Lima & Huaraz

Sun September 30- We arrived around 5am local time in LA and checked into the Radisson airport hotel for 5 hours of sleep. The hotel was only 1/4 mile from the airport and since we had not seen any Radisson shuttles we attempted to walk there- bad idea- airport terminals are not designed for pedestrians. So we turned back, called the hotel, and did in the end get picked up! It was worth it, the sleep made our flight to Lima much more comfortable. The flight itself was uneventful and we arrived just before midnight. Through the hostel that we had booked in Lima (Hostal Iquique) we had arranged a driver to pick us up at the airport- but as sometimes happens in South America the driver never showed up... Luckily there was a helpful taxi-driver that in the end drove us to the hostel. Our room was fine and by 2am we were fast asleep.

The mountains from Huaraz (we took no pictures in Lima)

Mon October 1- The hostel included a breakfast between 7 and 9, so at 8:59 we came down for some white-bread with jelly and instant coffee. The hostel was right in the old center, which we explored after breakfast. The old city-center is like many South American cities: some squares, some churches, interlinked with random 'architecture' and even an American-style shopping mall. We were surprised at just how many police were everywhere- they seemed to be at every street corner and even created a road-block preventing us from getting to the Plaza de Armas. Later we found out there was a South American and Arabian summit taking place; seems random. On the way back to the hostel we bought a Movistar sim-card (cell phone chip) and had a gut-wrenching experience when the ATM-machine gave a fatal error and took 1 minute before returning our bank-card. Back at the hostel we decided to take a taxi to Miraflores, an upscale area of Lima right on the ocean. For most of the Peruvian winter (our summer) Lima is blanketed in a thick layer of fog. Although it was still mostly foggy- the sun did peak out for a bit so we enjoyed sitting by the coast and people watching. Because-at least Maurits- is about a foot taller than most of the local people- we tend to get many stares in our direction also- a young boy even asked to take our picture for his school project.

LB in the Wilkahuain ruin

Tue October 2- By 930am we were in the Cruz del Sur bus (VIP-class) on an 8-hour bus ride to Huaraz. Huaraz sits at 3,100 meters and is the gateway to the 'Cordilleras' (lots of high mountains) where we plan to do a couple of hikes (Santa Cruz and Huayhuash trails). Despite the comfortable chairs, the bus ride was long and hot. It was however fun to watch some Hollywood movies dubbed in Spanish! In Huaraz we checked in at Jo's Place, which was once again fine. In the evening we walked around the city and had a pizza Hawaii (we never got one in Hawaii!) Before going to sleep we took some ibuprofen to get rid of the altitude headache..

Wed October 3- Day 100 of our trip! We had breakfast at Cafe Andino (nice cafe; a real gringo hangout) and enjoyed the mountain views from the terrace. The rest of the day we worked on a plan for the coming days by talking to the owners of Jo's Place, Cafe Andino, Casa de Guias (not helpful) and other travelers at our hostel. On a side note, Huaraz is a pretty loud city; cars are beeping all the time, police officers whistle at everything, marching bands all over the place and loudest of all are the continuously exploding fireworks (day and night).

The view from Pitec

Thu October 4- After having a nice breakfast at Cafe California (another great gringo cafe) we hiked from Huaraz to the pre-Inca ruins of Wilkahuain. In theory an easy hike, but we got very lost and had to ask for directions countless times. Many people were confused that we wanted to walk there (why not take the bus?), but in the end we managed to get there! After we tried and failed to climb a surrounding hill (there was no trail and dogs started barking at us) we checked out the ruins and took a 'collectivo' (mini-bus) back to town. We had lunch, had a coffee and had a nice chat with a couple from Israel. On the way back to the hostel we picked up some groceries for the coming days. Later that night we had dinner at Bistro de los Andes where we shared a Peruvian chicken dish...

Laguna Churup

Fri October 5- Pretty serious sick-day today.... Montezuma's revenge (or maybe that's just Mexico). Around 2am Maurits got sick with 'traveller's diarrhea.' It was bad, but thanks to Doctora Chamberlain and the addition of antibiotics, loperamide, tylenol, coca cola and gatorade, Maurits was able to have bread and banana for dinner. We still suspect the Peruvian chicken dish from the night before, but it could have also been a merengue (egg) dessert or a chicken sandwich.. This teaches us that eating at more reputable, expensive, western places is not a foolproof way to avoid getting sick. This unfortunate event changed our plans a little bit; we were not hiking up to Lago Churup and spend the night at 4,400 meters to acclimatize when Maurits could hardly make it out of bed!

Sat October 6- Maurits felt much better today, but we still had to take it easy. In the late morning we walked to Cafe Andino to have coffee. We are happy we talked to the owner about our plans for the Santa Cruz trek because he had a lot of good suggestions. We had wanted to do the hike by ourselves and maybe camp the night before in the trail-head town of Cashapampa. He did not think that 'wild camping' was a good idea and he also recommended getting an arriero (man with donkey). Of course he had an arriero friend in Cashapampa.. LB talked to the arriero on the phone... if all goes well we should meet him on Monday. The rest of the day we hung out on the roof-top terrace of the hostel. We took no more chances and made breakfast (oatmeal), lunch (bread) and dinner (mashed potatoes) at the hostel.

Pretty and pretty high

Sun October 7- At 7am a taxi picked us up and drove us to the trailhead for the Lago Churup hike. Initially we had wanted to camp at Lago Churup, but now went just for the day. The 1 hour drive to the trailhead in Pitec was very rough! The dirt-road was in terrible shape and sometimes looked more like a boulder field than a road. We would not want to drive our car up there, especially not for 55 soles.. But the front-wheel-drive corolla made it fine and by 8am we were hiking. Finally we were in the mountains!! The trail started at 3,800 meters and lead to a lake at 4,450 meters. The altitude made it a hard hike, but we both did fine. A good practice hike for the coming week! And yes, the scenery was beautiful! After enjoying the great views we hiked back down to the pueblo of Llupa (no bus from Pitec) where after some struggle we found a ride back to Huaraz. We had dinner at the hostel (not taking any chances) and packed up for the Santa Cruz Trek.

Hiking up to Churup

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