Blogs from Ancash, Peru, South America - page 6

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

This is going to be a short entry like the last, once again I am desperately trying to catch up and get this blog up to date - I am currently writing whilst on board a cargo ship heading to the Amazon from Pucallpa, still in Peru, albeit over a month later, that of course will be written about later (hopefully not too far in the distant future... The most important thing about this entry once is the photos of the beautiful Cordillera mountains. I spent a few days in the capital, Lima, which were underwhelming and uninteresting and so I haven´t written about them. I returned later though and began to appreciate the city a little more and so I will write abou that time somewhere down the line. I arrived in Huaraz with a ... read more

The traffic lights here are a bit of a laugh. When red man is standing stoic arms and legs apart reminding you to move no further, has had his turn, little green man appears, he is in profile and above him another round light indicates the seconds remaining in which one has time to cross. When green man first appears he takes of like a sprinter on hearing a starting gun, only in slow motion, as the seconds count down his pace picks up and he starts to jog, 23, 22, 21, he is keeping good time 15,14 13…… the jog turns into a vigorous sprint, 9,8,7…….he is running like the devil himself is chasing him 3,2………its like Carl Lewis on steroids after drinking a gallon of expresso. Bang! gentle unwavering red man appears again just ... read more

La Cordillère Blanche est un massif montagneux des Andes péruviennes qui s'étend sur 180 kilomètres de longueur et comprend 35 sommets d'une altitude supérieure à 6 000 mètres. Son qualificatif de « blanche » vient de sa neige éternelle et de la couleur de la roche qui la compose, le quartz et le feldspath. Le Huascarán, avec 6’768 mètres d'altitude, est le point culminant de la cordillère et du Pérou. Il fait également partie d’un parc national du même nom, inscrit au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco en 1985. Certains décrivent la Cordillère Blanche comme la plus belle cordillère du monde. Pour nous, néophytes, difficile à juger. Cependant, du peu qu’on en a vu, tout de même une semaine passée dans la région, cela pourrait bien paraître justifié ! Les montagnes sont grandioses, les couleurs des lacs ... read more

The last two days have been spent climbing Vallunaraju and surround peaks. It was about a two hour drive even though it is probably about 20 miles and then a several hour climb to where the guide and myself set up base camp. Just reaching this camping area and viewing the surrounding landscape great. After a few hours of restlesss sleep at this altitude it was off to the climb at 12:30. Very cold and somewhat difficult we spent the next 12 hours climbing and trekking in the area. The pics do a much better job of showing the area then I could do with words.... read more