[silly_traveler]

Peru - Part 3 of 3 8 Day Trek in the Cordillera Blanca 10/18/07 to 10/25/07 - My favorite part of our 3 part trip We flew from Lima to Huaraz on the morning of 10/17 and had the day to get some stuff done before leaving for the 8 day trip. We flew on this tiny little 20 person plane for an hour before landing at Huaraz, elevation ~ 9000 ft.

plane to Huaraz

kinda cramped

I learned my lesson from being on the Inca Trail and took half a diamox the day before arriving in Huaraz, and it really helped. No altitude sickness this time around We weren't sure who was picking us up at the airport (~ 20 minutes by car from Huaraz), and as it turned out, nobody! Scot had to get us a ride from the airline shuttle, it turned out to be free, yay! Mr. shuttle driver dropped us off at our hostel, and we were pleasantly surprised. We stayed at a place called hostel Churup and it's such a nice place!

from hostel in Huaraz

from hostel in Huaraz

from hostel in Huaraz

After settling in, as I was just about to call our tour operator, a guy showed up in jeans and introduced himself as Paulino. He's the guy I've been e-mailing back and forth and is the president of the tour company. How nice! As it turned out, their office is just across the street from the hostel, how very convenient! He gave us some information about the trip and off we went to try to get some money to pay for the trek. It turned out to be more difficult than you can ever imagine! Damn ATM machines only lets you take out 1500 soles (~ 500 dollars) a day and for some reason the bank doesn't like old US Dollar bills .... We had some trouble exchanging our dollars! They have got to be crispy and good looking if you want soles out of them dollars! Anyway, we paid with cash what we could and put the rest on a credit card. Just FYI, it seems that a lot of places only take visa and not mastercard We did what they call the Cedros - Alpamayo trek, usually this semi circuit takes 10 days, but we cut it short by stopping our trip at a town called Pomabamba. I don't have a map link but if you're really curious I can find you some. There is a good reason that most people don't stop at Pomabamba, because the only way to get from that town back to Huaraz is the bumpiest 8 hour bus ride you can ever imagine Seriously! We were the only tourists on the bus.... and this bus was jammed packed Anyway.... we met our guide (Abel) and cook (Epi) the morning of 10/18 and off we went! The car was packed with all our stuff and also our food for 8 days. We had some trouble closing the trunk It took ~ 3 hours (by car) to get to the trailhead and we drove through some small towns along the way.

trailhead

1st day of hiking was up, up, and more up, but we didn't hike for very long, maybe ~ 3 hours before reaching camp. That was fine with me.... damn altitude was making me tired! We had some lunch that Abel packed for us in his pack and waited for Epi and the donkey driver to arrive with our stuff to set up camp. They didn't take long, showed up just as we were finishing lunch

1st day

1st day

Scot on a rock

breakfast

leaving 1st campsite

2nd day was more up! We hiked ~ 3 hours before reaching camp, which was fine with me, haha. The weather got crazy and started raining quit a bit, good thing we had some shelter for the night.

2nd campsite

I think this was our highest camp, ~ 15,000 ft. or so. It was by a lake, and at first we couldn't get a clear view of it because of the clouds and rain, but the next morning it cleared up nicely! Bigo mountains behind the lake, very beautiful

sign!

putting up the toilet tent

Martin the donkey driver

2nd campsite

Epi, Scot, Martin.... and the lake

The morning....

Scot enjoying the view

reflection

cheese!

guys ahead of me on the trail

leaving 2nd campsite

3rd day was really long! Oh my gawd, we hiked for ~ 7.5 hours and I got really tired! From the lake we went up to our first high pass, that wasn't so bad because we were already high.

almost to the first high pass

Epi and us

Abel and us

15,922 ft.!

trail

peek-a-boo view of the trail

guys ahead of me on the trail

But then we dropped down and then had to hike up to another high pass! Burp It was really beautiful and that kept me motivated to keep putting one foot in front of the other Everything seemed so much harder at that altitude, I was crawling After the 2 mountain passes, we hiked for a few more hours across this bigo valley to our 3rd campsite, Jancarurish.

3rd day

guys ahead of me on the trail

3rd day

sign!

This place is beautiful, we stayed here 2 nights

3rd campsite

sign!

4th day was our 'rest' day.

having breakfast

breakfast

3rd/4th campsite

Scot on the trail

4th day

Martin and us

We did a short day hike up to Laguna Jancarurish to try to get a look at Nevado Alpamayo. But nope, the mountain is shy, no Alpamayo today. The lake is beautiful, similar color to Blanca Lake.

Laguna Jancarurish

Jake at Jancarurish

We met a Canadian couple doing the trek on their own, said hello and they went on their way.

2 Canadians on the trail

We stayed a while at the lake and headed back when the weather got cloudy/rainy. Then it started snowing that night!

snowing?! on 4th night

5th day was the most beautiful (in my opinion). We awoke to a fresh blanket of snow on the mountains!

5th day

5th day

5th day

And it cleared up enough for Alpamayo to say hello. We took our time this morning, enjoying the clear view of Alpamayo and its surroundings.... it was amazing!

