Cordillera Huayhuash

Mon October 15 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 1) - At 3:50am, (ten minutes early,) our guide Miguel from trekking-company Huascaran rang the doorbell at Jo's Place (our hostel) to pick us up for our next hiking adventure. The plan was to go on a 10-day (165 km = 100 miles) trek around the Cordillera Huayhuash, a mountain range South of Huaraz. The Cordillera Huayhuash has several 6,000m+ mountains and is the setting of the true story "Touching the Void"; a remarkable survival story of two Britons climbing the west-face of Siula Grande (great documentary available on YouTube). On the way to the bus-station we picked up Bridget, 21, Australian, backpacking from Guatemala to Patagonia, who was coming on the trek with us. The first bus-leg took us to Chiquian- through the condensed windows we could see very clear skies and we wondered if this was going to be the best weather-day of the trek... After a coffee in Chiquian the more adventurous second 'bus'-leg started. An old Mitsubishi Rosa mini-bus, likely unfit for duty, drove us to the trailhead in Pocpa. We needed to have steady nerves: unpaved road, steep downhill, steeper uphill, huge drop-offs, packed with people (we had seats) and a ton of heavy cargo 'secured' to the roof-rack. To make it all a little bit more memorable the engine overheated halfway the journey. But no worries; the driver stopped the bus, opened the engine-hood (which was inside the bus- spraying hot steam and exhaust into the enclosed space) and yelled "Agua, agua, agua!" A couple of passengers, they had obviously been through this before, jumped out of the bus, grabbed some water-bottles, ran to the river, filled the bottles, returned the full bottles to the driver who poured many, many liters of 'fresh' river-water in and over the engine.

Miguel (guide & cook on the left) and Elmer (arriero on the right)

Around noon we arrived at the trailhead where our arriero Elmer (with 4 donkeys and 1 horse) was waiting for us. While Elmer loaded the donkeys, we started the trek by signing in at a police check-point. The officer thought Maurits was 22 years old - and married to 31 year old Laura. On our first (short & easy) hiking day we followed an active mining-road for about two hours, before we got to the camp-site at 'Quartelhuain' (4,170m). Elmer (as always) had already set-up camp and on arrival we enjoyed tea, coffee and hot-chocolate in the cooking/eating tent (Miguel and Elmer slept in this tent as well). This cooking tent was going to be the critical success-factor in our enjoyment of a 10 day trek at the start of the rainy season...

Our camp (Bridget's tent, our tent and the cooking-tent)

 

Tue October 16 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 2) - During the trek our morning routine was as follows: we got up at 5:30, packed-up our tent, Miguel brought us coca-tea and warm washing-water (but it was usually too cold to wash much more than hands and face), had breakfast at 6:30 and by 7:15 we would be on the trail. Within 2 hours of departure Elmer would overtake us and set-up camp at the next camp-site well before we arrived.

The view from the first pass we crossed

This second trekking day took us off the mining road, onto a hiking-trail and over a 4,690m high pass. Wherever possible Miguel would take us off the main donkey-trail and onto smaller trails much closer to the mountains and glaciers for better views! Great decision to go on a guided trek- since we would have never been able to find these trails by ourselves. Miguel was also very good at setting a slow but constant walking-pace, which made high-altitude hiking a lot more comfortable. The weather was pretty good today; in the morning high-level clouds with great visibility and after lunch we had some rain. We got to camp 'Janca' (4225m) around 2:30pm and during a short dry-spell, we set-up our tent. Since we brought our own tent and are picky about how and where to set-up the tent, we did this ourselves the whole trek. During our candle-light-strapped -to-the-tent-pole-dinner we had a massive rain-shower! One of many to come.. But it was nice and cozy in the cooking-tent, the stove heated the tent and the excellent food warmed us. Like many evenings, the rain stopped around 7:30pm so we could get into our sleeping bags.

