Huaraz

---

After an eight hour bus journey, we arrived in the small hours of the morning in Huaraz, population 80,000, 3000m above sea level. We were advised to spend a couple of days acclimatizing, due to the massive increase in height.. So we spent the time discovering traditional Peruvian lifestyle - our first proper meal in Huaraz involved munching on a guinea pig’s leg!! Bex felt guilty holding the "poor little guinea’s claw", where as Dom is keen to get his teeth into a whole one!

Huaraz is much more traditional than Lima, and hardly has any western influences. For example, the women dress in the traditional colorful style and carry their babies in a sling type shawl on their backs! At first we were a little shocked to see live Guinea Pigs, Chickens, Ducks and Rabbits kept in nets in the heat and being sold on the street but we soon became used to it.

There wasn’t much in the way of nightlife, however we could have 2 meals for 3 soles each, which equals about 50p! On our last night in Huaraz, we were lucky enough to witness a carnival involving the various neighborhoods - there was a lot of dancing and fireworks!

We are now used to traveling around from place to place in crazy mini-bus "collectivo"/"combi"´s (we’re still not sure which is which!). The journeys we’ve been on have been extra crazy, due to the fact that it is the "water carnival" in Peru at the moment. This means that every window open is a target for young kids armed with buckets of water and water bombs! The locals find it pretty hilarious!

Huaraz is the base for many people wanting to go on mountain treks in the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra (Andes mountain ranges). The following 4 pages are some of the pictures and memories from the "Santa Cruz Trek", our greatest achievement so far.....!!!

---

Photos

An old local in traditional dress
Bex´s competition - this woman kept saying "Hey Gringo, get me a beer!" -

Comments

[Susan and Peter]

Good to hear from you.
Great to hear how you are doing. Was there any snow when you were so high up or is it not the right time of year? Loved the photos. Looking forward to the next holiday blog, keep them coming. Take care, Susan

[BallingerLewis]

Re¨Good to hear from you.
Susan, There was snow about 200m above us but none where we were walking! We thought we might get some skiing in in Chile in a couple of weeks, but it´s not the season - shame, we´ll just have to wait til NZ!! Take care, Love to Pedro xxxx