Advertisement
Published: July 21st 2009
Edit Blog Post
Chiclayo and Sipan
Leaving the beauty of Ecuador I was extremely suprised to realise that Peru consists of a lot of desert. Hours and hours and hours of it, between the coast and the Andes. With Peru being so large, and with long bus trips the norm, I was suddenly a little doubtful of how I would pass the time without the views I had been used to. With a few overnights planned to stretch my legs in the towns of Piura, Chiclayo and Chimbote I started my venture to Huarez, the trekking capital of Peru and the Andes.
I spent a few days extra in Chiclayo owing to the ruins and treasures of Sipan. I had wanted to head out to other ruins further into the Andes, but one look at travel times vs travel distances I knew it was never going to happen. But Sipan was amazing. Ok the ruins were just desert like hills worn away over the centuries, but the museums in the area hold all the treasure that was found buried there. Archaeologists rate Sipan as the second largest find ever, after the tombs of the Egyptian Pyramids. And OMG did they find a lot
of gold. I went to three museums in total and was continually amazed by what the people of Sipan had achieved. I particularly loved that they buried their King with his wives, servants and of course, trusty llama. For a small town in the middle of northern Peru, it was astounding to come across such riches.
Huarez
Heading south, I finally made it to Huarez ready to acclimatise and get my hiking shoes on. The town itself is not much to look at, but the Cordillera Blancas surrounding it took my breath away. There was also an awesome mix of modern and traditionally dressed people, so I had a lot of fun in the markets watching the locals go about their business. I took as many inconspicuous photos as I could of all the women. Trouble was, they kept spotting me and demanding money. But I did get to observe lots of chicken and guinea pig trading!
Speaking of guinea pigs, I did try it. And it tastes like chicken for those of you who are wondering. The Peruvians serve guinea pig with everything still attached. I was lucky not to receive feet or the skull, but
was rewarded with the jaw bone, intact with teeth. (I did see at another restaurant recently a plate of what looked like a deep fried entire guinea pig, so I count myself lucky!)
Huarez really is just a base for climbing, mountaineering and trekking - so the time I spent in the town was minimal compared to what I had planned for the surrounding Cordillera Blancas... more TREKKING!!!
The Santa Cruz Trek
The Santa Cruz Trek is one of the most popular in the Cordillera Blancas, offering awesome views, stunning heights and the hygenic benefits of only four days camping. It's known as one of the most beautiful treks in Cordillera Blancas, through three spectacular valleys: Quebradas Santa Cruz, Huaripampa and Llanganuco and surrounded by views of the Alpamayo, Taulliraju , Artesonraju, Huascarán, Chopicalqui, Huandoy Chacraraju and Pisco summits.
With a strike imminent, there was no time to waste in going on the trek, and I set off the day after arriving in Huarez, desperately hoping I was acclimatised. After a three hour drive up a crazy mountain road, where it was snowing and looking awful outside, I started to have doubts about whether the trek
was actually going to be fun. But by the time we started, with the weather settling down, I was getting excited. And with the first day mostly flat and easy, I was feeling pretty confident as I reached camp for the first night.
Despite freezing overnight at 3700m (stupid snowy mountains looked pretty but sent freezing winds whistling down into the valley), I was geared up and ready for the second and hardest day of the trek. Which was of course all uphill. Though the last 500m or so of up was as hard as I could imagine. For some reason though, I wasn´t sufferring from altitude sickness - even though I had been dizzy and out of breath on early hikes at the same altitude. But trudging step after step up steep granite rock was taking its toll for sure. As I climbed, I got to see the peaks of Santa Cruz, Quitaraju, Artesonaju and Alpamayo, plus two lakes called Ichicocha and Hatuncocha. They were so amazing to see, so high (all over 5000m-6000m). It was just absolutely breathtaking.
The pass, called Punta Union was an effort to reach at 4750m. I was informed at the top
by a man who had just been to the Himalayas that it was infact HIGHER than Base Camp Everest. Something that I will continue to remind people whenever the topic of trekking comes up! I stayed at the top for as long as I could before I got to cold, and the views were just amazing. Snowy mountains, huge granite peaks, turquoise lakes and lush green valleys in every direction.
Eventually we started heading down... which somehow brought on my altitude sickness. Maybe I am allergic to oxygen?? Nothing like holding back nausea on top of intense exhaustion to make the day awesome! Arriving at Huaripampa camp (3800m) I was looking forward to regaining my strength, stamina and appetite. Unfortunately, none of that happened as planned and I just got sicker and sicker. But I must have slept, because waking up the next morning I could hear the discussions of my fellow campers and realised that something was clearly different from the night before. I poked my head out of the tent and saw snow. Yes, rare because even though its winter now, there is meant to be no precipitation. It was all a bit exciting except for the
wet gear and tents and clothes that I had left outside. But clearly the donkeys were unimpressed, having slept in the weather all night. Never have I seen such unhappy donkeys!
The third day involved even more downhill - which was kind of a bit boring after all the pressure of the previous day´s climb. But I was thankful given I hadn´t eaten in three days and didn´t really have the energy to keep going up! We got to camp early enough to find some sunshine to dry everything out again.
Our final day was short and sweet and we were all excited to get back to Huarez for showers and beer. Maybe only three hours hiking and I was done. Unfortunately, the strike I´d been hoping to miss was still continuing. So after a four hour wait in a nearby town, our group finally managed to find transport back to Huarez. And after half an hour of joyous travels along a rock strewn road (Peruvians didn´t want anyone travelling during the strike), which was a little like playing dodgem cars at high speed, we hit a road block. Three hours of standing and waiting and watching little
old ladies with big sticks maintaining the road block kept us entertained... and no one was willing to mess with the little old ladies. Walking across the road block was apparently no problem, so I ventured over to try and negotiate transport swaps with vehicles on the other side. Suprisingly, I ran into the Everest hiker I´d met a few days ago and he was looking very shaken and scared. Apparently he had tried to outwit the little old ladies by taking a back road. But he was caught, beaten up, his car trashed and frogmarched back to the roadblock. Oh by the way, the roadblock consisted of just a burnt out tree and lots of rocks and wire. Nothing you couldn´t drive over if you tried.
At 5:00pm, a resolution on the strike was broadcast over the radio and we were free to continue on our journey, dodging all the leftover rocks and debris the rest of the way back to Huarez.
Not bad for four days adventure! Needless to say the shower and beers went down extremely well.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.1s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0369s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Ames
non-member comment
Monkeys!
Oh, so cute. I want a monkey. Bring me back one too! I'm sure i can speak with someone in customs to get you through... Your looking wonderful, all tanned, fit and beautiful. Hope your having the time of our lives. Missing you heaps. Love Ames xx