Views from our third trekking day

Wed October 17 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 3) - Frost on the ground! We had a lot of cold nights, one time the whole outside (fly) of our tent was one big sheet of ice! Brrrrrrrrr! Today we took another great off-map route that added a lot of value for las turistas! Soon after we left we got some hail, snow and rain, but then the weather cleared. We climbed up a slippery waterfall, crossed a 4,740m pass, had a million-dollar-view during lunch, and walked down a steep mountain-slope to our camp at 'Carhuacocha' (4,200m). Just before we got back to camp it started pouring! But the cooking-tent was waiting for us to warm up and dry off :-) In the Cordillerra Huayhuash the weather changes so rapidly, and now was no exception. Within half an hour the sun came out, we set-up our tent, and it actually got quite comfortable! But unfortunately we could not see the high peaks.. And during dinner it poured again!

Yerupaja on the fourth morning

This camp-site and the last camp-site were the most picturesque ones of the trek; beautiful setting, right underneath the high peaks! Since we did the trek outside the high-season, it was not very busy on the trail or at the camp-sites. Only two other parties (a French couple with very nice gear(!) and 7 young Israelis with a guide that perpetually played Huayno music from his radio) followed the same route as us. In general most camp-sites comprised of a grassy uneven field, next to a river, with a couple of (nasty) pit-toilets. Surprisingly Huayhuash is not a National Park, but it is only a 'preservation' area. Just like our previous 'Santa Cruz' trek, there are animals everywhere! Cows, sheep, horses, donkeys and dogs. There was actually a dog that followed us the entire circuit! Perhaps because we fed him leftovers... Then there are pueblos, some small 'farms' and a couple of mines. Huayhuash used to be a little unsafe with frequent robberies, but since the trail has been converted in something like a 'toll-road' there is not much to fear. Every tourist pays a fee when passing a local community; some communities charge 15 soles, others 40. However, as advised by Miguel, we did leave our backpacks in the cooking tent overnight for safe-keeping.

One of the farms along the way - this one had a solar-panel!

Thu October 18 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 4) - At sunrise we got a decent view of Yerupaja, at 6,617m the second highest mountain in Peru. Unfortunately as soon as we got on the trail it got cloudier and it started to rain. Once more we hiked a spectacular route that was not on our map; we hiked up a steep slippery slope where we should have had one of the best views of the whole trek..but unfortunately it was raining and we could not see much.. As we made our way over the 4,834m pass it started to snow! The big fluffy snow-flakes were much more enjoyable than rain. Probably the worst weather day on our trek- but we did have a dry-spell to; 1) set-up our tent at camp-site 'Huayhuash' (4,345m) and 2) to get from the cooking-tent into our own tent after dinner. We were 'muy feliz' with the stools and table in the cooking-tent to stay comfortable and dry!

Bridget and Maurits relaxing

The food during our trip was very, very good! Quite amazing actually how fine we ate while on the trail. For breakfast we had a combination of omelet, pancakes, oatmeal and bread; for lunch we had potatoes, vegetables, chicken, soup, tuna always with warm coca tea; and for dinner we had soup, trout, rice, beans, steak, fries, chicken, pasta and/or potatoes. On top of all this we got a daily snack-bag with cookies, chocolate and a piece of fruit (especially the granada-fruit was great!) and at camp, around 4pm, we would have hot drinks with popcorn, fried dough crackers with sugar or normal crackers with butter and jelly. A big thanks to the donkeys for carrying all this!

Mountain scenery

Fri October 19 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 5) - An easy day today. We followed the main trail, crossed an easy pass of 4,785m and got the next camp at Atuscancha (4,365m - the highest camp) around noon. We were now at the Southern end of the Cordillera Huayhuash and about half-way our trek. The best thing about this campsite were the hot-springs! After lunch we had a bath and enjoyed a cold beer in a hail-shower! Great! The hygiene was a little questionable.. Lots of people washing, even shaving.. When was this pool last cleaned?? After we dried off, we spent the afternoon playing cards in the tent. The crazy weather continued and during dinner we had a big hail/snow shower! Our cooking-tent sagged under the weight of the wet snow! It was cold, wet and we found out that Miguel and Elmer did not have proper sleeping mats. They used the (damp) donkey blankets to stay warm! We gave them our extra sleeping mats - a basic mattress provided by Huascaran - we hope this helped a little!

