Ayacucho, Huancayo, Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca

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The bus from Cusco to Ayacucho was excruciatingly long. I left Cusco at 6:45am and didn’t arrive in Ayacucho until 4:40am the following day (this involved a change of bus in Andahuaylas). Ayacucho used to be at the centre of Peruvian tourism, as it’s a pretty colonial city with more churches than I could count. In the 1980s, it was the focal point of the bloody war between the left wing Marxist group Sendero Luminoso and the government, with locals caught in the firing line. But despite the area being politically stable once again, it’s still relatively quiet and off the beaten track, even though it’s midway between Lima and Cusco. I only spent a day in the city, which was enough to explore it thoroughly enough, before catching another night bus to my next destination. There are a few things to do outside of the city, but most of the attractions are ruins (Ayacucho having been the centre of the pre-Inca Wari empire), and after Cusco, I’ve had my fill of ruins for a while. There was nothing specific to see of do in Ayacucho, just lots and lots of churches and not much else. But it was nice enough for a day. And it felt much more Peruvian than Cusco or Puno, with cheap markets, hundreds of mototaxis, orange juice stands on the street and few foreigners around.

My night bus took me to my next stop, which was the city of Huancayo, slightly to the north of Ayacucho, but in the same highland area and similarly affected by the civil war in the 1980s (but also safe these days). The city was more or less like any other city in Peru, with nothing that special to make it stand out. Just 40km outside of the city is the small town of Jauja, which was the capital of Spanish Peru before Lima was founded. I assumed this would mean that it would be full of colonial and historic buildings, but Jauja really wasn’t worth the visit. The whole town seemed to be in the process of being dug up, and most of the buildings, old as they may have been, were decayed and crumbling. By the time I got back into Huancayo in the mid-afternoon, the skies had opened up, so the rest of the day was a write off. Like Ayacucho, Huancayo also has many archeological ruins in the vicinity (having been the centre of the Wanka culture which gives the city its name), but nothing really appealed. Apart from attractions in the area, one of the best aspects of the Peruvian highlands is its cuisine - amongst the best in South America, and as the area is not popular with foreign tourists, everything is at bargain prices. Though having rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner as many locals do, is definitely too much for me.

Bright and early the next day, I headed for Lima. My next stop, the city of Huaraz, is to the north of Huancayo, in the Andes, but as there are no direct services, I had to change in Lima. Spending all day on the bus wasn’t the most fun ever, but at least it was a comfortable bus (despite being ridiculously cheap), and as the night buses from Lima to Huaraz didn’t leave until 9pm, it didn’t really matter that the bus was an hour late, as I still had 4 hours to wait in Lima.

Huaraz is known as the Chamonix of South America; in fact the snow-covered mountains that form the Cordillera Blanca surrounding the city are supposed to be the most beautiful place to trek in the world outside of the Himalayas. After arriving early in the morning, I was persuaded to do a tour on the same day, principally as the weather was looking good (rainy season was due to start shortly). The full day tour was actually pretty good - essentially exploring the valleys north of Huaraz. The first stop on the tour was the first major town outside of Huaraz - Carhuaz, where we only stopped for 20 minutes in order buy ice-cream, for which the town is famous. And they were pretty good (lots of unusual exotic jungle flavours). After Carhuaz, it was a long drive along a bumpy road to one of the most idyllic sites in the area - the Llanganuco lakes. Actually we only stopped at the first and biggest one, Chinan Cocha, but I’m assuming the others are similar. The green volcanic waters, with the snow-covered peaks in the background, were really picturesque. And overlooking Chinan Cocha is Huascarán, which at 6,768m, is not only the highest peak in Peru but the second highest peak in the Southern and Western Hemispheres. In other words, pretty tall. But it didn’t seem that big, even if rose 3km above the lakes. Most of the peak was clouded over, so it was difficult to judge.

After the lakes, we stopped for lunch, before heading to the town of Yungay. This used to be one of the prettiest towns in the valley, but in 1970 an earthquake struck off the Peruvian coast, causing a landslide which completely buried the town, killing virtually all of the 26,000 residents (being the first day of the World Cup, most people were at home or in one of the bars). The same earthquake destroyed most of Huaraz city as well the other neighbouring towns. The site of where the old town stood is now a tourist attraction of sorts, but obviously it’s quite a sad site. All there is to see is the remains of the cathedral, the sole palm tree which survived the landslide and is still alive (as it was sheltered by the cathedral), the rusty hulk of a smashed bus, and lots of giant boulders brought down in the landslide. The only thing in Yungay to survive the disaster was, ironically, the graveyard, which sits atop a hill overlooking the old town, with a statue of Jesus (also dating to before the disaster) forever observing the destruction.

At the moment, Peru is in the middle of an election campaign. Only local and regional elections, but despite this the whole country seems to be going crazy. As you pass through villages and small towns, virtually every house and wall has been painted with an endorsement for one of the many candidates. And in Huaraz and the larger towns, there are posters plastered everywhere as well as people driving around in cars canvassing through loudspeakers. It was at first interesting, but now it’s more annoying, as rallies have blocked the road on a few occasions, causing delays and hassle. And as everyone legally has to vote, all of the intercity buses are filled up days in advance, as people have to return to the city where they are registered. I booked my ticket back to Lima 3 days before I went, but I got one of the last available seats for that day (and bus prices were a third higher as a result).

