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Published: December 31st 2005
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Lake Churup
at 4500m... feeling very humble After our emotional farewell in Trujillo we spent a whole night on board a rather plush bus (by Peruvian standards) which elevated us from sea level (0m) to Huaraz which is nestled in a valley of mountains at just over 3000m. The journey took nine hours, the bus itself was extremly comfortable. However the attendant didn´t quite have the knack of temperature control and for most of the journey it was like sitting in a sauna. So after a fitful nights rest we arrived at 6.ooam and found ourselves in a very misty and wet looking town. The temperature outside could be compared to an English winter, which was quite a shock after spending a month in the desert.
The setting of the city, at the foot of the Cordillera Blanca, is spectacular. When the sky is clear you can see over 20 snow-capped peaks which tower over 5000 meters into the sky. Of these the most notable is Huascaran (6,768m), the highest mountain in Peru.
The first thing that strikes you on arrival in Huaraz is that it cannot exactly be called a pretty place, with most of the buildings built from concrete. This is because the town
Lake Churup trek
Victor (Mountain Goat) & Dunc has been completely rebuilt following a catastrophic earthquake in 1970 with Huaraz at the epicentre. The whole town and many other villages in the region were completley flattened and thousands of people died (27 000!!!!). On our second day we visited the town of Yungay where roughly 200 children survived the disaster. The new town now stands on a differrent site, the origional area has been left as a large memorial and here and there amongst the freshly laid flowers, tops of trees can been seen poking out of the earth. It´s quite a spooky place.
You definitlely feel the lack of oxygen at this height, It effected us in different ways, Duncs felt like a zombie for the first two days, but I took everything in my stride until I tried a glass of wine and lets just say it went straight to my head! It is a weird feeling being so high in the sky.
We were lucky to stay with the Bruce Peru Volunteers free of charge which was cool.
We had planned to do either a 12 day trek in the Cordillera Huayhuash mountain range or the 5 day Santa Cruz trek but
Lake Churup trek 2
JGirl sucking up oxygen at 3800m after two days of watching torrential rain roll in from about 2.00pm onwards, we decided against it. We were pretty gutted about this as we were really looking forward to a few days out in the wild however the wet season gets its name for a reason and it can be very dangerous to trek not to mention non too enjoyable .
We were determined to experience some mountain glory however so decided to do a one day hike up to see Lake Churup, which sits at 4500M above sea level! (these crazy heights do not really compute). We made an early start (6am!!) with our guide, Victor (AKA Mountain Goat) with a view to ascending and descending pre downpour. To say it was challenging at times would be an understatement, The lack of oxygen really hit hard and at times I nearly gave up, but after brief restbites I pushed on (to be honest, I think Duncs was very grateful for the frequent stops to catch his own own breath too!) I highly recommend Victor as a guide, he works at Kaori Tours nr Pachamama restaurant.
After 4 1/2 hours of climbing (including a few bits of
Lake Churup trek 3
"I cant take anymore... pick me up here on the way down!" JGirl at 4000m rock climbing thrown in free of charge!) we reached the lake and what a glorious site it was! It was absolutely breathtaking (literally), turquoise and emerald green water, with a huge snowy peak towering over it. From this peak dropped a glacier which fed the lake with fresh water. Our guide commented on the lack of snow and said over the last couple of years he has seen the glaciers throughout the mountain ranges become smaller and smaller - sadly we were viewing global warming in full effect.
We stopped for lunch and photos, 45 mins later the weather took a turn for the worst. Huge, ominous angry looking clouds rolled over the mountain tops, so we rapidly packed up our picnic and started to make our descent. Then came the hail, we are not talking the normal hail you see in England but large lumps of ice, some of which had the diameter of a 1 pence piece! Even Victor looked rather worried, but maintained his cool and took control throughout. At points he clung onto rocks as I used him as a human ladder to descend the rock faces! It took us 2 hours to ramble back
Lake Churup trek 4
una buena vista.... 4100m down to the bottom of the mountain trail, throughout which we were accompained by torrential rain, thunder and dramatic lightening. After this we had another 2 hours to walk back to the village. Our fabtastic (mate) gortex coats were excellent in fending off the rain but out little tootsies were sodden (mental note to self, gators and waterproof trooosers next time). Needless to say we arrived at the bottom in one piece with a real sence of achievement. The bus journey back was amusing, a very small combie with a ´maximum capacity´ of 14 was crammed full with Indian campesinos, we counted 27 peeps in total and lets just say the Indian ladies have rather rotund backsides. I was used as a pillow (and bed) on our return to Huaraz by a small baby and her mother. I didn´t mind, it was quite cute really.
Before heading back down to the warm desert we spent a day checking out Lago de Llagatungo, another beautiful lake at 3800m. This ascent was rather easier as you can get a bus there! Duncs became a small celebrity there as a school trip turned up at the same time and all the girls
Lake Churup trek 5
Getting there at 4200m, happy to see the top wanted thier picture taken with the stange looking long blond haired blue eyed chico from a distant land... I looked on in mild amusement as the girls lined up for their picture... Duncs didnt quite know what to do with himself but you will be glad to hear the fame didn´t go to his head!
We were really sad to leave Huaraz as the mountain air was so fresh and when the sun shone, the desire to explore the mountains was immense but we will return here when the time is right. We left Huaraz and headed to Ica (via Lima) by bus. Yet another long, tedious bus journey but I´m glad we chose the daytime to do it. Arriving in Huaraz by night means you cannot fully appreciate just how bloody high up in the sky you are but this became very apparent on our descent. The bus winded it´s way down and down and down and down ....this went on for several hours and I never tired of it....my stomach did though! I advice against beers the night before!
So we replaced the mountains with the desert...off to Ica....
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