LB on top of the highest pass we crossed

Sat October 20 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 6) - Most of the snow was gone by the time we got out of the tent; but it was still cold and cloudy. We started our hiking day by climbing the highest pass of the trek; according to our guide Miguel the pass was 5,000m (16,400 feet) according to our map 4,950m. Miguel must have been right! Unfortunately Maurits got sick as we were battling the snow and rain on our way up to the pass; stomach pain and nausea.. This was going to be a long day.. On top of the pass the weather cleared and the sun came out, absolutely crazy! Beautiful views! We were planning on climbing another pass at Cerro San Antonio to get a good look at Siula Grande, from Touching the Void... but Maurits' state did not allow for this.. Instead we hiked a little off the main trail to a lagoon, where we had lunch (Maurits just drank some tea). Afterwards Miguel and Bridget continued on to another lagoon, but since Maurits was not feeling well, LB and Maurits set off to the next camp-site at 'Huanacpatay' (4,356m). Miguel specifically told us many times to stay to the left (izquerda) of the river, we dutifully followed directions but when we finally got to the camp we were on the wrong side of the river! Before, when Miguel had mixed up right from left we thought it was pretty cute- but when Maurits was feeling so sick- not funny! Luckily we found a place to leap accross the river so we did not get wet feet! Back at camp Maurits went to bed with some meds to fight the stomach ache and fever...too sick for dinner tonight.

Maurits a little sick..

Sun October 21 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 7) - Maurits felt much better in the morning and after a couple of bites of breakfast we were on our way. According to docotora Chamberlain it was most likely a virus and not altitude related (the altitude did actually not bother us at all). We had no pass to cross today, instead we hiked to the low-point of the trek at 3,500m (the pueblo of Huayllapa) and then up to our camp at 'Huatiaq' (4,253m). We had nice weather all day and the terrain was pretty easy going. When we were almost at camp, we saw Elmer running down the mountain towards us. He had lost a donkey on the way to camp! While we were settling in at camp, Elmer returned with the lost donkey. This was not the only time he would be looking for a donkey or horse (he actually bought a second horse at the hot-springs campsite.) After the arrieros arrive at camp and unload their animals, they let them graze freely. So while grazing the animals wander off for many kilometers up or down mountains - and the next morning the arriero has to go find them. We would recommend a GPS-tracker..

The donkeys at camp

El Diablo in the background

Mon October 22 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 8) - On our longest trekking-day we had to cross two passes (Miguel recommended that we spend two nights at the last camp and do a day-hike from there - which would work out perfectly!) The day started crystal clear with great views of 'El Diablo' and the first pass we crossed at 4,750m was very clear. Unfortunately by the time (11:30am) we got to the second pass at 4,847m, it had gotten a little cloudy. We went off the main trail to get a better view of the mountains and (as expected) right during lunch it started to snow! We were about to experience the craziest weather of our trek; we went from sun with a couple of high level clouds, to zero visibility with snow and a thunderstorm, back to sun and clear mountains within the hour! It was such an awesome transition that even our guide Miguel was surprised by the 'muy loco' weather. [ Of course later in the afternoon it just rained and we could not see anything, again... ] We enjoyed the best views of the trek so far, then we steeply descended to the camp-site at 'Jahuacocha' (4,050m). The mountains are very steep in this part of the world and we had to ascent and descent many steep slopes; our guide Miguel would caution us with 'despacio' and 'concentracion'. On this particular descent Maurits bit the dust once, still experiencing some weak legs after being sick..

Black & white mountains

Miguel on one of the passes

Tue October 23 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 9) - A short day-hike today. We got up at 4:30am and to our pleasant surprise it was crystal clear!!! Exactly what we were hoping for! The stars faded away as the sunlight slowly filled the sky.. At 7am we got to a viewpoint at 'Minapata' (+/- 4,600m) where we spent about 2 hours enjoying the best views of our trek; absolutely amazing! Perfect views of about half the Huayhuash range including Yerupaja! By 9am most of the peaks were in the clouds again, we were not surprised, and we walked back to camp. While we were hiking, Elmer had been fishing and he had caught about 20 trout! Very nice trout for lunch! The rest of the afternoon we relaxed, played some cards and enjoyed the shelter of the cooking tent, since it started raining again and it got very windy.. It seemed almost surreal that the morning had been so clear. Although the weather changes were quite amusing, we still recommend to do this trek in the dry-season! Our last supper consisted of more trout and 'gluhwein' (including a very nice thank-you-speech) for dessert. Miguel and Elmer had both gotten a little sick today, but they kept working hard for us! And we gave them some ibuprofen..

