Huaraz - the trekking capital of Peru. But not this time.....

Changing plans

This time I actually decided to not do a trek/climb!
I arrived in Huaraz after a nightbus marathon from Cusco. Three nights in a row and Arequipa and Nazca visited in between. I was heading for Huaraz to climb the mountain Alpamayo, who I heard was a beautiful mountain. And since I climbed Pequeño Alpamayo in Bolivia, I was thinking; "I have to climb the big brother as well!" ; )

But after one day of searching for a climbing partner/guide/logistics, I gave up. It was too expensive to do it alone, with a guide, hire the gear I needed and so on.
I met some friendly Americans who just arrived to climb for one month, and I decided to do like they did; come back later with a climbingpartner/friend and dedicate the trip to mountaineering! Because it is an area I have to go back to! (I know I have been saying this before, and probably gonna have some problems with actually doing that with all the places ; ) )

But I went out bouldering on friday, with two local guys. It was a good day, but it didn't really helped on the motivation on doing more right now. I got pumped pretty quick!
So after that session I was 100% shure; I skip the climbing for this time, I'm gonna be home soon and can start building up again, and do climbing/trekking/mountaineering for free ; ) But I can't experience the culture down here from back home! So it's better to spend the money on travelling and explore as much as I can the last two weeks before I fly over to Brasil!

But Huaraz was a great place to hang out in for a few days anyway! Located in the middle of Cordillera Blanca 3000 meter above sea level, it's a climbers/trekkers paradise! And I found my favourite café where I spent a lot of time. They had a good selection of old climbing magazines and a nice atmosphere.

I also went to the market for lunch. The markets around in Bolivia and Peru is my favourite place for lunch, fruit salad, fresh fruit juices and the atmosphere!
I put out a few pictures of what you can by down there. It's pretty much everything, when it comes to meat ; )

Other histories from the south

Photo 3



• I think I mentioned Pisco for you before, when I was in Chile. They said that Pisco was Chile's national drink and of course I believed it. They also were wery entusiastic about the empanadas. When came to Bolivia I learned that they had "stolen" the empanadas from Bolivia. In Bolivia they call it Salteñas and it's actually much better as well!
  In Peru I was told that Pisco is peruvian... Pisco it's a city in Peru were the drink originate from!! And it's also a mountain in Cordillera Blanca called Pisco!
  Chile has also "stolen" some local dance traditions from their neighbours. The lesson is: Don't trust all you hear in Chile. They probably have stolen it from somewhere else anyway ; )
  
• I've tasted a good portion of fresh fruits on my travel as well. New on the list are: chirimoya, papaya and a couple of other ones I have no idea about the name of ; )
  
• Other local food: Coca tea, coca leaves, mate de coca, trimate, cuy (guinea pig), llama steak, llama lasagna, llama filet, alpaca steak, Inka Cola and new types of potatoes
  
• Inka Kola is the local version of
  
  Photo 4
  
  Coca Cola, and I think they are planning to take over the world heritage of their big brother ; )
  
• Did you know that Peru has over 3500 different types of potatoes!? And they celebrate it every year!!
  
• Our Machu Picchu guide told us that Peru is selling 120 tons of coca-leaves to the Coca Cola company every year, used in the cola production. The company claims that they are not using it! Who lies??
  

It's always room for one more! South-American bus drivers in general

---

---