The day after my tour to the Llanganuco lakes, I wanted to do some hiking independently, but public transport to the place that I wanted to go proved non-existent, so I stayed in the city in order to book tours for rest of the week as well as have a little look at the city itself. The city is very modern, as 96% of it was destroyed in the 1970 earthquake. Not much to see or do, with the exception of the Archeological Museum, which wasn’t at all bad. Huaraz does have a very scenic location, nestled in the River Santo Valley between the towering snow-covered peaks of the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Negra. As the city has a reputation of being one of the most dangerous in Peru (outside of the touristy centre), I was reluctant to head to one of the many view points above the city, but the tourist office recommended one in particular as being safe, El Pinar, and indeed it seemed to be. Plus the views of the city as well as of the nearby peaks made the climb worthwhile.


The next day, I had a tour to the archeological ruins of Chavín de Huantar, a temple built by the Chavín people 3700 years ago, so predating the Incas by 3 millennia. The Chavín were the first main religious group in Peru, and most of their ideas and customs passed on to the successive cultures, culminating in the Incas. The tour itself was quite interesting, though we did spend most of the day on the bus as Chavín is 3 hours from Huaraz. Despite earthquakes, flooding and damage caused by the Spanish searching for gold, the temple itself is still in reasonably good condition given its age. We were allowed to visit the main plaza (built to be exactly 49 metres by 49 metres, despite their lack of tools), the outside of the main temple, and into some chambers in the old temple. The main temple was originally made with black stone on the right side (representing men) and white stone on the left (representing women), with the quarries for both types of stones being miles away, and it’s still a bit of a mystery as to how the giant blocks got to this site (and how they were carved in the first place as the Chavíns didn’t use any metal tools). None of the temples have any windows. Instead they used mirrors to reflect light inside, and when there was no sun, they took San Pedro (an hallucinogenic cactus which dilates your pupils allowing you to see better in the dark). We weren’t allowed in the main temple, but some other chambers were open to the public. Very low ceilings, as the passageways have filled up with dirt since they were first built. In one of these chambers is the Lanzón; a statue of their chief deity (a feline/human form), which was too big for either the Spanish or tomb raiders to get out. After the Chavín temple, we went to the museum housing many of the relics found on the site, including the many feline heads that would have once adorned the temple. All very interesting, if not a little strange. It may all seem backward, but they were actually incredibly advanced for their time.

The day after Chavín, I wanted to head by myself into the Cordillera Blanca, and the tourist office had recommended a trek that I could easily do by myself in a day. The transport to the start was both irregular and expensive (for Peru), so I had to leave Huaraz very early (5:15am). I didn’t get to the starting point of the trek until 9, by which time I was already tired. I was supposed to be heading towards “Laguna 69”, but at the very beginning of the trek, the path forked, with the left fork signposted “Pisco”, which on my map is a mountain next to the laguna. Only on the way back did I notice the sign for Laguna 69 pointing the other way, hidden from view. So the trek I ended up doing was longer and more difficult, climbing from 3800m to 4700m and the base camp for those who want to climb Pisco (5500m). But the scenery of the walk was spectacular, with many different snowy peaks visible as well as a waterfall or two. The climb was quite arduous though (3 ¼ hours) but definitely worth it. At the top, I eventually found a small lake, which at the time I thought was Laguna 69, but now realise definitely wasn’t. After descending back the same way, I arrived back on the road just before 3pm, not knowing how often minivans would pass. The first one that passed was jammed full (including someone in the roof rack). Some while later, a second one also passed, which was similarly full, but the driver squeezed me in anyway (19 people in a 14 seater minibus). The journey back to Huaraz was cramped and uncomfortable, but I was just relieved that I didn’t get stranded in the middle of nowhere.

On my last day in Huaraz, I did my third and final tour. This time, it was to the Pastoruri Glacier, some distance to the south of Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca. The tour took a total of 8 hours, but of these, 6 were spent in the minivan getting there and back. We stopped near the glacier to have a look at some Puya Raimondi - strange plants which can grow up to 10m in height, and are the largest member of the pineapple family (though most of the ones we saw were dead). We eventually arrived at the base of the mountain, at 4700m above sea level. I had been told that it was a difficult hike to the base of the glacier, but in fact there was a paved path, which took only about 30 minutes to navigate, up to 5240m where the glacier begins. That said, 2 women in our group couldn’t manage it, and someone else started suffering from altitude sickness. Furthermore, a French tourist in the group had only come in jeans, t-shirt and jumper, so was rather cold, especially when the snowstorm began. The glacier was really beautiful, though 10 years ago it was substantially bigger. Our guide showed us how quickly it is disappearing - they think within 10 years it will be completely gone, which would definitely be a shame. We weren’t allowed to walk on the glacier itself, only to walk around the edges, and our guide took us to a few places which strictly speaking are supposed to be off-limits to tourists. Just as we left the glacier, heading back to Huaraz, we came across a large flock of 500+ very timid sheep, being led by one elderly shepherdess. Instead of moving off the road, most of the sheep just kept running forward, meaning that by the time we passed the last one, we had probably dispersed the flock over 5km or so. I imagine the shepherdess was not best pleased. Normally in rural Peru, animals are tied to small posts in fields, with no fences, with each animal being able to move 5 or so metres (sheep, cows, donkeys, horses and goats). But they often seem to get loose and wander on to the road and cause disruption. Why they don’t build fences I’m not sure.

After the long journey back to Huaraz, I had a long wait for my night bus, taking me back to Lima. From here on in, it’s south all the way, eventually down to the southern tip of the continent. My next stop after Lima will be the southern city of Arequipa, from where the next blog will come.

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