Shortly after biting the dust..

More mountains

 

Wed October 24 (Cordillera Huayhuash, day 10) - It was a very noisy last night; it rained on and off, the dogs were barking at the donkeys and the cows were 'moo-ing' like they were about to give birth. We got up at 3:45am, packed up the tent in a short dry spell, and had breakfast. It was terrible weather! Howling wind and rain, and Elmer was out in the pitch black looking for his horses! We had planned to leave at 5:00am, but due to the bad weather we did not leave till 6. Very soon after we left the rain stopped and as we got closer to Llamac, and left the high peaks behind us, the sun came out! The trail was at first flat and followed an aquaduct on the top of a gorge. The last bit was a gradual descent into the town of Llamac. After saying goodbye to Elmer the most dangerous part of the trek followed; the scary bus-ride back to Chiquian! But despite two pairs of sweaty hands, the same bus that brought us, took us safely back as well. Around 5pm we were back in Huaraz. After a shower the four of us met up again at the Huascaran office, where the owner made us some excellent pisco sours! A little tipsy we had dinner and said goodbye to Miguel and Bridget. What a great trek!!

Sunrise!!

In the early morning sun

Thu October 25 - We did laundry, drank coffee, ate pastries, relaxed, stayed in our room at Jo's Place since we could not find anyone to check-out, packed our bags and took the 10pm bus from Huaraz to Lima.

What a view!

Relaxing..

Fri October 26 - After a not too comfortable bus-ride we arrived around 5am in Lima. We took a taxi to the Alberque Verde hostel in Miraflores, where the owner was so nice to let us into our room! Nice to sleep in a bed for a couple of hours.. The rest of the day we walked around a little bit, sat at a cafe, read a book, worked on the blog and had a delicious 'ceviche' (fish) lunch at Punto Azul. We had been looking forward to the excellent sea-food in Lima, and it did not disappoint! One thing that we noticed in Lima is how surprisingly quiet it is compared to Huaraz. Or maybe Huaraz was just crazy noisy..

All four enjoying the view

LB fishing (for the second time this world trip - but no luck yet!)

Sat October 27 - Our last day in Peru! The day was spent like the day before.. We hung out in Miraflores, had another great seafood lunch at Punto Azul and saw a movie called Argo. Our flight to La Paz left at 10:30pm and by 2:30am (after LB had to pay US$ 135 for a visa! Maurits got in for free..) we were at hotel Estrella Andina - ready for some new adventures!

This was the dog that followed us the complete circuit!

 

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Cordillera Blanca

Mon October 8- Around noon we checked out of Jo's Place and set off to Cashapampa; the start of the Santa Cruz trek in the Cordillera Blanca. Cashapampa is a small mountain village (pueblo) with mostly Quechua-speaking (indigenous) Peruvians. In Cashapampa we were going to meet Sofil, an arriero (donkey-driver) who we had hired to do the trek with us. Since the trek was going to be at high altitude (between 3,000 and 4,750 meters) we did not want to carry our heavy backpacks. The owner of Cafe Andino in Huaraz had recommended Sofil and Laura Beth had called him a couple of days before to organize the trip (great advantage when you can speak Spanish!)

Sofil's house with 'burros' in Cashapampa

 

We took a 'collectivo' (mini-bus) to Caraz, about 1.5 hours North of Huaraz. In Caraz a short moto-taxi ride (fun!) got us to another collectivo that brought us via a spectacular unpaved mountain-road to Cashapampa. This time the collectivo was a small station-wagon with 2 people in the passenger-front-seat, 4 in the back-seat and 1 in the trunk! Upon arrival in Cashapampa, Sofil and his son picked us up and we walked to their house. We got introduced to his wife, two sons and Sarah, a peace-corps volunteer from Indiana that had lived with them for almost two years. It was interesting to talk to Sarah: to hear about the local culture and to get an idea of the challenges that she had faced in the past two years. We got a good insight into life in the pueblo- sad to hear that the local teachers had been on strike for the past 6 months so there was no school- which meant the high school students would not be graduating and therfore could not go to college. We setup our tent under their 'porch' and put all our belongings into the storage room (according to Sofil people had already been watching and we had to be careful that are stuff did not get stollen.). We went to sleep around 730pm since the electricity was not working. One last noteworthy item was their bathroom; to get to their latrine you had to avoid getting kicked by two bulls (used for plowing), jump over a mud-pit with pigs and walk through a small field with sheep; awesome!

