding it difficult to breathe.

We carried on going, heading back down the mountain slightly and finally arrived in Huaraz; we were at the Hostel for around 5.30. However, we did get pulled over again by the police literally 5 minutes before arriving – Rianne was not having a good day! This time the police officer said she crossed a bridge she wasn’t allowed to, turned left when she shouldn’t have and was driving down a street she shouldn’t have (even though another truck the same size drove past us at the time). She did get off again though; it had been a long day and I think the police officer could tell!

At about 6ish, we had a welcome meeting from Maxime (a Russian man who runs the Hostel) where he explained all the activities that were available in Huaraz. Most of us chose to do a glazier hike on the first full day and a hike to Laguna 69 on the second day – both of which sounded really cool!

After the meeting, we met up so that we could head out for dinner. We walked into the main centre and Rianne knew a little side street which led to a square of a few restaurants – it was a little hidden gem. We went to a place called ‘Chilli House’ which served Mexican and Indian curries and Thai curries. Me and Ruth shared fajitas because it came with 4 wraps, and they were so good! They were filling enough with only two each, but we did have cheese sticks too. We were very content with our choice.

We walked back to the Hostel and got settled and ready for bed before two days of action packed activities.

We were treated to a lie in on our first full day, as we weren’t leaving until 9! I was awake from about 6.30 but just lay in bed for a bit and enjoyed the lie in. When we got up, me and Ruth decided to get breakfast from the truck because everyone else had ordered one from the Hostel and the food from the truck would have gone to waste if it was left until Lima, so we ate some of what was there. Once we were ready, we had time to sit around and wait for the coach to collect us – it was actually quite warm in the sun even though we were so high up; the shade wasn’t so warm!

We set off at 9 and had to pick a few people up from different places on the way, before heading towards the Pastoruri Glacier.

After about an hour, we stopped for people to order some lunch for later on in the day – we weren’t eating until 3pm though, but me and Ruth had prepared our own lunch from food we had already bought from the supermarket.

We drove about an hour further and entered the national park. The entrance was 4130m above sea level but we still had 17.9km to go to get to Pastoruri. Once the entrance fee was paid, we set off again.

We stopped a couple of times along the way before we got to the glacier. We saw some alpacas all dressed up and we saw different views points, but by this time I just wanted to get to the glacier, so I didn’t get off the bus.

We made it to the base camp for the glacier walk and got off the coach. Our not so useful guide told us it was half an hour each way and we had to be back for 2 – that’s all the information we got and were told to go. We were about 5200m above sea level at this point, so the air was much thinner.

We set off towards Pastoruri all at our own pace. Even though it was much higher, I managed to do this walk much quicker than the Quilotoa Volcano in Chugchilan but it was much shorter and not as steep. I got to the glacier in about 30 – 40 minutes and the views were amazing.

Stepping off the path, we could get quite close to the glacier; there was a barrier a couple of metres from the surface though so we couldn’t actually touch it. We took some photos and enjoyed the view for a while, but standing still made us very cold.

After a while, we head back down towards the bus with 45 minutes to go. The path that we walked up on continued round and went back down a different way, so we could choose which way to go; me, Ruth, Hayley and Stephanie decided to follow the path round and do the scenic route, everyone else went back the way we came up. It was nice to see different views going down a different way.

We got to the base (where the bus was) with a couple of minutes to spare! Although when we got there, there was no sign of anyone else except the Dragoman people that we were with. Everyone was finally back down by 2.30, so we could leave – South Americans really aren’t great time keepers.

We drove back towards Huaraz, stopping at the restaurant for lunch (the same restaurant that people ordered food from in the morning), even though it was a late lunch at 3.30! The roads going back down were very bumpy and the driver did not take it easy at all, so it was a rough ride for us all. After a half an hour lunch stop, we were back on the bus and continued on towards Huaraz city centre; we arrived back just after 5 (which was slightly ahead of schedule).

We dropped off our heavy bags back at the hostel and went straight back out to wander into the centre. Obviously, we were looking for markets and we knew there were some in the main square, so we walked that way. Although the markets didn’t have the nicest smell (it really wasn’t nice at all), there were some good souvenirs in there but still no patches – it is becoming a big struggle!

After the markets, me and Ruth met up with Hayley and Naomi to get some dinner. We went into the same square at the first night, but tried a different restaurant – we went for an Italian and all decided to have pizza.

