Blogs from Ancash, Peru, South America - page 12

While most friends back in the States were grilling out, watching fireworks and celebrating independence day, Jordan, Paul and I made history on our own...well, sort of. Quite fittingly, July 4th was Peru´s second annual ¨Friends Day¨which, as part of a new social campaign, falls on the first Saturday in July. Mostly a marketing strategy put on by a local beer company, this day actually symbolized a whole lot for me and my two best friends. Some would call it irony - either way, it happened on the culmination of quite an adventure... Fresh off the bus in Idyllic Huaraz, which is tucked in the middle of the Peruvian Andes - a true gem, we checked into a recommended hostel, which Paul had read about in some outdoor/trekking guide. Naturally, before putting our gear down and ... read more

Hi Guys, Long time no speak, write, read. So already in the Galapagos, waiting for the boat, so i think its time to summarize a month and a half of Peru, b4 i forget where and what i did.... Due to different reasons this is really going to be mostly facts and no stories, especially because otherwise i will have to spend a month here at the pc. So I left Cusco to go across the Andes, a very untouritic route, as everyone leaves to the coast from Cusco. Indeed i didnt see even one tourist. The bus went via somewhere until Ayacucho, a cute Inka city. This was 18 hours. No pictures. Stayed there 2 or 3 days doing less than nothing and went on 10 hours to Huancayo. Both routs, to Ayacucho and Huancayo, ... read more

Yay!! Back to the mountains!!! I had a nice time on the coast but I was constantly questioning what was missing and I found it as soon as we entered Huaraz in the early hours of the morning on the night bus from Trujillo. The cool air hit me as we left the bus and the white snow capped peaks all around the city made me feel at home again. After having around 6 weeks in the mountains of Ecuador I was ready to reacquaint myself with the altitude and do some great hiking. I found Huaraz to be quite charming and was instantly remindered about the number of indiginous people living in and around the city. This was my first experience of indigenous people in Peru after seeing alot in Ecuador. Instantly I noticed the ... read more

The Santa Cruz trek is one of the most popular backpacking circuits in South America. Located in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range, which begins approximately in the middle of Peru and runs south down towards Bolivia and Chile, the majority of this National Park region sits above 4000 metres above sea level. The most common trek through this area is 4 days/3 nights and provides some of the world´s best examples of dramatic mountain landscape, glaciers, emerald lakes, waterfalls, alpine meadows and local villages. We have just returned from enjoying this experience, which we initially thought would be ideal training prior to the Inka Trail trek to Machu Picchu. In fact this trek actually reaches a higher altitude than the Inka Trail with the highest pass recorded at 4760 metres above sea level (the highest point ... read more

Well, last weekend I went to the hot desert in Huacachina and this weekend it was the complete opposite, as Christine, Kristine and I went to Huaraz and into the mountains! We started the weekend off by going paragliding on Thursday afternoon in Lima. It was totally awesome to jump off a cliff and be sucked up into the air by the wind. I did some tricks swirling over the ocean and swooped precariously close to the cliffs, it was great. We left on a ¨red eye¨ bus ride at 10pm on Thursday evening and arrived in Huaraz at the delightful time of 6:30am the next morning. We took Cruz del Sur, arguably the nicest bus company in Peru, so the trip was pretty good. In fact on the way there, we sat at the very ... read more