Our first camp at Llamacorral

Tue October 9- The rooster woke us up just before sun-rise. We had breakfast, Sofil loaded the donkey, we paid half the money to Sofil's wife (go figure) and by 9am we were on the trail with Sofil and two 'burros' (donkeys - not to be confused with burritos). It rained quite hard for the first hour, but then it cleared and the sun got very hot. The first leg of the hike brought us through a narrow canyon to Llamacorral at 3,850 meters. We got to camp around 130pm and setup our tent just before it started raining again (the rainy season had just started - between May & September was the dry/better season). We read a book in our tent and before dinner it stopped raining and it actually cleared! We got some great views of the surrounding mountains! We made dinner, also for Sofil, since it is custom in Peru to provide your arriero food and a tent. Sofil told us that he had to rent a tent for 15 soles per day, which we paid of course, but we suspect that he brought his own tent...

The valley

Reflections

Wed October 10- Since we were so close to the equator, we had set the alarm for 5am: this maximized our daylight and the weather was generally better/clearer in the mornings. By 630am we were on the trail on our way to Taullipampa at 4,200 meters. It was a beautiful morning with excellent views. Sofil walked right to our campsite with the donkeys, while we did a little side-trip to hike to Alpamayo base-camp. Back in 1966 Alpamayo was voted the most beautiful mountain in the world. Unfortunately by the time we got to base-camp the mountain was mostly covered in clouds. It was still very beautiful, but we could not make the post-card photo. By 1pm we got to our camp-site in Taullipampa. A spectacular campsite with beautiful views; the highlight of the trek! The weather was nice, we had some tea, relaxed, great! In the meantime Sofil had 'found' a donkey. A tour-group (we saw many of them) that was going in our opposite direction had 'lost' a donkey the previous night at our campsite - and Sofil had talked to the arriero when they passed each other earlier in the day. Sofil decided to walk back to our previous campsite with the donkey, which was of course super nice of him! By late afternoon dark thunder clouds rolled in and we were pretty sure it was going to rain. Sofil's 'child-size' tent was definitely not waterproof. He had brought a plastic tarp, but since it was not raining when we arrived, he had not put it over his tent yet. He also had not brought a raincoat when he walked the donkey back to his owner.. Whoops! We put the tarp over his tent to make sure his stuff did not get soaked. The thunderstorm came, it rained hard, beautiful rolling thunder through the mountains and Sofil came back soaked. He was very grateful that his tent was dry! :-)

Alpamayo base-camp

Thu October 11- At the crack of dawn the valley was filled with fog, but as the sun came up the fog lifted and we had a great view of Alpamayo and all the other mountains around us. We left camp and walked up the 4,750 meter high Punta Union pass. We both did very well in the high altitude and especially Maurits was very pleased with his performance (despite a major cold as a leftover from being sick a week ago...) A couple of years ago we tried to climb Cotopaxi (5,900 m) in Ecuador and we still had vivid memories of feeling awful! As we went over the pass and made our way down the other side, we could smell a dead donkey. Laura Beth did not want to see it, but there was no way avoiding the smell. In general throughout the National Park there were 100's of domestic animals; cows, sheep, horses, donkeys and some dogs. We saw a couple of dead cows and walked through tons of poop! These animals are not allowed in the park, but there is no enforcement of this rule. And since the park provides excellent grazing, the locals bring their livestock. Sofil actually brought a second donkey, that he dropped off on day 2 to graze.. Just passed the dead donkey we saw a sick Korean tourist on a horse going up the pass. First of all this looked very scary, what if the horse slips? And second off all, if you have altitude sickness it is actually better to go down.. A little further on the trail Sofil ran into his brother, also an arriero, who was going our opposite direction with a tour group. Apparently our donkey was tired and Sofil's brother's horses were not doing so well either. This made them decide to switch animals; our donkey went back to Cashapampa and we took the big horse and little horse back to Vaqueria. The little horse did not look too well and he even fell one time on the slippery rocks as we were going down the mountain.. By 3pm we made it to Hauripampa, just outside of the national park, where we setup camp. We were not too happy with this camp-spot and would have rather camped at Paria which had views of the high mountains, but according to Sofil and the park-ranger this was the campsite for trekkers going our direction. As soon as we arrived, immediately there were 4 locals trying to sell warm beer and coke to us.. This was a little annoying, but in the end they left and it turned out to be quite an enjoyable camp. On this last night of our trek we were close to a few pueblos and Sofil warned us to keep all our stuff in our tent. This made us a little nervous and despite having tied everything together (including hiking boots) we did not sleep that well.