We walked back to the hostel after dinner, so that we could get an early night, as some of us had to be up very early the next day for a hike. On the way back, Ruth wanted to go to the supermarket so we nipped in and after a 20 minute queue, we made it out! My knees weren’t feeling great at the point and I just needed my bed!

I got straight into bed when we got back and tried to get some sleep. I did not sleep well at all though. It felt like I got no sleep at all and I’m not sure why; it was probably either the altitude or the fact I knew I had to be up so early and didn’t want to miss my alarm.

Half past four soon came around and my alarm went off. I tried to sneak around the room to get ready but Ruth was awake anyway, so it wasn’t so bad. I was up and out pretty quickly though and went downstairs for breakfast at 5. There were eight of us up (me, Rianne, Naomi, Stephanie, Dan, Celine, Judie and Elisa) ready to do the hike to Laguna 69. Maxime had sorted it all out for us and made it very simple. For 115 soles (less than £30) we got breakfast, lunch, snacks, transport and a guided tour up the mountain – it was so worth the money.

After we ate our scrambled eggs, drank some fluids, filled our bottles up and had a quick toilet trip, we were ready to go. We set off at half 5 (which was so early, but it was the right time to go) and drove in our private bus up towards Parque Nacional Huascaran (the national park with Laguna 69). Maxime came with us, as he was our tour guide for the day, even though it was his day off!

We were driving for just over an hour when we came off normal, smooth roads and went onto bumpy, uncomfortable roads for a good portion of the journey to the national park. The roads were so bumpy and impossible for me to nap on (even though everyone else seemed to manage it); they were so bumpy that I kept bouncing out of my seat and hitting my head on the top of the bus – it wasn’t great, especially so early in the morning!

At about half 7, we arrived at the national park and Maxime paid our entry. We carried on driving a little bit further (still on bumpy roads) until we came to the first lake in the park (Laguna Chinancocha). We had a quick stop and had chance to jump out and take some photos. The views were beautiful with the mountains in the background and the water was unbelievably blue – which is caused by minerals according to Rianne.

After about 20 more bumpy minutes, we arrived at the point for the start of our walk. We were the first bus to arrive (which is what we wanted and why we left so early), so we got out and got ourselves prepared for the hike. As I jumped out of the bus and took about five steps, my watch started vibrating to tell me I had reached 10,000 steps for the day – this would have been very impressive for 8.20am but I have to give the bumpy road credit for that one!

As we set off, another bus pulled up, so we knew it was going to be busy at the top. We started off going downhill and ended up in the valley of the mountains on flat land. It was a lovely start, but we knew it wasn’t going to last long. The beginning of the walk was a nice way to ease us in really, as the first 45 minutes or so were no more difficult than yesterday’s walk, so I could take it at quite a steady pace as we were slightly lower in altitude. There were so many horses and cows just roaming free, not one bit bothered by all the people walking through the fields.

However, as we got to the base of the mountain, we had to start climbing up. It wasn’t as difficult as Quilotoa but there was definitely more of an incline at this point in comparison to the beginning of the hike. I kept going at my own pace and was quite happily walking on my own in the middle-ish of the whole group. It was nice to walk alone for a while as I didn’t feel I was holding anyone up and I could stop and take photos of the scenery at my leisure – although it was impossible to show the true beauty on a photograph, as it always is.

After about an hour and a half, I needed my first snack. I had a chocolate bar (from the snack bag) in my pocket, so I nibbled on that as I carried on walking – although this wasn’t easy as it took more of my breath (which was already in short supply). It was a good point to have a sugar boost, as the steep inclines weren’t much further ahead.

Although they were steep inclines at very high altitudes, they weren’t as long as they could have been. We had a ten minute incline, before quite a long flat bit after it (with a mini lake to enjoy on the way). As I got to this mini lake, Maxime (who was like a machine up the mountain) was sat waiting for people. He saw my camera and told me to give it to him as he would take some photos for me. He wasn’t too impressed with my dirty lens, so gave that a clean first but then I had my very own photoshoot, as he was telling me to stand in certain places, sit on certain rocks and look in certain directions – not quite my thing, but it was very nice of him to make the effort.

