Blogs from Huaraz, Ancash, Peru, South America - page 3

Firstly our bus trip up to Hauraz- eish, seats at the front on the top of the swaying double decker bus plus 8 hours of switch back roads plus gaining 4000m from the coast– made for an eventful trip. Won’t go into too much detail but needless to say that we have booked the more expensive seats downstairs for the return bus! We are loving our time here in Hauraz (pronounced Wa-ras). It is a popular base town for the enormous amount of treks and adventure sports in the nearby Cordillera Blanca, proved by the many North Face branded gringos. We find ourselves being totally gob smacked every now and then when you glance up and see the huge snow capped mountains peeking out from every direction. Hauraz sits at a comfortably high 3100m. We are ... read more

Our first impressions of Peru along the bleak barren coast were now a ten hour overnight bus ride behind us. And what a contrast. Where as a dusty desert defined our last few days, now snowy spiraling peaks and picturesque mountain villages predominated our new Peru. Arriving in Huaraz at 4:00 A.M., we hopped a taxi to the Casablanca Hostel ($15 a night including continental breakfast ) and were surprisingly given early morning check in at no extra cost. We promptly crashed. Huaraz is the place to go for trekking and serious mountain climbers. Just outside town are many towering peaks poking the sky at 20,000 feet and higher. These granite gifts from God seduce you to get outdoors, sign up for treks and spend time wondering how insignificant man is beneath these behemoths. Wasting no ... read more

Our next destination... And they say the best things are unplanned and this one certainly supported this notion.... We decided after a bit of investigatory work that rather than head down the coast as we'd originally planned we'd head up first for a bit of high altitude hiking in the second largest mountain range in the world the Cordillera Blanca.... And stay in the city of Huaraz way up in the mountains. Darragh had been there and supported our idea with good feedback about the place so we booked our bus... A day time bus on recommendation as the scenery on the journey was supposed to be breathtaking and it was said to be a bit of a waste if you headed up at night and missed it! Chris at the hostel said give yourself 45 ... read more

Just some pictures from our trip to Huaraz.... read more

Yes dear readers, your correspondent is back with more tales of derring-do and adventure without any embellishment or sophistry. There have being rumblings that perhaps I – in the past – possibly exaggerated a few areas of my reports, a charge I could not possibly answer without the aid of a damn fine solicitor. Anyway after I fought off the tigers all was well !! We arrived in Huaraz by bus and still a bit tired after the trials of Macchu Pichuu ( your correspondent had to spend 2 days in bed with a badly sprained ankle – thankfully his own) so a day or two relaxation was called for. Sadly, as is usually the case in such matters, this was not to be the case. Our hostal had information concerning trips to local areas of ... read more