Blogs from Ancash, Peru, South America - page 15

Hola a todos! Ons avontuur in Peruaanse Andes zit erop! We hebben onze laatste week gevuld met het beklimmen van 2 prachtige toppen in de Cordillera Blanca ("witte bergketen"): de Pisco (5752m) en de Vallunaraju (5686m). Pisco (5752m), 3 dagen. Vanuit het "base"camp (4650m) vertrekken we s´nachts om 02u en worstelen we ons door de chaotische morene (nooit zo´n hoop ellendige rotsen en puin bij elkaar gezien) naar de gletsjer. Tegen zonsopgang bevinden we ons op de gletsjercol tussen Pisco (5752m) en Huandoy (6356m). De rode en daarna goudgele kleur op de loodrechte gletsjerwanden is "loco". De tocht naar boven is zwaar wegens de felle oostenwind die de sneeuw- en ijsdeeltjes tegen ons doet slaan. Om 08u30 zijn we boven, het is helder en het 360-view is "out of this world": alle belangrijke 6000-ers rondomons (Alpamayo, ... read more

Amazing things happen in the mountains. After writing my last blog entry in Lima, I waited a few more hours before catching my bus to Huaraz, 8 hours North-East of Lima. Naturally my bus took 10 hours, but I didn´t seem to mind so much because I ended up having an amazing sleep - I don´t even remember half the people getting on the bus. I arrived here in Huaraz on the Monday morning, quite early, and found myself a short time later at a family run hostel, down the road four blocks, down a flight of steps, down a side street and right down the alley. I know it sounds pretty bad, but the guy who approached me at the bus stop was right - apart from about the hot water. The family that own ... read more

From Cusco we took a bus to Peru's capital city Lima. This was just a quick stop off for 2 nights before moving on for more trekking. Lima is a massive metropolis and we weren't there long enough to get to grips with the whole place. Instead we spent most of our time in the posh Miraflores district next to the Pacific Ocean. We went shopping, sipped pisco sours by the sea and cooked ourselves amazing meals after we found a supermarket with gorgeous fresh produce and plenty of European treats (proper cheese and ham!). We also took an afternoon trip into Central Lima where we visited the Cathedral, ate a picnic in the Plaza de Armas and saw lots of important-looking Government buildings. They also sold excellent watermelon on the streets of Lima so we ... read more

So Trujillo was BEAUTIFUL ...but didn't end up being the volunteer opportunity of my dreams. The "school" ended up being a room in his aunt’s house with a couple desks where he charged Peruvians for English lessons. The room I was to rent was in this same house - which was, by the way, completely concrete. Foundation, floors, ceilings, stairs, counters...everything. Have you ever tried to get comfortable in a cement house? Not impossible, but difficult. So yeah - charges them for classes, gets me to teach those classes for free, and then charges me for rent...so this kid (yeah...you can't tell how old someone is over email...he was 24) was getting paid on both ends. Sweet deal...for him...I on the other hand, was quite unimpressed. The "cherry on top" were the roommates he never told ... read more

April 11-20: After eventually leaving Lima a night later than originally planned we got to Huaraz early the next morning and got talked into taking the 'free tourist bus´ to our accomodation. Only catch was they had no intention of taking us to where we wanted to go, but instead they took us to where they wanted us to stay. Eventually checked into a place that was further out of town than we would of liked but at 5 Euros for a double room who could complain. We then had to fight off a concerted effort to sell us a tour there and then by agreeing to talk to them later after we´d had a few hours sleep. A few hours later and there´s a knock on the door to let us know that our tourist ... read more