Nevado Alpamayo north side

Nevado Alpayamo north side

Then it was onward with another high pass.... arg, this one was difficult as we had more elevation gain to reach the pass. The nice weather helped and kept me motivated. As we got higher and higher the view opened up more and more.

heading up the 2nd high pass on the 5th day

Scot on the trail

Abel usually hikes with us, since he's the guide and all. But not today, he sent us on our way and said he's staying to help Epi pack and they would catch up with us at the pass. Uh, OK! Scot took the lead and I was crawling up to the pass behind him. As it turned out, we had no donkeys that day, WHAT! I guess the new snow was dangerous for the donkeys or something, we never figured out what the problem was, and nobody told us, so Abel and Epi ended up humping all that stuff on their backs up to the pass! Oh my gawd.... We stopped up at the pass to wait for them, not too long after, Epi showed up with 2 huge packs and a bucket of fried rice in his hand?! That's lunch, duh! At almost 16,000 ft.

Epi's fried rice on top of pass

me on top of pass

15,951 ft.!

The other side of the pass is beautiful as well, bigo valley! It started raining on our way down and didn't stop until the next morning! We set up camp short of our destination for the day as it looked more swampy for miles and miles

other side of the pass

Scot heading down the other side

it was raining really hard....

5th campsite

6th day was a bit scary as Scot got blinded by snow the previous day! He couldn't see.... and was in a lot of pain We didn't get going until the afternoon, as to get the eye balls some more time to rest. He did ok getting to our next camp, which took ~ 3+ hours. I think we camped on someone's property this night as there were two houses where we camped?!

6th day

on top of small pass

Scot on the trail

6th campsite

6th campsite

7th day we took a detour, instead of going over another ~ 16,000 ft. pass we went another way and went over a smaller pass. The weather wasn't looking too good (snowy) and Scot still had eye troubles, so we opted to take the detour to a small town instead. It was a good choice considering the circumstances

7th day

7th day

Scot enjoying the view

shadow and shoes

7th day

We hiked for ~ 5 hours before arriving at a small mountain town with a bunch of kids! They were all curious about us. I don't think any tourists have camped in their town before

last campsite

houses on a hill

8th day was the day we hiked out to civilization, and a thermal hot spring bath! It was a great 8 days in the mountains, we encountered all sorts of weather, even thunder! And found a homeless dog that followed us for a day. I didn't think I could survive that long in the 'woods' but it wasn't bad at all

Pomabamba at sunset

Pomabamba at sunset

I'd recommend this trek to anybody it's got some great views when it's clear I already want to go back and do some other hikes in the same area!

[seawallrunner]

wow what a trip - were the mountains above you the area where Joe Simpson experienced Touching the Void? and what happened to Scot? why was he blinded (was it the altitude? a reaction to diamox?) and is he ok now?

[Gil]

ohmigosh! That's amazing!

[goats gone wild]

Amazing TR and pictures, silly_traveler Sounds like a great adventure with some very kind guides. ? Why snowblindness. Did he forget to wear his sunglasses?

[GeoTom]

(Except for Scot's blindness)

[ScottM]

Very Nice!! I have always wanted to do some kind of trip like that in South America or maybe something in Nepal. I have always been apprehensive about it having never been outside North America. Did you go with a package through a local outfit or did you make all of the arrangements yourself.

[silly_traveler]

HJT- You should totally go to Peru, it's full of variety! seawallrunner- mike is right. Siula Grande (the mountain Joe Simpson climbed) is in the Cordillera Huayhuash.... which is the other mountain range Cordillera Blanca is north of Huaraz, whereas Huayhuash is south of Huaraz But it is pretty much all in the same 'general' area That circuit is suppose to be more remote and ~ 8 mountain pass I'd like to do it someday Scot is ok now goats- Yup, he forgot to wear sunglasses! And at that altitude plus snow plus some sun.... it was very important! Our guides were great Abel was the official guide, but as we found out later he was sort of in training and Epi was actually a guide also and he's also an excellent cook Abel is only 20 and we took him out the night before we left town and by the end of the night had him talking to a plate of salad It was a great time ScottM- We went with a package deal through a local company It took me a while to find one since there are so many! It turned out alright

[Magellan]

That was a great series of TR's Silly. I'm really glad you and Scot got to do this, and have such a great time doing it. Sometimes these things don't meet expectations, but you obviously loved it. I am glad Scot is doing well now. It's a lesson for all of us.

[Backpacker Joe]

Great way to end a three part adventure. Thanks ST.

[dacker]

[Magellan]

Very briefly, Sillys trip reports were the top three threads on the 24 hour page!

[Layback]

Looks like a great trip!

[peltoms]

Great lake pictures, beautiful snowfall. You make it look very relaxing. So why did you not go up a few feet to get the magic 16,000?

[silly_traveler]

Yeah Dacker, it was scary.... he had all those symptoms mentioned.... ".... eyes being bloodshot and teary to increased pain, feeling gritty and swelling shut." He kept trying to wash them eyes but that didn't help Then in the morning Abel and Epi boiled some coca leaves and he had those around his eyes. They use coca leaves for everything over there peltoms- I never thought about it!

[mike]