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Published: March 20th 2009
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hola todos!
Getting to Peru was rather trying, with several overnight buses and rough roads... but we made it! And, with a bit of perseverance, we managed to make out way to Huraz, a base town for getting to the northern mountains. Unfortunately, we were unaware that there was a major political rally when we arrived (and tourist information, in the city no less, also neglected to mention that... even while telling us that all the buses where not running for three days...) So, not fully understanding the bus situation, we opted for some breakfast before making our way to the little town three hours down the road that would be our branching off town for the mountains.
We settled into a small cafe and munched down some terrible pastries and tried to liven up after two back-to-back night buses. Just as we were paying for our breakfast, we heard some music in the distance and the store owner ran and shut the corrugated iron garage door that opened the entire shop, effectively locking us in. Unaware of what was going on, we persuaded our shop keeper to let us out through a tiny crawl door in the closed
garage... only to find ourselves in the middle of a political rally marching it´s way towards the bus station (our destination, of course).
So, we worked our way to the center of the road through the masses, past lines of riot police and watching every single store slam it´s doors closed as the group approached. We managed to get ahead of the group, and outran them to the bus station, where, as we were told, no buses were departing from! We did our best to make a deal with a taxi and he said he would drive us right there and then to the next town so we jumped in and paid him off. Then we managed to catch a collectivo (which shouldn´t have been running) to the next town, and a taxi to the next. We spent some time trying to hitchhike, but no traffic safe a few short distance taxis were on the road, and we soon found out why... we managed to scavenge up one more taxi who agreed to take us the rest of the way, though we were pulled over and pulled through the rungs by police en route. Nevertheless, after about 8 hours
of trying to make our way to Caraz, we finally arrived. We found a nice hostel, and made plans to taxi to trail head the following morning.
The hiking was rather mixed - incredible, but trying! We started out with nice terrain and some horrendous bitty black bugs that prevented us from breaking for water or lunch, but really enjoyed being out on the trail as we hiked up the canyon. Of course, we had not expected the river in place of a trail (recent heavy rains had flooded rivers and after the canyon, the marsh-lands were brutal). Nevertheless, we were in good spirits, and full of hope for the coming days, so hiked on past the first camp to get a jump on the trail for the next day before the three o´clock rains had us hunkered down in our tent for the night... with no dinner....
The next day we were on the move at six again, hoping to get the kms in before the afternoon downpour, but our first day optimism was wearing thin as we chatted with the few people coming out of the trail. The rain we had encountered was snow on the
local eats
and it is whole - fur, teeth, and all! pass and locals were telling us that it was not impassible - meaning our 5 day loop hike would be impossible. So, we reassesed our map, and decided two days in to the lagoon with a view and glacier , and then over to another lagoon, and two days out. It seemed like a good plan, so we pushed and pushed, again afraid to break for lunch, fearing the rain we knew was coming. We got to the lagoon just in time for rain, and munched what we could before calling it a night again.... about 2 or 3pm - not even able to journal or play cards as we had to bundle up so much... Now, of course, the drip in my tent was really obvious and almost presenting a hazard... but out of options, we pulled out our emergency ponchos to cover our sleeping bags and begrudged the drops in the night that went straight into our ears! The next day was awful - we were wet, our tent soaked, and everything inside getting wetter and wetter - and the rain did not let up. We decided to try to wait it out, but that meant that we
spent the day in the tent, save one hour that it sorta cleared for us to scramble up the last bit of the trail to the glacier while it peaked out of the clouds for about 20 minutes, and then try to outrun the rain (literally) back to our tent and fend off the wild cow and horses that had taken such a keen interest... By this time we had decided that day 4 was going to be ugly. We were going to hike the two-day trail out in one day, getting up before the sun and blasting 25kms through flooding rivers, marsh, and unbeknownst to us, a trail now full of recent avalanches... of course, that was the plan before the snow. Again, hunkered down in our tent, we were suddenly overjoyed that our perpetual drip and stopped! Until we realized why... we were now being snowed on! Yet again, we hunkered down for a cold, cold night and plotted how we could use out emergency ponchos as gaiters...
Needless to say, the last day was a little rough (oh, did I mention that I managed to get myself another parasite that accompanied me through this trip -
Imodium was my friend, but the pain was still rather limiting on my usual ability... and the altitude got to me again....) but, we had a clear morning, if only for a moment, and manged to get some of the most amazing views of the peaks surrounding us. Of course, just after the fist pictures, we started having to outrun the rain - and literally we had maximum pace for the full day as we managed to out walk (I have no idea how!) the rain for the first 6 hours... but just barely... if we paused for even 10 minutes, it would catch up with us, so we were eating on the go and pushing ourselves to the limit. Mind you, by mid afternoon, it did catch us, and we acceptingly begrudged it as we pushed our last hour or two out, and then negotiated a taxi to take us an hour back to the nearest town, on a road that was likely to be closed in a day or two with any more rain as there were landslides and puddles the side of small lake on the windy cliff road. Luckily we did make it back, and in
local flora
with my new camera! time to catch the night bus to Lima (mind you it was delayed due to the rain and impassible roads... so we had a late and delayed ride to Lima and then onto desert.... where else after those conditions!!!
So, landing in Lima, we made our way south to the desert to try our hand at sand boarding. I have to say that it is incredibly fun, but if being sandy at the beach deters you, this is not a sport for you! Full of sand and tumbling all over, it was quite the experience, especially coupled with the dune buggy ride to get there and the setting sun on the dunes. And, after a night in a real bed (albeit saggy enough to question whether I could call it a bed!) we jumped another bus to Nazca to see the famous lines, and another night bus to Cuzco... the plan was straight to Macchu Picchu, but I am now hiding out in a hostel in Cuzco, after trying a few antibiotics and failing miserably. I finally gave into the doctors here and apparently I was treating the wrong thing - they say since I have all the sympotms
without a fever that it must be a parasite and not a bacterial infection, so they swapped my meds yesterday and I am waiting it out in a cosy hotel to see if the new meds take effect... fingers crossed with Macchu Picchu on the horizon and the tour booked...
Wish me luck!!!
Trish xx
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Ron
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Your amazing journey continues......
Another incredible post. From rains to freezing cold and then straight to desert. Thats great. i like the way you write.Very detailed. Having a great time reading your travel blog. Great photos too........waiting for Macchu Picchu. Stay safe. Happy travelling. -Ron , India