The first sighting of a sign for Laguna 69 was encouraging but when I looked at where it was pointing, I was slightly less encouraged as the mountain looked pretty steep. I carried on going, determined to make it to the top. I was close behind Rianne, so I was pretty much following her path, only once I started on the mountain, I couldn’t see her anymore, so just walked and hoped for the best. I eventually found the official path, so figured it would be sensible to follow that. I caught up with Rianne as she was having a break, so we finished the climb together. I was slightly in front after the break and every bend we got to, we hoped we would see the top but we were disappointed a few times.

The land eventually flattened out again which was very reassuring and we got more excited as we got closer to the laguna.

We finally made it in 2 hours and 20 minutes. We were very proud of ourselves and we were 10 minutes faster than the average person (according to Maxime). We were one of the first people up there and it made the views so much more beautiful (this was the exact reason why Maxime told us to leave at 5.30, so we could enjoy it in peace). The end point made the whole hike worth it. We had chance for some photos with the beautiful scenery (I had another photoshoot from Maxime), but after about 10 minutes, more and more people arrived and started to filter in – it was very busy within 20 minutes of us being there. I was so warm when I got up there, so took a layer off and put my hair up; within 5 minutes of standing still, I was freezing again, so the layers were back on and my hair was down, with my hat on for extra warmth!

We sat and had lunch (an early lunch at 11.00) and some coca tea (which is meant to help with the altitude, although I wasn’t a massive fan of it) with the amazing views and enjoyed it for a little while before heading back down again. While we were sat there, a man from another group jumped into the lake and had a swim – I can’t imagine how cold this would have been because Celine put her hand in and then put it on my face and that was cold enough. I couldn’t stop taking photos while we were up there – I wanted to capture the beauty on my camera but it was so difficult.

The walk down was much easier on the breathing, but was very difficult on my knees (similar to Quilotoa), so I took it easy on the steep parts. Luckily for me, the really steep parts only lasted a short time at the top. I was also very lucky that Char (on our Dragoman truck) leant me her walking boots to try out, to see if I found it easier to walk in – I definitely did, so she said I can use them whenever she isn’t!

After about 2 hours and 14km altogether, with a few breaks in between to let people catch up, we were back at the bus. It was obviously much quicker going down and was also nice to enjoy the views in reverse. At one point, we stopped for a break, as we had a perfect view of Peru’s tallest mountain, or we would have had a perfect view if the clouds weren’t in the way. Maxime said it can change quite regularly within 10-15 minutes and can be clear and then cloudy; we sat there for about 15 minutes but has no luck seeing the peak.

When we were back on the bus, it went pretty silent as almost everyone fell asleep – not me though as the bumpy roads were just not comfortable enough. I sat and enjoyed the views as we drove – and bounced around – back down the mountain. We made it back into the city and got held up slightly by a walking protest – apparently it was teachers protesting about their pay (some things are the same worldwide), they earn less than $100 a month and have been protesting for 2 months now but nothing is being done about it.

About 2 and a half hours later, we were back at the hostel. My legs had already started to stiffen up – but I had gone from hiking for over 4 hours, to sitting down and doing nothing for almost 3 hours, so that probably didn’t help. I had become quite cold by this point, so I thought a warm shower would do me good, only there wasn’t any hot water and I couldn’t face another freezing shower when I was already cold, so a baby wipe clean it was!

I had the rest of the evening to chill out, once I had packed ready for the final drive day of this leg of the trip. I sat looking through my photos for a while, organising them and choosing the best ones to keep.

At around 8.00, Maxime lit the fire in the common/ living room area and invited us to join him. A few of us did and it lovely to be by the warmth of the fire. He got a guitar out that his friend had left, but none of us could play it; he had asked two English guys that were also staying in the hostel (and could play the guitar) to join us, but they were out for dinner. Rianne downloaded an app and attempted to play which was kind of soothing, but not quite the same. Most people went to bed, so then when the guitar players turned up, there were only a few of us left. They played a couple of songs and sang in Portuguese and if I wasn’t so tired from my 4.30 start and lack of naps, I would have listened to them all night. However, after two songs, I had to take myself off to bed to get some rest before the drive to Lima.

The city centre of Huaraz is nothing to shout about; although there are a few markets to see, there isn’t much else to do. Huaraz is definitely a place that people visit in order to use as a base to hike the surrounding mountains. Maxime (who seems to run the hostel – Jo’s Place – as well as organise any trip or activity the guests want) was amazing and made the visit to Huaraz much easier and much more enjoyable, especially the tour to Laguna 69 – it is one not to be missed!

To travel is to live, Katie x