Santa Cruz Trek

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Whilst in Huaraz everyone kept banging on about the Santa Cruz trek, apparently one of the best treks in the world. It didn´t sound like much fun; 50km using only human power, 3 nights camping, no toilets, freezing temperatures and a climb up to 4750m. We opted for the ´when in Rome´ approach and signed ourselves up for it. What we got was probably one of the most memorable experiances and the most spectacular scenery of our trip so far.

It was hard work at times, the climb up to the punta union pass (@ 4750m, higher than Mt. Blanc and over 4 times the height of Snowdon) in particular, the altitude really getting to us. Each step becoming a laboured effort, the shear lack of air at this height leaving us breathless. We were chewing frantically on the coca leaf which we were told by our guide, Juan, would help us with the altitude. It better have done because it tasted foul! The reward for all that hard work at the top of the pass was a view so incredible and so stunning that it made even the lack of toilets worthwhile (for me anyway, I´m not sure about hannah!)

We camped at some pretty incredible places, next to rivers, at the foot of snow covered mountains, literally in the middler of nowhere. What we weren´t told is how cold it would get at night. I found this out the hard way waking up in the middle of the night freezing my tits off! My descision to go to bed in just a tee shirt had been a bad one. It was definatly cold because when we got up the tent was frozen. The next nights camp @ 4250m was even colder, Juan suggested maybe -10oC, bloody freezing. Funnilly enough they failed to tell us this when we signed up.

We had quite a multi-cultural group; 2 French-Canadians, 2 Isrealis, 2 Spanish, 2 French and 2 Peruvians (Our guide and donkey driver), not to mention several donkies and a horse! We had a good laugh in the evenings, Me and Hannah even tried out a bit of our French, this lasted approximatley 30 seconds when we realsied that 5 years of learning French at school and all we could do was order a ham and cheese bagueete, Je voudrais une baguette avec jambon es fromage? Not that great when you are trying to sustain a social conversation. Thankfully most people spoke good english and we were able to learn alot of the cultures of the various different countries. The donkies didn´t have much to say, actually on the subject of donkies, thankyou lord for these fine creatures, they carried all our stuff and made it look easy, the donkey is the real hero in the story of the Santa Cruz trek.

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