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Published: July 25th 2006
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We arrived back yesterday from our 5 day trek in the Cordillera Blanca. We went on a route called The Santa Cruz Loop which is pretty popular with tourists here. We set off on Day 1 in a private minibus with the 6 other people who were going on the trek with us and 4 other who were doing a one day walk up to Lake 69 which was the first attraction on the itinerary.
After a flat tyre and an unscheduled stop we arrived at the drop off point for the walk. It became clear pretty soon that we were the slowest of our group and being naive to such things Mike and I became convinced that we would be unable to complete the trek as we were supposed to walk together. Turns out that wasn´t true and we were fine to walk at our own pace. It took us 3hrs 20 mins to get to the lake where we had a lunch of avocado, potato and tomatoes. We then walked back down to camp which took us another 2 hours or so. The way up to the lake was pretty steep but it meant we got a spectacular
Day 1 - Market
Unscheduled stop to fix a flat view when we reached our destination. We walked from 3,800 mts to 4450 mts. Camp was at 3,800 mts.
Back at camp we unpacked our things into our tents and went to partake of some coca tea (made with real coca leaves) to help us adjust to the altitude. Very nice it was too. Dinner was vegetable soup and fresh trout with potato. A feast indeed and it was all the better for the hard walk. We all headed to bed at about 8.30 as we were all shattered. As we left the dinner tent we were impressed with the night sky. It was amazing! You could see the milky way and I even saw a shooting star.
Day 2 dawned on lots of sleepless people (everyone had had a rough night in the cold - the night was alot colder than we had expected and our tent was a bit lightweight for the purpose) and we had a very strange omlette / pancake for breakfast. Then we had to catch a bus (another collectivo) up to a small town to collect the donkies we would be trekking with. The ride was hair raising as we were crammed
in with alot of locals and their produce and we were going quite fast along very small roads with sheer drops either side. At one point we stopped and our guide Epi said we could take pictures. We could see all the way down to our camp below and it was impressive! We had camped by a large lake which was turquoise in colour.
The walk for day 2 was alot more "tranquilo" as they say here. It was almost like walking through the English countryside as there were brambles and similar greenery. Lunch was served by a lovely river surrounded by big peaks. The walk basicaly lead us through this valley and across a floodplain. Mike and I were in our element as we watched the locals lassoo their cattle and let their horses and donkeys out to graze. Camp was further along the valley and next to a lovely stream. We had a wash in it which was lovely after a dusty day´s walk. Dinner was chicken and rice and a beer which we had bought at the beginning of the day in the village. Another cold nights sleep followed.
Day 3 was the hardest day.
We walked from 3,800 mts to just over 4,700 mts. We were to walk to a pass named Punta Union which would then lead us into the next valley. we set off with expectations of nightmare proportions. However, the walk turned out to be fairly enjoyable. There was a great deal of uphill but it wasn´t as steep as we had thought until the end. When we got to the point where we could see the pass we thought we were home and dry, however, it was another hour at least of scrambling up rocks with very little track. The scenery again was fantastic as you can see from the pictures. I had no idea what it would be like to be so high and so surrounded by the amazing peaks we could see. Lunch at the top was great simply because we had reached the top! The rest of the day was spent walking down to 4,200 mts to camp. We were greeted at the end with freshly made popcorn and hot chocolate. We even had wine with dinner that evening! The camp was surrounded by cows who insisted on having a very noisey conference with each other as
we were getting ready for dinner. It was one of the funniest things! 2 cows started moaning and suddenly loads of them started clumping together and they really looked as if they were discussing their plans for the next day!
Day 4 was the longest walk we had done so far. It took around 8 hours. We had the choice of doing a shorter walk which would only visit a mirador (look out point) rather than a lake which apparently often has slabs of ice floating on it because of the glaciers that fed into it. We chose the lake - you only get one chance at these things! It was certainly worth it. There wasn´t a huge amount of ice in it but it was nevertheless impressive. The walk to camp was the longest part. 3 and a half days of walking had begun to take its toll and Mike and I were flagging on the 6 hour journey back. We were walking along the valley floor again, past 2 lakes (Laguna Grande and Laguna Pequeno in Spanish - guess what one was big and the other was small!) and loads of cows and bulls. When we finally
spotted the camp it was as if we were looking down on The Shire in Lord of the Rings. Any minute I expected Frodo Baggins and Sam Wys Gangies to appear! We came across a small shed about half a mile away from the camp and found that they sold beer. Yay! We bought the last 2 (one for us one for the guides) and headed to camp with our bootie. Only to find there was a shop at the camp selling beer too. Another popcorn snack (no hot chocolate this time but the beer served as compensation) and a warm tent for Mike and I meant the best night´s sleep yet!
The final day we set out for a small 4 hour walk to the village we were to catch a bus from. The walk was lovely, it was along a river which grew and shrank as we walked, it turned into waterfalls at several places. The final resting spot was a clearing with a stream running past (nice dip for your feet) and a view back through the valley.
The finale came last night back in Huaraz. We were treated to pisco sours courtesy of our
guide Epi. They were very good and a few of us were the worse for wear afterwards. We had a short stumble back to the hostel, but others had a longer journey (to Lima and Trujillo!). Tonight we are heading for Lima to catch a flight to Cusco. More news from there shortly!
For anyone considering doing this trek (or others around Huaraz) we can highly recommend
Huascaran Adventure Travel Agency. Try to get Epi as your guide - he was great.
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Bek
non-member comment
Wow!!
It looks amazing- what can I say! It´ll be lovely to see you later. The sun has got his hat on for you! xx