¨¿Este camina va a [fill in the blank]?¨ ¨No, senor. Estas perdido.¨

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When I first heard about the Cordillera Blanca - Peru´s trekking and climbing mecca - I envisioned lycra-clad sport climbers and gear-laden gringo backpackers swarming mountain trails...mountains fading with beauty from overuse.

After an incredible 8-day Cordillera Blanca circuit trek, I can say I was mostly wrong - but not completely!

I wanted a solo journey, and with recent reports of armed thugs in the nearby Cordillera Huayhuash I thought the Cordillera Blanca (CB) would be a nicer option. I hitched a combi to Catac, walked up to Laguna Quesquecocha past an otherwordly Puya raimondii grove, and over a nice starter pass (at Laguna Acococha, 4600m). After a first cold, sleepless night with some altitude-related headaches, I continued up the Quebrada Raria and over a 4850 m pass. This was some of the toughest hiking I have ever done, with 2-3 breaths per step.

Then it was down to some wonderful hot sulphur baths at Quercos and the mysterious ruins at Chavin, with their gargoyle heads and spooky catacombs (many unlit). I did not have my headlamp, so I found my way with my camera flash...

I recharged my batteries feasting on baked trout and vegetables over rice in Chavin, then moved onto Huari by combi. En route, I passed through the cool town of San Marcos, which was right in the midst of a drunken festival. My favorite part was how they had blocked off the whole town to all but foot traffic by uncermoniously dropping large boulders at the ends of of each street. Yeah! Power to the pedestrians!

From Huari, it was up past the stunning Laguna Purhuay, and over San Bartolome pass to Chacas. At Laguna Purhuay, I had some more fleeting fantasies about having my fly rod along, and then ran into a campesino who had hooked into a few rainbows. He had no pole! Only a hand-line and one spinner. He made me feel the stupid gringo, letting lack of expensive gear stop me from the hunt!

Near San Bartolome pass I found some damp, musty old mines with strange sky blue crystalline salts clinging to the walls! Hey geologists out there: what is this? (see the photo below)

Next, I spotted a rare Peruvian mobile home working its way down the road. And you thought this was an exclusively American phenom!

Past Chacas, enroute to Yanama I practiced getting lost. And then practiced getting lost again, repeatedly. But getting found, after I reached Yanama made up for it all...spectacular!

In Yanama, I kicked back for part of an afternoon. Then it was onwards, up the Quebrada Huaripampa and off a side ¨trail¨ to Laguna Tocllacocha (read: more practice getting lost). Here, I had another cold, sleepless night. I didn´t care: I was stoned on altitude and unbelievable scenery.

Running low on food I had to make the hard decision to skip the Huillca-Los Cedros route back across the mountains, said to have some of the most grueling trails in the CB. That put me right on track for the Santa Cruz valley - the most popular trekking route in the CB. Up until now (day 6), I had had only one fleeting glance at a gringo backpacker.

On day 7, I crossed Union Pass at 4750 m, and met a train of gringos working their way up the valley. There were a lot of heavy packs to be seen. But no lycra, thank god. And the valley was severely worse for wear. I have to say that 95% of my splendor in the CB was found outside the popular Santa Cruz valley.

My return journey by combi from Cashapampa to Huaraz was a true Latin American experience. At one point there were 25 souls crammed in a small combi (mini-bus), counting me, the driver, and a couple of babies. But not counting the numerous guinea pigs and chickens stuffed under the seats.

All told, I hiked some 164 km, crossing four passes over 4500 m plus a bunch of smaller ones. I am still trying to find the reset button on my bowels. But I guess you can say I had some hiking partners along for the ride...to keep me company!

Other cool critters and environments encountered:
Andean condor, Polyepsis/quesnal forest, viscacha (like a cross between a marmot and a rabbit - related to chinchillas), lots of cool wildflowers and cool birds I could not identify...

Note on Maps: I have further refined my map-making using Wayfaring.com. I will now have an overall Peru travels map, as well individual larger-scale maps for an area in each blog entry. When you click the above links it will take you to a static map with location markers that you can point to with your cursor to identify. If you click anywhere on these maps, it will automatically take you to a Google Earth-like interface so that you can pan, zoom, and gain more info on the markers. Wayfaring.com is cool because it allows one to create maps without fancy software, share them with others, lets others alter or add to the maps, and it takes lat/long coordinates from GPS!

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