Enjoying the scenery

Tea time!

Fri October 12- Since we did not want to miss the collectivo from Vaqueria, we got up at 430am. Sofil estimated about 2 to 2.5 hours to get to Vaqueria, but we did it in less than 1.5 hours. So by 7:40am we were at the 'bus-stop'.. Sofil surprised us by getting on to the bus as well! He had told us he had to walk back to Cashapampa, that this would take him 2 days, and therefore we had to pay him for 6 days instead of 4. But instead he tied the two horses to a post, and apparently another arriero was going to take them to Cashapampa.. We think the horses' home was in Cashapampa and by switching animals with his brother they not only saved the animals from having to climb the pass again, but also they both could bus back to their houses instead of having to walk the animals back themselves. Pretty smart! The bus first went to Yanama, where we waited for 1 hour, and then around 11am we drove back to Vaqueria again. So the early morning rush was not quite necessary.. The drive from Vaqueria to Yungay was misty, spectacular and a little scary. We drove over a 4,750 meter pass and hair-pinned our way down. And then we got a flat tire, but the driver was very skilled in replacing his thread-less flat tire with a thread-less 'good' tire. By 3pm, after 7 hours in the mini-bus, we finally made it to Yungay. We said goodbye to Sofil, who we highly recommend. Always interesting when two cultures meet - we learned a lot, he was interesting and fun to talk to, and we were happy to pay Sofil directly. Often times he was hired through tour companies who never paid him! And then he has no way to get that money.. We took the collectivo Huaraz and checked back in to Jo's Place. Shower, beer, etc. It was a great trek!

Nice mountain scenery from our camp-site

LB, the fog rolling in, Alpamayo in the background

Sat October 13- What was supposed to be a lazy day, ended up being quite busy. We did laundry and figured out how to do the next trek in the Cordillera Huayhuash. Chris, the owner of Cafe Andino that had recommended Sofil, recommended a trekking company called Huascaran (or we could just organize it ourselves, but we felt more like an organized trip). We signed up for a 10 day trek in the comfort of a fully organized tour with guide/cook and arriero; departure in two days. Since we now knew when we would be back in Huaraz, we booked a flight from Lima to La Paz in Bolivia (to save a 36 hour bus ride.) Unfortunately we have to skip the rest of Peru (no Inca trail).. We booked the flight online at the TACA (airline) website, which was quite the experience. We got a confirmation code and an error code on the same screen. We now had a reservation, but had not paid.. After 10 failed attempts to call TACA (either no answer or just stuck in a menu), we thought we would go to a local travel agent. We ended up at the tourist info where the lady was very helpful. In the end we got a TACA phone number that did work and LB was able to talk to the agent who was also surprised that we had gotten a reservation without paying! With the whole ordeal settled, we did some groceries and bought some snacks for our trek; the rest of the food we do not have to plan for!

Good view just before Punta Union

Sofil and his donkey on the Punta Union pass

Sun October 14- Relaxing day today! We paid for the trip, booked an overnight bus back to Lima, sat at Cafe Andino, wrote the blog and prepared for our trek. An early night tonight, because we are getting picked up at 4am...

Woot wooooot!

