Ice Climbing, Laguna 69, & Lima

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August 21st
Ice climbing was today! And it was a lot of fun. We drove for about an hour and a half and then hiked for 40 minutes before reaching the glacier where we would do our climbing. I was honestly slightly disappointed at first by the apparent size and steepness of our wall, but it turned out to be harder than I thought. I took two turns on the wall and got the hang of it by the end. There was another ice climbing group there from another tour agency and they were climbing a steeper wall and then were preparing to climb the basically vertical wall when we left. We asked our guide if we could climb there too, but he said that it was too dangerous and the other group shouldn´t be doing it either. And it made sense, there were a bunch of rocks at the top that could fall and the sun was out so the ice was starting to melt a bit. So I was satisfied with what we got to do. And tomorrow promises to be another great day with our hike!

August 22nd
I realized again today how much I love hiking and how gorgeous the snow capped mountains are. The hike ended up being fairly difficult. It should have been pretty easy but with the addition of the altitude it was a hard hike, especially the last hill to the lake. After a 3 hopur bus ride we were dropped off at a parking lot at 3,800 m. We went down into a valley at about 3, 700 m before climbing 800 m and 8 km to end at 4,500 m. Another guy from the group and I were the first two up. The lake is a glacial lake and the most incredible blue I have ever seen, it was gorgeous. And it was surrounded by incredible mountains and a glacier partway up the mountain on one side. When we reached the lake the guy I was with jumped right in, so of course I had to eventually too, although I ate my lunch first. It was freezing! I´ve been in other glacial lakes but I had forgotten how incredibly cold they actually are. But it was definitely worth it and completed the hike perfectly. It was a great hike overall and I am glad we at least got to hike a little bit in the Cordillera Blanca. The entire 3 hour ride back to town was filled with 80s music with everyone in the car singing along. It was hilarious and a lot of fun. Tomorrow is our last day together and I am sure there will be some sad goodbyes in Lima.

August 23rd
Our very last drive day! But it was a very long one, all the way to Lima. We got to our hotel in Lima, Hostel Bonbini, at about 5:30 and everyone cleaned up and dressed up for our last group dinner. We ate at a fancy restaurant right on the cliffs of Miraflores, which was very beautiful. The food was delicious as well and we didn´t finish eating until after 10 pm. And then it was out on the town for our goodbye party!

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