Punta Callan

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We decided that a warm up walk for the 5 day trek later in the week was in order so we set off to try and catch a bus to Punta Callan which is approx. 4,200mt high and is a recommended walk back into Huaraz. After spending an hour trying to find a bus to take us there and being told the bus the guidebook suggests doesn´t exist we decided to take a taxi to the pass. This was not before trying get a collectivo (like a minibus) which was preparing to transport about 10 people, 6 sheep and a net full of Guinea Pigs.

An hour later, through some fo the windiest roads ever made, we were pretty glad we had decided to take a taxi rather than a bus. We got out at the pass and started to walk up a hill that we believed to be the recommended view point. Turns out it wasn´t. Actually it was the smaller hill a lot closer. The beekeeper picture is taken around the time I began to suspect we had gone wrong. The scenery, however, was terrific. It was amazing to see the Cordillera Blanca from such a height (we were on the opposite range, the Cordillera Negra) and it excited us even more about the trek ahead!

After 3 hours of piddling around and getting no further than 5 minutes down the road tempers were beginning to fray. We had been walking through fields of the most aggressive grass we had ever encountered. Every step caused hundreds of grass spikes to fly up and into our socks.

Finally we got to a road which seemed to lead to Huaraz according to our map. We started walking along and realised that the road actually led past lots of little villages and farms. Wonderful we thought, we´ll get to meet some locals. That we did. Everyone we passed stared at the gringos strolling past. I think this was probably in part to the unique bee keeper look I was cultivating. We got asked for quite a few things, money, sweets, pain killers (?) and everyone seemed quite taken with our presence. The jovial atmosphere came to an end as we walked past one farm and 2 dogs rushed out barking and growling. We continued walking slowly but this obviously did not fool them. One of them went for my leg and tore a strip out of my trousers. Ever the lady I yelped and legged it down the road leaving poor Mike to fend for himself.

The rest of the journey went smoothly. The scenery continued to amaze, and it was really interesting to see the farms and the way rural life works. At times we felt as if we had gone back in time! All the manual labour seemed to be done by hand from ploughing to harvesting. There were no cars as the road is basially a dirt track so everyone has to carry everything either on donkey if they are lucky or on their back if they are not.

We came across a farm at one point which the path seemed to go straight through. As we approached we saw a woman in traditional dress lobbing this huge rock at something in a shed. As there were pieces of fruit lying strewn around I assumed she was breaking up a melon or something. As we walked on Mike turned to me and said "why was that lady throwing a rock at a pig?", slightly different to fruit then. I assumed she was trying to kill it. Mike thinks it had just pissed her off. Hmmmmm......

As we got nearer to Huaraz we started passing through a busier Pueblo called Pungay. A couple of small children stared and tried to touch my hair with a stick (they love blondes here) but apart from that everyone was pretty friendly.

By the time we arrived back in Huaraz we had walked for about 6 hours, good preparation for next week!

More news later!

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Photos

Punta Callan 4225m
Drop off point for a walk with Amy the bee keeper.