 

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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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Kauai

Sun September 23- It was time to go on a hike again! In the early morning we drove to Waimea Canyon, a spectacular 'Grand Canyon style' canyon. The scenery was amazing! Unfortunately there was no 'good' day-hike along the canyon ridge, so after a short stroll at one of the viewpoints, we drove onwards to Koke'e State Park. The hike we did (Nu'alolo and Awa'awapuhi trail) was beautiful! The trail leads to cliffs that overlook the ocean and the vista is more than excellent. We had beautiful weather in the morning, but as we were having lunch thick clouds rolled in and visibilty dropped to zero. At least it made the hike back to the car a little cooler.. Back at the B&B we had a beer, saw the Patriots lose and made some dinner. The B&B had a great 'homey feeling' to it, nice sitting room, kitchen, bedroom, distant ocean-view, bug-screens (no windows).. Very nice hang-out!

Waimea Canyon

Mon September 24- We did not sleep so well. There was a lot of noise outside, wind, rain, and two dozen roosters that COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOOoooooo'ed (KUKELUKUUUUuuuuuu in Dutch) all night! Chickens and roosters are just everywhere in Kauai because there are no predators (birds of prey, foxes, ets) on the island. In the morning we found a 'white noise machine' next to the tv that made a big difference in the nights to come... In a guide-book from the B&B we found a historic walking tour in the town of Waimea that takes place every Monday. It turned out to be a great tour, hosted by a passionate retired Hawaiian woman. We learned a lot about Hawaii, the Polynesian migration, taro & poi (food), captain Cook who was the first white man to visit Hawaii (he actually got killed in Hawaii as well) and about her private life as a native Hawaiian child growing up just before World War II. In the afternoon we first relaxed at the B&B (warm weather makes lazy) and then decided to go see the sunset from Kekaha Beach in South West Kauai. A nice beach where it was fun to see the surfers and another beautiful sunset!

The steep cliffs in Koke'e state park

Tue September 25- We checked-out of the B&B early and drove around Kauai to Napali Coast State Park in the North West. We hiked the very popular trail to Hanakapi'ai Falls, where we went for a swim in the pool beneath the waterfall. The first section on the coast was beautiful, great views! The trail to the waterfall was more in the forest and best described as muddy, slippery, humid, smelly (lots of rotting Guava fruit on the ground) and busy. It was great to cool-off in the water :) The 8 mile round-trip took us about 5.5 hours and by 4pm we were enjoying a 'shave ice' (typical Hawaiian, we prefer ice-cream). We drove back to the south of Kauai where we checked into the Sheraton Resort. A nice resort, defintely a step up from where we stayed in Maui. Beautiful pool area, great beach, the garden view is indeed a garden (and not a parking lot) and everything looks and feels a little nicer. Well worth spending our credit-card points on! After we freshened up from the hot hike, we had a complimentary mai-tai and then a delicious dinner at Plantations Gardens (restaurant at a resort next to us that had excellent reviews).

Hiking along the Napali coast

Wed September 26- We enjoyed a nice morning coffee in 'our' garden, went to the store for some breakfast and lunch, got fresh ahi poke from the Koloa fish-market (which we had for dinner), did some laundry and went to the pool. Very nice to relax at the pool! Such a beautiful location..

Maurits eating his hand...

Thu September 27- There was a 'high surf warning' for our beach, which meant there were some great waves! So much fun to swim in the warm wavie ocean! Not much else is noteworthy.. We spent the whole day at the pool/beach, saw a beautiful sunset, walked along the beach where we checked out some other resorts and we had an excellent tapas dinner at Josselin's - yummy!

LB in the Hanakapi'ai pool (underneath the falls)

Fri September 28- We had some plans getting up for a second Hawaiian sunrise, but that did not happen.. We basically spent the whole day at the pool and on the beach (the waves were still excellent!), saw another beautiful sunset and went out to dinner at Merriman's (another fabulous dinner!). As a general rule we try not to blog too much about food because we think its boring, but we have to make an exception in Kauai because the food is suprisingly amazing!

Another pretty good sunset

Sat September 29- Our last day in Hawaii :( We slept in, lazed around, and talked to Maurits' parents who are now retired (they spent the last 10 years living and working abroad- first Brunei then Qatar) and are now back in Emmen. We checked out of the room, but since our flight was not until later in the evening we spent the afternoon at the pool and beach (sadly the waves were a lot smaller now). The hotel offered a complimentary shower in one of their hospitality rooms for guests who have a late flight, great service! We had a final poke and ono dinner at the Koloa Fish Market and drove to the airport.

Bye bye Hawaii!

 

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